Robotics: Science and Systems XI

Guaranteeing Spoof-Resilient Multi-Robot Networks

Stephanie Gil, Swarun Kumar, Mark Mazumder, Dina Katabi, Daniela Rus

Abstract:

Multi-robot networks use wireless communication to provide wide-ranging services such as aerial surveillance and unmanned delivery. However, effective coordination between multiple robots requires trust, making them particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Specifically, such networks can be gravely disrupted by the Sybil attack, where even a single malicious robot can spoof a large number of fake clients. This paper proposes a new solution to defend against the Sybil attack, without requiring expensive cryptographic key-distribution. Our core contribution is a novel algorithm implemented on commercial Wi-Fi radios that can "sense" spoofers using the physics of wireless signals. We derive theoretical guarantees on how this algorithm bounds the impact of the Sybil Attack on a broad class of robotic coverage problems. We experimentally validate our claims using a team of AscTec quadrotor servers and iRobot Create ground clients, and demonstrate spoofer detection rates over 96%.

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Bibtex:

  
@INPROCEEDINGS{Gil-RSS-15, 
    AUTHOR    = {Stephanie Gil AND Swarun Kumar AND Mark Mazumder AND Dina Katabi AND Daniela Rus}, 
    TITLE     = {Guaranteeing Spoof-Resilient Multi-Robot Networks}, 
    BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems}, 
    YEAR      = {2015}, 
    ADDRESS   = {Rome, Italy}, 
    MONTH     = {July},
    DOI       = {10.15607/RSS.2015.XI.020} 
}