Alessandro Brawerman

Securing the download of radio configuration files for software defined radio devices

Radio configuration (R-CFG) files for software defined radio (SDR) devices can be downloaded over the air, allowing these devices to support multi-mode functionality using a single transceiver. SDR device manufacturers are likely to provide the R-CFGs, which may contain proprietary information. In such cases, it is necessary to secure the server/SDR device connection during the R-CFG download. Therefore, a protocol to securely connect manufacturers server and SDR devices, called LSSL, is proposed. The LSSL is a lightweight protocol based on the SSL protocol, but it takes up less bandwidth, thus, it is more suitable for SDR handheld devices operating under low-capabilities, low-bandwidth and error-prone wireless links. However, securing the R-CFG download connection does not guarantee that a valid R-CFG, that is, an R-CFG that has been approved by the regulatory agency, has been downloaded. In order to install only valid R-CFGs, a secure download protocol is presented. The secure protocol includes, besides the LSSL, steps of mutual authentication, public/private key mechanisms for data encryption and decryption, and fingerprint calculations to check data integrity. Finally, the secure protocol is analyzed and shown to be deadlock and livelock-free, and to properly terminate. Experiments using Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) are performed to compare the LSSL and the SSL, and to demonstrate the feasibility of the secure protocol.

An anti-cloning framework for software defined radio mobile devices

The superior reconfigurability of software defined radio mobile devices has made it the most promising technology on the wireless network and in the communication industry. Despite several advantages, there is still a lot to discuss regarding security. One of the more dangerous threats in SDR wireless communication is cloning. Besides illegal billing, cloned units increase the competition of shared resources, the network congestion and degrade network services. In this paper, an anti-cloning framework for software defined radio mobile devices is proposed. In the framework, the SDR mobile device together with the wireless operator is responsible for detecting if it has been cloned or not. Another key point is that the framework is independent of the wireless communication technology, working well for different cellular technologies and the Internet. New pieces of hardware and new protocols are specified to avoid network services being used by cloned units. Proofs that analyze correctness of the protocols and the framework are also presented.

Towards a fraud-prevention framework for software defined radio mobile devices

The superior reconfigurability of software defined radio mobile devices has made it the most promising technology on the wireless network and in the communication industry. Despite several advantages, there are still a lot to discuss regarding security, for instance, the radio configuration data download, storage and installation, users privacy, and cloning. The objective of this paper is to present a fraud-prevention framework for software defined radio mobile devices that enhances overall security through the use of new pieces of hardware, modules, and protocols. The framework offers security monitoring against malicious attacks and viruses, protects sensitive information, creates and protects an identity for the system, employs a secure protocol for radio configuration download, and finally, establishes an anticloning scheme, which besides guaranteeing that no units can be cloned over the air, also elevates the level of difficulty to clone units if the attacker has physical access to the mobile device. Even if cloned units exist, the anticloning scheme is able to identify and deny services to those units. Preliminary experiments and proofs that analyze the correctness of the fraud-prevention framework are also presented.

A hierarquical distributed fault diagnosis algorithm based on clusters with Detours

A distributed system-level diagnosis algorithm allows the fault-free nodes of a system to diagnose the state of all nodes in the system. Diagnosis has been successfully employed for dependable network fault management. In this paper we present a new hierarchical adaptive distributed system-level diagnosis algorithm, Hi-ADSD with Detours which has latency at most log22N, but requires less tests and less diagnostic information than other hierarchical diagnosis algorithms. Nodes running the new algorithm are grouped in clusters. If a tested node is faulty, instead of executing more tests, the tester tries to obtain information about the rest of the cluster from nodes tested fault-free outside the cluster, such that the diagnosis of the system is not delayed. Each such alternative path to a cluster is called a detour. An extra test is executed on a given cluster only when no detour is available. The worst case of the algorithms latency is formally proved. Simulation results are presented.

A light differential download algorithm for software defined radio devices

Radio configuration (R-CFG) files for software defined radio (SDR) devices can he downloaded over the air, allowing these devices to support multi-mode functionality using a single transceiver. The drawback of this is that the wireless link is constrained and downloading the entire R-CFG could take some time. In an effort to achieve efficiency, this paper presents a new algorithm for differential download, referred to as light differential download algorithm (LDDA). The LDDA is the first differential download algorithm specifically designed for SDR devices. It presents several new features that make not only R-CFG differential download a possibility, but also allows the update of any software by differential download. Experiments using Java 2 Micro Edition are performed to demonstrate the feasibility and superior performance of the LDDA when compared with other approaches.