SECURE AIRCRAFT DATA CHANNEL COMMUNICATION FOR AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS

• US 20120177198A1
• Filed: 04/12/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aerotrack Pte Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Flight Focus Pte Ltd.
• Inventors: CABOS, Ralf
• Granted Patent: US 8,811,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

According to the application, a method for transmitting an encrypted aircraft related message is disclosed. A message is provided at one of a ground computer system or an aircraft computer system. The aircraft related message is arranged into data packets and at least one of the data packets is encrypted with an encryption key to obtain at least one encrypted data packet. The at least one encrypted data packet is transmitted from a sender to a recipient, wherein the sender is one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system, the recipient is the other one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system. The at least one encrypted data packet is received by a computer system of the recipient. A step of deciding whether the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system is provided. The step of deciding comprises an attempt to decrypt the at least one encrypted data packet with an decryption key, and the decryption attempt comprises analyzing of the message content. If it is decided that the decryption that the message is intended for the recipient, a step of processing the decrypted data message by the recipient'"'"'s computer system is provided.

Claims

1. Wireless receiver for receiving at least one encrypted data packet from a sender via a communications device, the wireless receiver comprising

a recipient computer system for receiving at least one encrypted data packet via a communications device,

an inspection means for inspecting a combination identifier which included in the at least one data packet;

a detection means for detecting, based on the combination identifier, if the aircraft related message is addressed to the recipient,

a decryption means for decrypting, based on an output of the detection means, the at least one encrypted data packet with a decryption key to obtain a decrypted data message,

a processing means for processing an output of the decryption means, wherein the communications device is located at a recipient, the recipient being one of a ground station or an aircraft and the sender being the other one of the ground based station or the aircraft.

6. Wireless receiver according to claim 1, further comprising

a means for deriving the decryption key from the combination identifier.

7. Wireless receiver according to claim 6,

means for XOR-ing at least part of the encrypted data packet with the encryption key to obtain a decrypted data block.

8. Aircraft comprising a wireless receiver according to claim 1, wherein the sender is the ground station and the recipient is the aircraft.

9. Aircraft, comprising a wireless receiver according to claim 1, wherein the recipient is the ground station and the sender is the aircraft.

2. Wireless receiver, comprising

a recipient computer system for receiving at least one encrypted data packet from a sender via a communications device, the recipient computer system comprising a decryption means for decrypting the at least one encrypted data packet with a decryption key and an analyzing means for analyzing the message content;

a decision means for deciding, based on an output of the analyzing means, whether the message is intended for the recipient computer system;

a processing means for processing an output of the decryption means, wherein the communications device is located at a recipient, the recipient being one of a ground station or an aircraft and the sender being the other one of the ground based station or the aircraft.

3. Wireless receiver according to claim 2, further comprising

a means for attempting to decrypt the at least one encrypted data packet with an encryption key;

a means for determining, based on output of the decryption means, if the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system

4. Wireless receiver according to claim 2 wherein analyzing means comprises

a means for parsing the message;

a means for searching for an identifier.

5. Wireless receiver according to claim 2 wherein the analyzing means comprises

a means for parsing the message;

a means for searching a predetermined keyword in the message.

10. Method comprising,

providing a message at one of a ground computer system or an aircraft computer system;

arranging the aircraft related message into data packets;

encrypting at least one of the data packets with an encryption key to obtain at least one encrypted data packet,

transmitting the at least one encrypted data packet from a sender to a recipient, the sender being one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system, the recipient being the other one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system;

receiving the at least one encrypted data packet by the recipient'"'"'s computer system;

providing a step of deciding whether the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system, the step of deciding comprising

attempting to decrypt the at least one encrypted data packet with an decryption key, the decryption attempt further comprising

analyzing the message content;

wherein, if it is decided that the decryption that the message is intended for the recipient, the following step is provided;

processing the decrypted data message by the recipient'"'"'s computer system.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein, if it is decided that the message is intended for the recipient, the following step is furthermore provided:

decrypting the encrypted data message with a decryption key to obtain a decrypted data message.

12. Method according to claim 10,

wherein the encryption key and the decryption key are provided by a session key, furthermore comprising the steps of

generating the session key;

encrypting the session key by the ground based system with a key encryption key;

decrypting the session key by the aircraft based system with a key decryption key.

13. Method according to claim 10 wherein the step of analyzing the message content comprises

parsing the message;

searching for an identifier.

14. Method according to claim 10 wherein the step of analyzing the message content comprises

parsing the message;

searching for a predetermined keyword.

15. Method according to claim 10, wherein

a symmetric key is used to encrypt the at least one data packet, furthermore comprising the step of

encrypting the encryption key with an asymmetric key encryption key;

including the encrypted encryption key in the at least one data packet.

16. Method according to claim 10, further comprising a step of discarding the message if it is decided that the message is not intended for the recipient, wherein the recipient is the aircraft computer system.

17. Method, comprising

providing a message at one of a ground computer system or an aircraft computer system;

arranging the aircraft related message into data packets;

encrypting at least one of the data packets with an encryption key to obtain at least one encrypted data packet;

transmitting the at least one encrypted data packet from a sender to a recipient, the sender being one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system and the recipient being the other one of the ground computer system or the aircraft computer system;

receiving the at least one encrypted data packet by the recipient'"'"'s computer system;

inspecting a combination identifier;

detecting, based on the combination identifier, if the aircraft related message is addressed to the recipient;

if it is detected that the message is addressed to the recipient

decrypting the encrypted data message with a decryption key to obtain a decrypted data message;

processing the decrypted data message by the recipient'"'"'s computer system.

18. Method according to claim 17, further comprising

providing a step of deciding whether the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system, the step of deciding comprising

attempting to decrypt the at least one encrypted data packet with an encryption key;

determining, based on the decryption attempt, if the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system.

wherein, only if the message is intended for the recipient'"'"'s computer system, the following steps are provided;

decrypting the encrypted data message with a decryption key to obtain a decrypted data message;

processing the decrypted data message by the recipient'"'"'s computer system.

19. Method according to claim 17,

wherein the encryption key is provided by the combination identifier and the encryption step further comprises XOR-ing at least part of the data packet to obtain an encrypted data block.

20. Method according to claim 17,

wherein the provision of the encryption key comprises

deriving the encryption key from a combination identifier.