Cyber Awareness Trends In Avionics

Recent examples driving an increased need for cyber awareness include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the airspace, development of the Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B), and the risk of cyber intrusion. The incident of a civilian UAV disrupting a major airport, is one example of many incidents raising questions on the future of airspace security. While a civilian hobbyist might be ignorant of the impending harm, the situation could pose a threat to the air operations. Using this incident and others like it, ideas on the future trends in cyber awareness applied to avionics are considered. Three general ideas are incorporated: (1) mandates for new rules for airspace restrictions (e.g., geofence), (2) advanced display analytics to support the airport staff and pilots with visual displays, such as collision avoidance, and (3) electronics to support the mitigation of electronic cyber effects posed by the obtrusive aircraft. With a variety of opinions posed, the summary is intended to foster a discussion on research, industry, and commercial directions for the avionics community to consider with respect to cyber awareness.