Spectrum Sensing and Jammer Localization for Wireless Aerospace Applications

Abstract

The proliferation of radio devices brought in an aircraft by passengers has given rise to severe level of interference. In Wireless Avionics Intra-Communication (WAIC) medium, the potential sources of interference are existing wireless communication systems and malicious transmission sources. Migrating from wired to wireless systems, with the motive to reduce the cable weight inside an aircraft, raises several issues in terms of safety and reliability. One of the major threats it poses, is the risk of jamming attacks by interfering radio waves. Existing wireless systems are well coordinated by regulatory bodies to avoid unintentional interference. However malicious transmission, such as jamming attacks are unpredictable in nature and can disrupt the communication for an unknown time interval, leading to catastrophic failure conditions for safety critical systems. In this thesis, as one of the countermeasures against malicious transmission, spectrum sensing techniques are analyzed. Energy detection technique has been considered for implementation, based on the design constraints of the system. The reported results show the feasibility of using the energy detector technique to improve the spectrum awareness, resulting in enhancement of spectrum safety and reliability.