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Main Authors: Benchoubane, Nesrine, Yahia, Olfa Ben, Ferguson, William, Gur, Gurkan, Chakravarty, Sumit, Falco, Gregory, Kurt, Gunes Karabulut
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16761
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author Benchoubane, Nesrine
Yahia, Olfa Ben
Ferguson, William
Gur, Gurkan
Chakravarty, Sumit
Falco, Gregory
Kurt, Gunes Karabulut
author_facet Benchoubane, Nesrine
Yahia, Olfa Ben
Ferguson, William
Gur, Gurkan
Chakravarty, Sumit
Falco, Gregory
Kurt, Gunes Karabulut
contents In the face of adverse environmental conditions and cyber threats, robust communication systems for critical applications such as wildfire management and detection demand secure and resilient architectures. This paper presents a novel framework that considers both adversarial factors, building resilience into a heterogeneous network (HetNet) integrating Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation with High-Altitude Platform Ground Stations (HAPGS) and Low-Altitude Platforms (LAPS), tailored to support wildfire management operations. Building upon our previous work on secure-by-component approach for link segment security, we extend protection to the communication layer by securing both Radio Frequency (RF)/Free Space Optics (FSO) management and different links. Through a case study, we quantify how environmental stressors impact secrecy capacity and expose the system to passive adversaries. Key findings demonstrate that atmospheric attenuation and beam misalignment can notably degrade secrecy capacity across both short- and long-range communication links, while high-altitude eavesdroppers face less signal degradation, increasing their interception capability. Moreover, increasing transmit power to counter environmental losses can inadvertently improve eavesdropper reception, thereby reducing overall link confidentiality. Our work not only highlights the importance of protecting networks from these dual threats but also aligns with the IEEE P3536 Standard for Space System Cybersecurity Design, ensuring resilience and the prevention of mission failures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_16761
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Securing Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) Communications for Wildfire Management: Mitigating the Effects of Adversarial and Environmental Threats
Benchoubane, Nesrine
Yahia, Olfa Ben
Ferguson, William
Gur, Gurkan
Chakravarty, Sumit
Falco, Gregory
Kurt, Gunes Karabulut
Cryptography and Security
In the face of adverse environmental conditions and cyber threats, robust communication systems for critical applications such as wildfire management and detection demand secure and resilient architectures. This paper presents a novel framework that considers both adversarial factors, building resilience into a heterogeneous network (HetNet) integrating Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation with High-Altitude Platform Ground Stations (HAPGS) and Low-Altitude Platforms (LAPS), tailored to support wildfire management operations. Building upon our previous work on secure-by-component approach for link segment security, we extend protection to the communication layer by securing both Radio Frequency (RF)/Free Space Optics (FSO) management and different links. Through a case study, we quantify how environmental stressors impact secrecy capacity and expose the system to passive adversaries. Key findings demonstrate that atmospheric attenuation and beam misalignment can notably degrade secrecy capacity across both short- and long-range communication links, while high-altitude eavesdroppers face less signal degradation, increasing their interception capability. Moreover, increasing transmit power to counter environmental losses can inadvertently improve eavesdropper reception, thereby reducing overall link confidentiality. Our work not only highlights the importance of protecting networks from these dual threats but also aligns with the IEEE P3536 Standard for Space System Cybersecurity Design, ensuring resilience and the prevention of mission failures.
title Securing Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) Communications for Wildfire Management: Mitigating the Effects of Adversarial and Environmental Threats
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16761