Network Environments

3:00 PM – Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification-Objective Measure
Dr. Richard Dean, Wole Akpose DE, Wondimu Zegeye DE, Dr. Farzad Moazzami, Morgan State University

This paper presents an automated method for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) that is objective and measurable. CMMC (9) has recently been mandated by DoD to verify contractors have implemented required security measures necessary to safeguard Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). This ruling is effective in December 2024 and affects the IT networks of many federal agencies and contractors. This work builds on our prior work (8) to develop risk measures built on the NIST Controls captured in 800-53 and 800-171 & 172. We show how Security Controls are foundational to both Risk and Maturity Models. We show how developing measures related to Controls during development supports objective measures of risk and maturity that can provide measurable and objective measures in operations with automated measures for CMMC. Further we show how existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) data can be adapted and used to simplify and expedite CMMC measures in real IT systems.

3:20 PM – The Art of Encoding a PCM Telemetry Stream: Encoding a Telemetry Stream for Low Size, Weight and Power (SWAP)  Applications
Jin Hwan Choi, US Army – Army Futures Command

IRIG 106 Chapter 4 PCM compliant high-speed telemetry streams on resource-constrained microcontrollers are critical for defense applications such as medium caliber munitions and other SWaP- limited platforms. Low power microcontrollers often present limitations such as single buffer registers, that hinder continuous data transmission. Traditional protocols like Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) and Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) are unsuitable due to their inherent overhead. This paper explores techniques for generating compliant telemetry streams directly on low-power Texas Instruments (TI) MSPs. SPI is leveraged for efficient data transmission, achieving up to 10 Mbit/s and when SPI is unavailable, optimized bit-banging is used, achieving up to 625 kbit/s. This approach focuses on optimizing task scheduling and interrupt management to achieve reliable high-speed performance while maintaining power consumption under 10mW. The research provides valuable insights into overcoming the challenges of high-speed telemetry in resource-constrained defense systems.

3:40 PM – Real-Time Environment Monitoring for Sustainable Agricultural Practices
Julia Chan, Max Cohn, Bharat Kathi, Pablo Sandoval Rivas, Kriteen Shrestha, and Yogananda Isukapalli, University of California,
Santa Barbara               

An intelligent agricultural telemetry system that provides users with data-driven real-time insights and promotes sustainable farming practices is presented. This system is scalable and customizable, and leverages a distributed network of sensor modules to collect important environmental data that are communicated wirelessly. Designed for deployment in remote areas without internet access, the low-power sensor modules transmit data via long-range LoRa to a centralized base station, which does require internet connectivity. By tracking the location of each module and analyzing environmental data such as soil moisture and nutrient levels, the system enables robust environmental monitoring. The collected data is transmitted to the cloud, where it can be analyzed and used to provide artificial intelligence-aided suggestions for effective farming. This product utilizes efficiently powered embedded systems, paired with long-range LoRa wireless communication and cloud-based data infrastructure to monitor diverse agricultural environments. The presented product can be easily extended to the ground sensor or aggregation of airborne sensors scenario.

4:00 PM – System Design and Versatile Use Cases Approach for a Next-Gen Modular Flight Test Instrumentation
Ghislain Guerrero, Florian Galinaud, and Olivier Pinto, Safran Data Systems

A few years ago, Safran Data Systems presented the exploration of a new type of modular instrumentation that led to the realization of a proof of concept. This approach kickstarted the development of an innovative product addressing typical “pain points” of the Flight Test Instrumentation engineers. The purpose of this paper is to present the system design approach applied to this new product line. It will also demonstrate the broad range of use cases covered thanks to the versatility of this new concept and its standardized interfaces.

4:20 PM – Autonomous Navigation using SLAM and a Maritime RADAR System
Kevin Fan, Jason Rodrigues, Sreeganesh Siva, Neel Takale, Alex Xu, and Yogananda Isukapalli, University of California, Santa Barbara; Phil Tokumaru, AeroVironment, Inc.

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a lightweight Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) platform capable of autonomous navigation and remote coastline mapping. The system implements a radar-based solution with a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm to construct large-scale ground-truth maps for both localization and path planning. Radar is leveraged over LiDAR for long-range scanning due to its superior range and higher scan accuracy. The SLAM algorithm works by extracting and matching features from multiple radar scans, which allows it to stitch new features onto a large-scale generated map. The generated map is used in tandem with the on-board LiDAR unit, with the map being used to plot out proposed courses for the USV, while the LiDAR employs basic obstacle detection and avoidance techniques while pathing to the desired location.