Risk Assessment of SkyX: An Advanced autonomous Drone Platform for Monitoring Critical Infrastructures****

如今，无人机的使用呈爆炸式增长。美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）预计，到2020年，美国的无人机数量将增加到700万架，使其成为一个价值130亿美元的产业。伴随着这一势头的是无人机在商业和军事领域的应用，预计到2020年将有超过60万架无人机注册用于商业用途。随着这些无人机通信和计算能力的不断提高，加上电池存储的进步，无人机的应用范围不断扩大。无人机单纯拍照的日子一去不复返了。现代无人机正被用于各行各业更关键的商业应用，包括石油和天然气管道的检查、执法、应急管理、医疗供应的交付，当然还有军事情报和有效载荷的交付。然而，对用于检查和监控关键基础设施的无人机的成功攻击可能会对公共安全、企业间谍活动甚至国家安全造成毁灭性影响，这种情况已经在世界各地发生。这个研究项目的目的是与SkyX公司合作，这家加拿大公司专门从事垂直起降（VTOL）的建造，以审计他们现有的系统和方法，以识别潜在的缺陷和攻击。SkyX将利用研究成果开发必要的工作流程和更新，以确保其平台的安全。最终，这可能会导致数据网络通信标准或指导方针，硬件和软件开发指导方针，以保护类似的无人机平台免受入侵。

The use of drones today is exploding. By 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration **(FAA) expects the number of drones in the US to rise to 7 million, making it a $13 billion dollar industry. Along with this momentum is the adoption of drones for commercial and military applications, with more than 600,000 drones are expected to be registered for commercial use by 2020. As the communication and computation capabilities of these drones are increasing, coupled with advances in battery storage, the range of applications of drones keeps growing. Gone are the days of drones simply taking photos. Modern drones are being used across industries in much more critical commercial applications including the inspection of oil and gas pipelines, law enforcement, emergency management, medical supply delivery, and of course military intelligence and payload delivery. However, successful attacks on drones used in the inspection and monitoring of critical infrastructures can be devastating to public safety, corporate espionage, or even national security, and they are already happening around the world. The objective of this research project is to work with SkyX, a Canadian company that specializes in building vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) to audit their current systems and methods in order identify potential flaws and attacks. SkyX will use the research outcome to develop the necessary workflows and updates needed to secure their platform. Ultimately, this might lead to standards or guidelines for data network communications, hardware and software development guidelines in order to protect similar drone platforms against intrusion.