Analysis of Optimal False Data Injection Attacks in Unmanned Aerial Systems

With the increasing power and convenience offered by the use of embedded systems in control applications, such systems will undoubtedly continue to be developed and deployed. Recently, however, a focus on data-centric systems and developing network-enabled control systems has emerged, allowing for greater performance, safety, and resource allocation in systems such as unmanned aerial systems (UASs). However, this increase in connectivity also introduces vulnerabilities into these systems, potentially providing access to malicious parties seeking to disrupt the operation of those systems or to cause damage. In this analysis, stealthy false data injection attacks against linear feedback systems of that are commonly used in UASs are considered. The identification of these attacks is formed as an optimization problem constrained by the ability of monitoring systems to detect the attack. The optimal attack input is then determined for an example application so that the worst case system performance can be identified and, if needed, improved.