Control Layer Security: A New Security Paradigm for Cooperative Autonomous Systems

Autonomous systems (ASs) often cooperate to ensure safe navigation. Embedded within the centralized or distributed coordination mechanisms are a set of observations, unobservable states, and control variables. Security of data transfer between ASs is crucial for safety, and both cryptography and physical layer security (PLS) methods have been used to secure communication surfaces—each with its drawbacks and dependencies.