NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: Autonomously Tunable Waveform-Agnostic Radio Adapter for Seamless and Secure Operation of DoD Devices Through Non-Cooperative 5G Networks

部署在地面、海上、空中和太空的美国国防部人员和资产必须始终在所有作战领域和整个电磁（EM）频谱中保持可操作的无线网络连接，以威慑和击败那些越来越多地寻求通过阻碍和否认美国国防部的指挥和控制能力来破坏其战略和作战优势的敏捷对手。佛罗里达国际大学（FIU）、佛罗里达大西洋大学（FAU）、弗吉尼亚理工大学（VT）和PQSecure Technologies LLC联手创建一种通用无线电适配器，该适配器将通过美国军方、政府和关键基础设施系统的非合作本土5G网络实现无缝和安全运行。拟议的通用无线电适配器的目标是加速国防部人员、飞机、卫星、移动电话、车辆、传感器、无人机和其他物联网设备如何通过友好或对手不可信的5G网络基础设施运行的变革性成果，并与可信的美国军事网络上的设备无缝连接，同时提供端到端数据完整性。通过数据隐藏和在通信路径之间自主切换来实现机密性和弹性。通过这项研究，FIU（美国唯一的多数派少数族裔卡内基R1研究型大学）和FAU（联邦政府指定的西班牙裔服务机构）将建立一个5G及其他技术研究中心，培训本科生/毕业生西班牙裔和其他少数族裔学生5G无线系统，后量子密码学，物理层和网络安全。VT（阿灵顿校区）将成为FIU/FAU学生劳动力与国防部实验室/政府机构之间的桥梁。PQSecure是一家小公司，已经为美国国家科学基金会和国防部完成了几个量子安全加密项目。这项研究将进一步推动FIU、FAU和VT的教育工作，通过课程开发、REU项目和PQSecure实习，扩大女性和其他代表性不足的群体在STEM领域的参与。拟议的波形不可知适配器将与美国国防部从HF到ka波段的地面和卫星通信协议兼容，并将能够与从UHF到ka波段的本土5G地面或天基网络进行交互。为了信任本土5G基础设施（被视为黑箱）提供的服务，拟议的融合研究工作将加速研发，以增强连接到5G网络的终端系统的安全性和弹性，尽可能利用零信任原则。该团队的工作计划分为四个技术重点：1)最终用户和设备的认证将由一个通用无线电适配器进行，该适配器结合了多频段和多功能射频前端，连接到黑匣子5G网络；2)利用无线通信信道的独特特性、通用适配器硬件和/或5G核心网作为唯一的熵源，在物理层（作为第一道防线）提供强大的安全保护，增强数据的完整性和机密性；3)通用无线电适配器将采用低尺寸、低重量、低功耗和低成本（SWaP-C）的后量子加密（PQC）和标准密码实现，以实现与现有和未来“量子就绪”5G RAN/核心的互操作性，并促进基于最新NIST PQC标准的基于公钥的机制的加速平稳过渡；4)将在通用适配器上实施数据隐藏技术，将数据安全地嵌入到5G网络的流行应用流量中，并隐藏嵌入行为，以将美国国防部终端设备伪装为网络的普通用户。总体而言，该项目将有助于增强美国国防部终端设备的连接性，提供多gbps的数据速率，同时满足必要的安全性和弹性要求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

U.S. DoD personnel and assets deployed in ground, sea, air, and space must always maintain operational wireless network connectivity across all warfighting domains and throughout the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum to deter and defeat agile adversaries who increasingly seek to undermine its strategic and operational strengths by impeding and denying U.S. DoD’s command and control capabilities. Florida International University (FIU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Virginia Tech (VT), and PQSecure Technologies LLC join forces to create a universal radio adapter that will enable seamless and secure operation through non-cooperative indigenous 5G networks for U.S. military, government, and critical infrastructure systems. The goal of the proposed universal radio adapter is to accelerate transformative outcomes on how DoD personnel, aircrafts, satellites, mobile phones, vehicles, sensors, drones, and other IoT devices operate through either friendly or adversary untrusted 5G network infrastructure and seamlessly connect with devices on trusted U.S. military networks, while providing end-to-end data integrity, confidentiality and resiliency by data hiding and by autonomously switching between communications pathways. Through this research, FIU (the only Majority-Minority Carnegie R1 Research University in the U.S.) and FAU (a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution) will develop a research center in 5G and beyond technologies to train undergraduates/graduates Hispanic and other minorities students in 5G wireless systems, post-quantum cryptography, physical layer and network security. VT (Arlington Campus) will serve as a bridge for FIU/FAU student workforce and DoD labs/government agencies. PQSecure is a small business that has already completed several projects on quantum-safe cryptography for NSF and DoD. The research will further advance educational efforts in FIU, FAU, and VT to broaden participation of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM through curriculum development, REU programs, and PQSecure internships.The proposed waveform-agnostic adapter will be compatible with U.S. DoD terrestrial and satellite communication protocols that operate from HF up to the Ka-band and will be able to interact with indigenous 5G ground or space-based networks that operate from the UHF up to the Ka-band. To trust the services provided by indigenous 5G infrastructure (treated as a black-box), the proposed convergence research effort will carry out accelerated research and development to enhance security and resiliency of end systems connecting to 5G networks, leveraging zero-trust principles where possible. The team’s workplan is organized in four technical thrusts: 1) Authentication of end users and devices will be carried out by a universal radio adapter that combines multi-band and multi-functional RF front-ends to connect to the black-box 5G network; 2) Data integrity and confidentiality will be enhanced by strong security protection at the physical layer (as a first line of defense) by exploiting unique characteristics of the wireless communication channel, the universal adapter hardware, and/or 5G core network as unique entropy sources; 3) Low size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) implementations of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and standard ciphers will be adopted by the universal radio adapter to enable interoperability with the existing and a future “quantum-ready” 5G RAN/core and facilitate accelerated smooth transition to public-key based mechanisms based on the latest NIST PQC standards; 4) Data hiding techniques that securely embed data to popular application traffic of the 5G network and hide the act of embedding will be implemented at the universal adapter to disguise U.S. DoD end devices to simply undistinguished users of the network. Overall, the project will contribute to enhancements to U.S. DoD end devices to enable transformative outcomes in their connectivity, offering multi-Gbps data rates, while meeting necessary security and resilience requirements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.