EAGER: SARE: Secure LiDAR Systems with Frequency Encryption

如今的智能设备、机器人和车辆正变得越来越自动化，这对它们的可靠性和安全性至关重要。为了满足这些安全需求，光探测和测距（LiDAR）系统已被用于制作环境的3D地图，以便自主代理导航并避免碰撞。激光雷达通过激光照射目标并通过传感器检测反射来测量距离。通过提供这种重要的传感和成像能力，它们正成为自动驾驶汽车、无人机和机器人不可避免的一部分。然而，由于其安全漏洞，今天的激光雷达也对人类和公共安全构成潜在威胁。例如，攻击者可以故意向受害者的激光雷达发送欺骗信号，而受害者的激光雷达无法区分欺骗信号和实际反射信号。这样，攻击者可以覆盖实际反射的信号。最终，攻击者可以通过隐藏或歪曲其实际位置来欺骗受害者，从而导致严重的安全和安全问题。虽然激光雷达系统正处于商业化的边缘，但这些情况是不可避免的，而且预防技术还没有得到很好的研究和研究。本课题旨在研究这些问题，并提出一种新的基于频率加密的安全方案。除了激光雷达，这种方法还将对保护各种类型的无线光学系统和卫星通信产生重大而广泛的影响。此外，这项涉及光电系统设计的研究提供了许多令人兴奋的机会，可以将新材料和范例纳入课程和与stem相关的K-12推广计划。研究复杂光电系统（如激光雷达）的硬件级安全问题需要新的统一电子-光子建模和联合仿真框架。本工作通过利用Verilog-A和MATLAB行为模型并结合所有相关的光电动力学来开发这样一个平台。该平台可以同时研究激光雷达系统的性能和安全漏洞，包括干扰和欺骗。该项目特别关注波束转向调频连续波（FMCW）激光雷达，因为它们是目前最有前途和最强大的激光雷达技术。此外，结果将使用台式实验室设置进行实验验证。最后，将开发和实施一种称为频率加密FMCW （FE-FMCW）的新型测距方法，该方法可以保护最先进的FMCW激光雷达系统免受恶意攻击，同时对性能的影响最小。为此，将采用基于混合信号电子和光子电路设计和信号处理的整体设计方法来实现和实现新提出的FE-FMCW激光雷达。该技术依赖于一种新的光锁相环（OPLL）设计，该设计可以加密激光的频率啁啾速率，同时保持FMCW信号所需的线性度和带宽。频率加密代码在集成电路芯片上生成，对于每个激光雷达硬件系统都是唯一的。这项新技术将改变未来激光雷达系统和许多其他新兴电子-光子系统的系统架构，并确保其安全性。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。

Today’s smart devices, robots, and vehicles are becoming ever more autonomous and this places utmost importance on their reliability and safety. To meet these safety demands, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems have been used to make a 3D map of environment in order to navigate the autonomous agent and avoid collisions. A LiDAR measures the distance by illuminating a target with laser light and detects the reflection with a sensor. They are becoming an inevitable part of autonomous vehicles, drones, and robots by providing this vital sensing and imaging capability. However, today’s LiDARs also impose potential human and public safety threats due to their security vulnerabilities. For instance, an attacker can deliberately send a spoofing signal to the victim’s LiDAR which cannot differentiate the spoofing signal from the actual reflected signal. In doing so, attacker can overwrite the actual reflected signal. Eventually, the attacker can trick the victim by hiding or misrepresenting its actual location, leading to serious security and safety issues. While LiDAR systems are on the verge of commercialization, these scenarios are unavoidable and the prevention techniques have not been well studied and researched. This project aims at investigating these issues and proposing a new secure scheme based on frequency encryption. In addition to LiDAR, this approach will have significant broader impacts on securing various types of wireless optical systems and satellite communications as well. Furthermore, this research involving electro-optical system design offers many exciting opportunities to incorporate new materials and paradigms into the curriculums and STEM-related K-12 outreach programs. Investigating the hardware-level security issues of complex electro-optical systems such as a LiDAR requires new unified electronic-photonic modeling and co-simulation frameworks. This work develops such a platform by utilizing Verilog-A and MATLAB behavioral models and incorporating all relevant electro-optical dynamics. This platform enables simultaneously studying the performance and security vulnerabilities including jamming and spoofing of LiDAR systems. In particular, this project focuses on beam steering frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDARs since they are the most promising and robust LiDAR technology as of today. Additionally, the results will be experimentally verified using a benchtop lab setup. Finally, a novel ranging approach called frequency encrypted FMCW (FE-FMCW) will be developed and implemented which can protect the state-of-the-art FMCW LiDAR systems from malicious attacks with minimal compromise on performance. In order to do so, a holistic design methodology based on mixed-signal electronic and photonic circuit design and signal processing will be deployed to realize and implement the newly proposed FE-FMCW LiDAR. This technique relies on a new optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) design which can encrypt the frequency chirp-rate of the laser while maintaining required linearity and bandwidth for FMCW signals. The frequency encryption code is generated on the integrated-circuit chip and it will be unique to each LiDAR hardware system. This new technique will transform the system architecture of future LiDAR systems and many other emerging electronic-photonic systems as well as ensuring their security and safety.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.