Acercamiento a la figura de Lorca Educación y formación musical.

Over the course of this project, much was learned regarding modern-day UAVs and security of their computer architecture. UAVs consist of multiple modules that are each

responsible for performing a different function. These typically include image processing, central processing on a computer board, a camera, communications module, autopilot module, and a ground control module. All of these must be programmed to fit together to ensure that the UAV is fully functional and completes all of its tasks properly.

Sizing is also a very important factor in the design of UAV platforms. Since these planes are unmanned, they are typically smaller than most man-flown aircraft. While some military- grade planes can carry a big payload, most are used for civil uses and have limited size, space, and power capacity. For this reason one must be careful when designing a platform so that they do not exceed the limitations of the actual aircraft.

There were many lessons that were learned regarding the design of aUAV computer architecture. The Beagleboard was an ideal board to use as the central processing unit for this project as it had the USB, Ethernet, and camera port interfaces required to connect the autopilot, Wi-Fi bullet, and camera. It was also a very compact board capable of running a full version of

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Linux which made it easy to write and compile software to complete the necessary tasks for this project. The board also had the advantage of having ample memory to run all of the necessary tasks of this project. This also featured internal as well as external memory that could be stored on a secure digital card. This allows a user to select a card to use that will have enough memory to store his or her data.

Communication played a vital role in the functionality and security of this platform. It was determined that Wi-Fi was the best way to transfer data wirelessly from board to ground station as it is very powerful and has a variety of security options. Flaws were found in the security however that left the platform susceptible to malicious attacks. Configuring the Wi-Fi settings the wrong way or leaving the network unencrypted could have disastrous results as a unauthorized user can either shut down communication between the modules or intercept data that is only meant to be seen by the board and ground station. Another important aspect of the communications methods used was the interface through which the ground station and platform talked to one another. Socket programming was utilized in this project so that the ground control user could open a simple Linux terminal, run a program, and start the image processing

algorithm remotely. Messages were able to be sent via a user-defined port on the Beagleboard and two-way communication was possible. The algorithm would start to run on the UAV platform and report the results directly back to the terminal on the user’s side. This made for a very simple, streamlined interface through which the laptop could wirelessly transmit commands to the Beagleboard and the board would transmit back the results of its search.

This project also dealt heavily with how computers process image processing. It was conclude that HSV is the ideal color scheme to utilize when trying to recognize colors as it focuses on shade as well as base color. This made it easy to filter out high-intensity light that

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would probably be an attacker trying to compromise the image processing of the system. An algorithm was that depended on certain color and size of an object. A color could be specified using the HSV parameters and the size was specified as a ratio of the number of pixels where the color was detected. The camera would take in all of the images around it, process them on the algorithm, and output results of its location if a positive hit was detected. While this algorithm could have been more advanced and sophisticated, it met the needs of this project.

Much was also learned about the vulnerabilities associated with UAV systems. During the course of this project attacks were taken that targeted the image processing and

communications modules of the platform. The attacks and their associated results gave good insight as to how the modules themselves work and how a potential enemy could take advantage of them to compromise its functionality. Color attacks were used to either blind the camera so that it read nothing or made it report positives on items that it should not have. This attack was countered by adjusting the values of the color parameters for which to report a positive hit. The communications were attacked by trying to intercept the wireless packets sent between the modules, jamming the Wi-Fi network, and connecting to the network so that data could be accessed. Wireshark was used to intercept packets and Aircrack-ng was used to jam the network. While the first two attacks were not able to compromise the system, it was found that it was possible for an unauthenticated user to communicate with the Beagleboard.