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A Novel Cipher for Enhancing MAVLink Security: Design, Security Analysis, and Performance Evaluation Using a Drone Testbed

Bhavya Dixit, Ananthapadmanabhan A., Adheeba Thahsin, Saketh Pathak, Gaurav S. Kasbekar, Arnab Maity

TL;DR

This work addresses the lack of confidentiality in MAVLink communications by implementing and benchmarking multiple encryption schemes on a real drone testbed, including a novel cipher named MAVShield. MAVShield modifies the Speck core to achieve low overhead in CTR mode, supported by dynamic key scheduling and non‑linear substitutions, and is evaluated against AES‑CTR, ChaCha20, Speck‑CTR, and Rabbit. The study conducts differential cryptanalysis, NIST/Diehard randomness tests, and Wireshark‑based network validation, plus real flight performance metrics, demonstrating that MAVShield offers robust security with minimal memory, CPU, and power overhead. The results indicate MAVShield is a practical and effective solution for securing MAVLink communications in real deployments, with avenues for future key‑exchange and algebraic cryptanalysis research.

Abstract

We present MAVShield, a novel lightweight cipher designed to secure communications in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using the MAVLink protocol, which by default transmits unencrypted messages between UAVs and Ground Control Stations (GCS). While existing studies propose encryption for MAVLink, most remain theoretical or simulation-based. We implement MAVShield alongside AES-CTR, ChaCha20, Speck-CTR, and Rabbit, and evaluate them on a real drone testbed. A comprehensive security analysis using statistical test suites (NIST and Diehard) demonstrates strong resistance of the novel cipher to cryptanalysis. Performance evaluation across key metrics including memory usage, CPU load, and battery power consumption, demonstrates that MAVShield outperforms existing algorithms and offers an efficient, real-world solution for securing MAVLink communications in UAVs.

A Novel Cipher for Enhancing MAVLink Security: Design, Security Analysis, and Performance Evaluation Using a Drone Testbed

TL;DR

This work addresses the lack of confidentiality in MAVLink communications by implementing and benchmarking multiple encryption schemes on a real drone testbed, including a novel cipher named MAVShield. MAVShield modifies the Speck core to achieve low overhead in CTR mode, supported by dynamic key scheduling and non‑linear substitutions, and is evaluated against AES‑CTR, ChaCha20, Speck‑CTR, and Rabbit. The study conducts differential cryptanalysis, NIST/Diehard randomness tests, and Wireshark‑based network validation, plus real flight performance metrics, demonstrating that MAVShield offers robust security with minimal memory, CPU, and power overhead. The results indicate MAVShield is a practical and effective solution for securing MAVLink communications in real deployments, with avenues for future key‑exchange and algebraic cryptanalysis research.

Abstract

We present MAVShield, a novel lightweight cipher designed to secure communications in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using the MAVLink protocol, which by default transmits unencrypted messages between UAVs and Ground Control Stations (GCS). While existing studies propose encryption for MAVLink, most remain theoretical or simulation-based. We implement MAVShield alongside AES-CTR, ChaCha20, Speck-CTR, and Rabbit, and evaluate them on a real drone testbed. A comprehensive security analysis using statistical test suites (NIST and Diehard) demonstrates strong resistance of the novel cipher to cryptanalysis. Performance evaluation across key metrics including memory usage, CPU load, and battery power consumption, demonstrates that MAVShield outperforms existing algorithms and offers an efficient, real-world solution for securing MAVLink communications in UAVs.
Paper Structure (32 sections, 10 equations, 17 figures, 4 tables, 5 algorithms)

This paper contains 32 sections, 10 equations, 17 figures, 4 tables, 5 algorithms.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. System Model And Problem Formulation
  4. System Model
  5. Objectives
  6. Security Issues and Adversary Model
  7. Security in MAVLink Communications
  8. Encryption and Decryption Model
  9. Encryption Algorithms
  10. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
  11. ChaCha20
  12. Speck
  13. Rabbit
  14. Key Setup Scheme
  15. Next State Function
  16. ...and 17 more sections

Figures (17)

  • Figure 1: The figure shows the communication between a UAV and a GCS.
  • Figure 2: The figure shows the MAVLink 2.0 packet structure.
  • Figure 3: The figure shows the adversary model.
  • Figure 4: The figure shows the integration of security algorithms in the MAVLink protocol.
  • Figure 5: The figure shows the encryption process in counter mode perlman2016network.
  • ...and 12 more figures