Secrecy Coding in the Integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET)

Abstract

Data security plays a crucial role in all areas of data transmission, processing, and storage. This paper considers security in eavesdropping attacks over wireless communication links in aeronautical telemetry systems. Data streams in these systems are often encrypted by traditional encryption algorithms such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Here, we propose a secure coding technique for the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) communications system that can be coupled with modern encryption schemes. We consider a wiretap scenario where there are two telemetry links between a test article (TA) and a legitimate receiver, or ground station (GS). We show how these two links can be used to transmit both encrypted and unencrypted data streams while keeping both streams secure. A single eavesdropper is assumed who can tap into both links through its noisy channel. Since our scheme does not require encryption of the unencrypted data stream, the proposed scheme offers the ability to reduce the size of the required secret key while keeping the transmitted data secure.