Implementing cryptography in LoRa based communication devices for unmanned ground vehicle applications

摘要

In this study, a Long Range (LoRa) based bidirectional secured communication link for controlling and monitoring therobots from a remote location is proposed. The security features and structure of the LoRa is build upon the standardprotocol called LoRa wide area networks (LoRaWAN). To take advantage of these features, LoRa devices/end modulesneed to be connected to a network server through a LoRa gateway. However, for certain military scenarios like war zones,terrorist attack sites, disaster sites etc., the availability of standard network cannot be guaranteed, and therefore, thesecurity features available with LoRaWAN protocol cannot be guaranteed. To overcome this critical limitation, a LoRabased secured device for establishing a bidirectional communication link between the base station and the robotswithout relying on any network is proposed. To secure the exchanged data, a cryptographic protocol is developed, andconfidentiality, authenticity and integrity of the transmitted data between the base station and the robot are ensured.The protocol is then implemented with a pair of LoRa devices and its functionality is tested from a remote location bycontrolling and monitoring a Pioneer-P3Dx robot from a distance of 1.2 miles. The test shows that the proposed cryptographicprotocol can securely control and track the robot from a remote location.