Computer Science's Pu receives NSF grant for Internet of Drones systems research
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu
Dr. Cong Pu, an assistant professor in Oklahoma State University’s Department of Computer Science, was awarded a 3-year grant totaling $288,398 from the National Science Foundation's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program. This grant will support Pu's research aimed at improving the security and privacy of Internet of Drones systems.
With the rapid enhancement of drone technology, the integration of low-altitude drones with existing ground communication infrastructures has led to the emergence of the IoD paradigm. This new framework holds significant promise for a variety of applications, including urban air taxis, road accident management and aerial delivery services.
However, the increased adoption of IoD technology also exposes these systems to potential cyber attacks, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced security measures.
"My research focuses on network security, data privacy, applied cryptography, wireless networking and mobile computing," Pu said. "The overall objective of this project is to develop a novel certificate-based authentication scheme that enables pseudonymous, application-aware and cross-domain Internet of Drones communications."
The proposed security mechanism can be seamlessly incorporated into the existing IoD framework, allowing IoD systems to reach the necessary levels of security and privacy while fulfilling the practical needs of IoD applications.
“To attain the overall objective, this project will design a certificate issuing protocol, create a certificate conversion protocol and produce a certificate revocation protocol,” Pu said. “The proposed research departs from the status quo of serving for single-tasking, small-scale and non-sensitive Internet of Drones applications to being applicable for multi-tasking and large-scale Internet of Drones applications with strong privacy preservation.”
The outcomes of this project will help create a secure and efficient aerial communication framework, and provide security, privacy and practical design considerations for other open and interoperable platforms.
Story By: Allie Putman, CAS graduate assistant | allie.putman@okstate.edu