PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments
Cross-domain authentication of drones has played an important role in emergency rescue, collaborative missions, and so on. However, the existing cross-domain authentication protocols for drones may cause privacy leakages and stolen-verifier attacks due to the storage of drone information by ground s...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Drones |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/4/260 |
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| author | Qi Xie Haohua Wang |
| author_facet | Qi Xie Haohua Wang |
| author_sort | Qi Xie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cross-domain authentication of drones has played an important role in emergency rescue, collaborative missions, and so on. However, the existing cross-domain authentication protocols for drones may cause privacy leakages and stolen-verifier attacks due to the storage of drone information by ground stations, and drones and ground stations are susceptible to capture attacks, which may suffer from impersonation attacks. To address these problems, we propose a lightweight cross-domain authentication protocol based on physical unclonable function (PUF). In the proposed protocol, the control center is not involved in the authentication process, preventing bottleneck problems when multiple drones authenticate simultaneously. Ground stations do not store drone information, effectively safeguarding against privacy leakage and stolen-verifier attacks. PUF is utilized to protect drones from capture attacks. We conduct both informal security analysis and formal security proof to demonstrate the protocol’s security. In terms of performance, compared with relevant schemes, our protocol shows remarkable efficiency improvements. Computationally, it is 5–92% more efficient. Regarding communication overhead, it is 9–68% lower than relevant schemes. For storage, it is 22–48% lower than relevant schemes. We simulated the proposed protocol using a Raspberry Pi 4B, which emulates the computational capabilities of actual UAV and ground stations. During the simulation, a large number of authentication requests were generated. We monitored key performance indicators such as authentication success rate, response time, and resource utilization. To test its security, we simulated common attacks like replay, forgery, and impersonation. The protocol’s timestamps effectively identified and rejected replayed messages. Meanwhile, the PUF mechanism and unique signature scheme foiled our attempts to forge authentication messages. These simulation results, combined with theoretical security proofs, confirm the protocol’s practical viability and security in real-world-like scenarios. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-05bfe2643e6d46f8968eff705f6fe612 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2504-446X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Drones |
| spelling | doaj-art-05bfe2643e6d46f8968eff705f6fe6122025-08-20T02:17:20ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2025-03-019426010.3390/drones9040260PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain EnvironmentsQi Xie0Haohua Wang1Key Laboratory of Cryptography of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, ChinaKey Laboratory of Cryptography of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, ChinaCross-domain authentication of drones has played an important role in emergency rescue, collaborative missions, and so on. However, the existing cross-domain authentication protocols for drones may cause privacy leakages and stolen-verifier attacks due to the storage of drone information by ground stations, and drones and ground stations are susceptible to capture attacks, which may suffer from impersonation attacks. To address these problems, we propose a lightweight cross-domain authentication protocol based on physical unclonable function (PUF). In the proposed protocol, the control center is not involved in the authentication process, preventing bottleneck problems when multiple drones authenticate simultaneously. Ground stations do not store drone information, effectively safeguarding against privacy leakage and stolen-verifier attacks. PUF is utilized to protect drones from capture attacks. We conduct both informal security analysis and formal security proof to demonstrate the protocol’s security. In terms of performance, compared with relevant schemes, our protocol shows remarkable efficiency improvements. Computationally, it is 5–92% more efficient. Regarding communication overhead, it is 9–68% lower than relevant schemes. For storage, it is 22–48% lower than relevant schemes. We simulated the proposed protocol using a Raspberry Pi 4B, which emulates the computational capabilities of actual UAV and ground stations. During the simulation, a large number of authentication requests were generated. We monitored key performance indicators such as authentication success rate, response time, and resource utilization. To test its security, we simulated common attacks like replay, forgery, and impersonation. The protocol’s timestamps effectively identified and rejected replayed messages. Meanwhile, the PUF mechanism and unique signature scheme foiled our attempts to forge authentication messages. These simulation results, combined with theoretical security proofs, confirm the protocol’s practical viability and security in real-world-like scenarios.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/4/260unmanned aerial vehicleauthentication protocolcross-domainphysical unclonable function |
| spellingShingle | Qi Xie Haohua Wang PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments Drones unmanned aerial vehicle authentication protocol cross-domain physical unclonable function |
| title | PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments |
| title_full | PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments |
| title_fullStr | PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments |
| title_short | PUF-Based Secure and Efficient Anonymous Authentication Protocol for UAV Towards Cross-Domain Environments |
| title_sort | puf based secure and efficient anonymous authentication protocol for uav towards cross domain environments |
| topic | unmanned aerial vehicle authentication protocol cross-domain physical unclonable function |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/4/260 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qixie pufbasedsecureandefficientanonymousauthenticationprotocolforuavtowardscrossdomainenvironments AT haohuawang pufbasedsecureandefficientanonymousauthenticationprotocolforuavtowardscrossdomainenvironments |