Authentication of Underwater Assets

TL;DR

This paper presents an authentication protocol for underwater digital communication, enhancing security for autonomous underwater vehicles and devices, based on the first digital underwater standard, enabling more secure command and control.

Contribution

It introduces and validates a novel underwater authentication protocol compatible with existing standards, improving security for underwater robotic communication systems.

Findings

The protocol successfully authenticates underwater assets.

It enhances security for command and control communications.

Applicable mainly to AUVs around offshore facilities.

Abstract

Secure digital wireless communication underwater has become a key issue as maritime operations shift towards employing a heterogeneous mix of robotic assets and as the security of digital systems becomes challenged across all domains. At the same time, a proliferation of underwater signal coding and physical layer options are delivering greater bandwidth and flexibility, but mostly without the standards necessary for interoperability. We address here an essential requirement for security, namely a confirmation of asset identities also known as authentication. We propose, implement, verify and validate an authentication protocol based on the first digital underwater communications standard. Our scheme is applicable primarily to AUVs operating around offshore oil and gas facilities, but also to other underwater devices that may in the future have acoustic modems. It makes communication including command and control significantly more secure and provides a foundation for the development of more sophisticated security mechanisms.