NSF Convergence Accelerator Track G: Secure Texting over Non-cooperative Networks and Anti-jamming Enhancement in 5G

随着5G蜂窝网络在全球范围内的逐步部署，确保通过5G基础设施的安全运行对于军事、政府和私营部门的大量应用至关重要。要加快将技术创新转化为可行的5G领域产品，需要融合研发。为了应对通过5G基础设施安全运行的融合研究中的多学科挑战，乔治梅森大学正与爱立信、AT&T、密歇根州立大学和摩根州立大学合作。我们打算共同解决全面的技术和社会经济挑战，以实现加速趋同。对于这个第一阶段项目，该团队提出了三个研究重点，将一致地解决技术、经济和政策挑战：1)通过非合作蜂窝网络保护短信安全，2)增强合作5G网络的抗干扰能力，3)对拟议技术进行社会经济影响分析。预期的通信安全和弹性增强对于军事、政府和关键基础设施应用至关重要，因为这些应用需要严格的信息隐私和可用性。使用关键基础设施建模和模拟技术，然后将评估这些技术解决方案在不同5G垂直部门的各种使用案例中的更广泛社会经济影响。生成的决策支持分析将首先帮助政府和服务提供商确定哪些技术应该获得增强的资源，然后鼓励供应商、运营商和标准机构根据效益-成本优势采用和分发这些新的安全功能。扩大参与活动将通过一系列教育和外联计划，激发女性和非裔美国学生对工程、计算机科学、无线技术、网络安全和人工智能的兴趣。该项目的成果将通过数据发布、教程、出版物和软件工具包广泛传播。拟议的安全短信解决方案为必须在不可信的无线电网络(包括5G)上秘密操作的文本设备增加了智能和适应性。协调、自然语言处理(NLP)、编码、翻译、多路复用和重传技术的组合被用于伪装和加强散布在多个不可信无线网络上的消费者消息之间的安全文本消息。该解决方案将提高在不受信任的网络环境中发送敏感文本消息的隐私和可靠性，在这种网络环境中，其他暴力手段是不可能的。它向后兼容老一代的蜂窝网络。5G空间、时间和频率分集机制将被利用和定制，以增强协作5G网络的低概率检测/拦截(LPD/LPI)和抗干扰能力，包括随机动态资源分配、多样化的波束切换和基于多传输和接收点(MTRP)的弹性通信。利用基础设施建模和模拟技术，将评估拟议解决方案的社会经济影响。此分析产生的结果将以业务照常基线(没有5G安全改进)与使用本项目中开发的技术实施的增强型5G无线安全战略的潜在直接和间接经济影响的形式呈现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With 5G cellular networks being progressively deployed worldwide, ensuring secure operation through 5G infrastructure is essential for the vast array of applications across military, government, and private sectors. Convergence research and development are required to accelerate the transformation of technical innovations into viable 5G domain products. To address the multidisciplinary challenges in convergence research for securely operating through 5G infrastructure, George Mason University is partnering with Ericsson, AT&T, Michigan State University, and Morgan State University. Together we intend to solve comprehensive technical and socio-economic challenges, to achieve accelerated convergence. For this Phase I project, the team proposes three research thrusts that will coherently address technical, economic, and policy challenges: 1) secure texting through non-cooperative cellular networks, 2) enhanced anti-jamming capabilities for cooperative 5G networks, and 3) socio-economic impact analysis of the proposed techniques. The anticipated communication security and resiliency enhancements are essential for military, government, and critical infrastructure applications, where stringent information privacy and availability are required. Using critical infrastructure modeling and simulation techniques, these technical solutions will then be assessed in terms of their broader socio-economic impacts across a variety of use cases for different 5G vertical sectors. The decision support analytics produced will first help government and service providers prioritize which techniques should receive enhanced resources, and secondly encourage vendors, operators, and standards bodies to adopt and distribute these new security features based on benefit-cost merits. Broadening participation activities will target women and African-American students by stimulating their interest in engineering, computer science, wireless technologies, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence, through a number of educational and outreach programs. Outcomes from this project will be disseminated widely through data publishing, tutorials, publications, and software toolkits.The proposed secure texting solution adds intelligence and adaptability to text devices that must covertly operate over untrusted radio networks including 5G. Combinations of coordination, natural language processing (NLP), encoding, translation, multiplexing and retransmission techniques are used to camouflage and harden secure text messages amongst consumer messages spread over multiple untrusted wireless networks. This solution shall improve the privacy and reliability of sensitive text messaging over untrusted network environments where other brute force approaches are not possible. It is backward compatible with older generations of cellular networks. 5G spatial, time and frequency diversity mechanisms will be utilized and customized to enhance low-probability of detection/intercept (LPD/LPI) and anti-jamming capabilities of cooperative 5G networks, including randomized dynamic resource allocation, diversified beam switching, and multiple Transmission and Reception Point (mTRP)-based resilient communication. Using infrastructure modeling and simulation techniques, the socio-economic implications of the proposed solutions will be assessed. The results produced by this analysis will be presented in terms of the potential direct and indirect economic impacts for a business-as-usual baseline (with no 5G security improvements), versus a strategy of enhanced 5G wireless security implemented using the techniques developed in this project.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.