5G/6G Wireless Communications

Military 5G gets a security boost with anti-jamming research

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:01:12 +0000

Military 5G gets a security boost with anti-jamming research Teresa Donnellan Mon, 10/21/2024 - 15:01

As communication networks evolve, they present both opportunities and security challenges to military technicians. Over the past year, Assistant Professor Moinul Hossain from ��AV’s Department of Cyber Security Engineering has contributed to a research initiative aimed at ensuring the safety and integrity of 5G networks used by the United States military. Sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and led by the University of Maryland (UMD), the project focused on safeguarding military communications against potential threats such as jamming attacks.

Hossain’s colleagues will present their work, a research paper titled “Phantom Guard: An MDP-Based Anti-Jamming Defense Strategy for Military 5G Networks,” at the end of this month at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Military Communications Conference (MILCOM). As Hossain will be on leave during the conference, George Mason doctoral student Mahmudul Hassan Ashik, who contributed to the project, will join ARL’s Jeffrey Twigg and Fikadu Dagefu and UMD colleagues for the presentation.

Moinul Hossain. Photo provided

"As 5G technology becomes a cornerstone of global communications, safeguarding its security within military applications is crucial,” said Ashik, who is working on a PhD in cyber security engineering. “Our research tackles these complex challenges of protecting sensitive data transmitted over 5G networks in high-risk, adversarial environments."

While commercial 5G is already widely used for communication between devices, the military’s adoption of this technology necessitates additional measures to safeguard sensitive data and ensure secure communication, even in contested environments. Hossain’s project, which began in May 2023 and concluded in August 2024, centered on addressing this critical security concern.

"5G is a major pillar of national security, alongside emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing,” Hossain explained. “Its high throughput and low latency make it ideal for various applications, including the military. However, military use of 5G requires certain modifications to meet security standards, particularly to defend against adversarial threats like jamming."

Jamming occurs when an adversary sends a disruptive signal to interfere with communication channels, making it difficult for a receiver to decode the intended message. While this threat is not normally a concern for commercial 5G users, it is a major risk in military settings, where communication must be maintained even in hostile environments.

The research team focused on developing anti-jamming strategies to ensure military communications networks could withstand such attacks. Hossain likened this issue to bad actors compromising a secure office building (say, a headquarters) by infiltrating a less-protected satellite office. In military applications, particularly those involving unmanned vehicles or robots, compromising such resource-constrained devices could result in the loss of critical information at headquarters or even control over sensitive devices.

As the military continues to integrate emerging technologies like 5G into its operations, safeguarding these networks from adversarial threats becomes increasingly important. The collaboration between George Mason, UMD, and ARL demonstrates the critical role academic research plays in fortifying national security.

At MILCOM, the team’s work will be shared with a wider audience of defense and communication experts, contributing to the ongoing efforts to secure military networks in a connected world.

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Vijay Shah joins $2M NTIA-funded project on 5G cybersecurity

Teresa Donnellan — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 21:06:24 +0000

Vijay Shah joins $2M NTIA-funded project on 5G cybersecurity Teresa Donnellan Thu, 02/08/2024 - 16:06

��AV researcher Vijay Shah has joined a $2 million project to develop a system to secure 5G Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture.

Funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the project "A Holistic Cybersecurity Testing Framework for 5G Radio Access Networks" is a collaboration with Virginia Tech, Penn State University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Shah, who leads Mason’s NextG Wireless Lab, will be allocated nearly a quarter of the project’s budget and be working with Nishith Tripathi and Jeff Reed from Virginia Tech, Syed Rafiul Hussain from Penn State University, and Bo Tang from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Vijay Shah

Security vulnerabilities in O-RAN present a critical cybersecurity challenge in the era of 5G. The team aims to create “a holistic and automated cybersecurity testing framework for O-RAN,” per the project’s executive summary.

Shah will also receive funding from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) to investigate fingerprinting technology for 5G/NextG O-RAN supply chain risk management, additional funding that highlights the multifaceted approach taken by the NextG Wireless Lab to address 5G networks cybersecurity challenges.

As part of these initiatives, the NextG Wireless Lab is actively growing its research team, with opportunities for postdoctoral researchers and PhD students interested in O-RAN cybersecurity, testing, and supply chain management.

Those interested in contributing to cutting-edge research in this field should email Shah.

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Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at Mason

Tama Moni — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:34:23 +0000

Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at Mason Tama Moni Tue, 10/18/2022 - 16:34

A team of firefighters ascend the stairs in a high-rise engulfed in flames. The team disperses to put out the fire and search for survivors. Drones hover around the burning building and identify with pinpoint accuracy the location of each firefighter, who is wearing a sensor, sending this information back to a commander who has an “eye in the sky” vantage point.

The commander communicates with the firefighters, directing their movements, keeping them safe, and helping them extinguish the flames. If one member of the team hasn’t moved in several minutes, the system sends an alert to check on that person’s status.

Photo by iStock

You can imagine this scenario in a big-budget movie, but Vijay Shah, an assistant professor in the Cyber Security Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Computing at ��AV is working to make it a reality. If all goes well, firefighters will have a new, important tool like this within five years.

Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Shah is collaborating with colleagues at Virginia Tech and the Arlington, Virginia, County Fire Department on a 5G Indoor Positioning System that may someday be used by fire departments nationwide. Firefighters in Arlington will be testing the technology in a facility starting in 2025.

Advances in 5G network technology allow for this research because compared to other legacy wireless communications, 5G provides much greater accuracy and does not rely on equipment within the building, which may be damaged during a fire. A key development Shah and colleagues are exploiting is called “network slicing,” sending certain pieces of information over portions of the 5G network.

“The critical information, such as location of the firefighter, is sent in one ‘slice’ and in a much smaller packet, allowing for virtually no delay in information relay," says Shah. "Transmitting audio/video information requires more data, but any information lost there simply reduces the quality of the audio/video, which is not as important as losing someone’s location. That information would be put in another slice.”

Shah notes that 5G has key capabilities, such as support for various timing and angle-based techniques, device-to-device communication, and edge computing, which can be leveraged to locate users precisely and enable reliable communication infrastructure. Together this allows for much greater situational awareness of firefighters—and victims—by knowing their precise location and allowing for seamless communication among the firefighting team.

The drones add another level of complexity, and at least three will be needed around a building to guarantee high levels of accuracy. The team is working to ensure drone communications are synchronized precisely, as even delays as short as milliseconds may result in improper readings. Shah says that getting the independently flying drones synced up is one of the project’s biggest challenges.

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Mason partners with COMSovereign and Widelity to advance 5G innovation

John Hollis — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 16:14:32 +0000

Mason partners with COMSovereign and Widelity to advance 5G innovation John Hollis Wed, 09/15/2021 - 12:14

In June 2021, officials from COMSovereign and Widelity visited Mason’s Cyber Living Innovation Lab following their major equipment donations to increase the lab capabilities.(Editor's note: Masks were not required indoors on Mason campuses at this point in time.) Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

For Duminda Wijesekera, ��AV’s work in cybersecurity of 5G is critical to helping create the 5G-enabling applications that are already propelling businesses, communities and higher education.

“Wireless networking technology has become an important underpinning of the modern world, without which commerce and nearly every other facet of day-to-day life as we know it would be disrupted and even halted,” said Wijesekera, a professor in Mason’s Department of Computer Science and the acting chair of the Department of Cyber Security Engineering.

That is why the Mason’s partnership with COMSovereign Holding Corp. and Widelity Inc. is so significant.

The joint collaboration aims to research and build 5G-enabling applications and technologies to create new business, community, and higher education engagements and builds on Mason’s work in 5G and the ecosystem of university, industry and government partners collaborating through the Northern Virginia Node of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI).

The cybersecurity of 5G has been a focus area for CCI since its inception in 2019.

“CCI has been a catalyst for connecting industry and government cybersecurity challenges with university faculty with expertise, innovative technologies, and solutions,” said Liza Wilson Durant, Mason’s associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement and the director of the Northern Virginia Node of CCI. “University-industry partnerships such as this one accelerate delivery of new solutions to the innovation ecosystem.”

Through the partnership, Mason will provide research and development and concept development of 5G applications, such as connected transport and smart infrastructure.

COMSovereign will support the research by providing stand-alone 5G wireless network hardware and related support services that include a complete, turnkey 5G network featuring a 3GPP standardized, 5G Core (5GCN), and 5G gNodeB base station.

Widelity will contribute business and engineering services in technology strategy, research and development, network design, lab testing and integration, and network deployment. The collaboration is expected to accelerate advances in cybersecurity of 5G and implementation of 5G in smart communities, which will support the growing innovation ecosystem in the region.

Dustin McIntire, the chief technology officer of COMSovereign, said his company was pleased to partner with Mason and Widelity on the cutting-edge 5G smart-campus program.

“Our mission remains focused on unlocking the true potential of 5G through the development and commercialization of advanced, American-made wireless infrastructure,” McIntire said. “By leveraging the proven integration capabilities of Widelity with the research capabilities of the Mason team, we believe that not only will we be able to advance 5G technology, but we will greatly expand the potential use cases of this technology for customers across both government and commercial sectors.”

Parag Singh, the managing director at Widelity, called the joint effort “an organized digital innovation partnership bringing technology, academia, and integration components to solve complex problems together.”

“We believe that 5G/Cyber accelerator program with Mason and COMSovereign will create an organic entrepreneurial ecosystem and serve the regional economy via next-gen research expansion and growth in STEM talent,” Singh said.