A team of interns at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Center for Aerospace Resilient Systems (CARS) spent this summer working on a new space satellite simulation tool.

The tool, known as OrbitVE (Orbital Virtual Environment), simulates GPS and Starlink-like satellite constellations to test cyber defenders in areas such as spoofing, in which another signal is passed off as the original.

Intern David Sobeck, who plans to pursue his master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, said his work on the OrbitVE application pushed his interest in cybernavigation and simulation.

“This has been a very hands-on internship with a lot of AI and cybersecurity work, which were areas I wanted to branch into,” said Sobeck. “It’s honestly been amazing.”

In addition to OrbitVE, the team of interns made several capability improvements for the CARS Systems Integration Lab to support student-engaged research. Daniel Diessner, the executive director of Embry-Riddle’s Center for Aerospace Resilient Systems, said the student internship program is key to developing the next generation of aviation cybersecurity researchers and developers. The center conducts novel research and builds tools that solve aviation cybersecurity and communication issues across the aerospace ecosystem.

“The unique research we are doing is something that can really help our industry,” he said, “particularly with the exponentially escalating threats in the cyber realm.”

The center also brings in funds that support the student internship program, now in its second year, and seed grants for research, Diessner said.

“This is a stepping stone for students to bridge their summer internship work into future externally funded research by teaming with the CARS team on a proposal that could potentially fund their future graduate programs,” he said. 

12 people in a row in front of screen at the DEF CON conference
CARS researchers showcased the lab’s latest aviation cybersecurity tools at DEF CON 34. From top left clockwise, CARS interns David Sobeck, Jackson Stewart, Samuil Nikolov; student pilots Madi Amann and Juin Park; CARS Associate Director Sean Crouse; CARS software engineer Jake Neighbors; CARS Systems Integration Lab Director Jayson Clifford; and CARS Executive Director Daniel Diessner. (Photo: Jayson Clifford)

Defending Satellites, GPS Spoofing

Jackson Stewart, a junior Engineering Physics student who researched how AI-based tools could help flight crews handle cyber anomalies in the cockpit, said the internship has given him “a great perspective on how actual aircraft and aviation scenarios would work and background about flight operations.”

Samuil Nikolov, a senior majoring in Space Operations, is working on building an earth-sensing satellite constellation application and is excited to see further expansion into space cybersecurity.

“With OrbitVE, we are able to model more than 50,000 satellites,” said Nikolov, who also interned with CARS last summer. “After working with CARS for about two years, I have seen the shift into the space segment and the comprehensiveness of the systems that we’re building keep growing.”

The internship program culminates with the interns having the opportunity to “take their research and the tools they’ve built for the CARS lab and show that to the world” at DEF CON, the world’s largest cybersecurity conference held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, Diessner said.

At last year’s DEF CON’s Aerospace Village, the CARS team debuted their flight deck simulator, which which allowed participants to experience aviation cyber impacts like GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) spoofing in flight.

This year, OrbitVE was added to the flight deck simulator, allowing users to detect GPS spoofing based on changes in GPS signal strength.

Three people in front of a computer screen where participants are undertaking the CARD GPS spoofing challenge at DEF CON
Madi Amann (center) explains an approach procedure to a DEF CON participant as Juin Park (left) monitors simulator status. The participant is about to undertake the CARS GPS Spoofing Challenge. (Photo: Jayson Clifford)

“Last year, there was no way for pilots to tell how and when they were encountering GPS spoofing, because the simulation program didn’t provide enough information,” said Jayson Clifford, research scholar and CARS Systems Integration Lab director. “Now we have built out the program to provide more information, so when users sit down, they have a chance to win the scenario early.”

Participants at DEF CON 34 held last August were impressed.  The three students also presented their aerospace systems security work to attendees.

“DEF CON was an amazing experience, where we met people from every area related to cybersecurity,” Nikolov said. “It was very cool to be able to demonstrate the work that we have done and its complexity to people from all sorts of backgrounds.”