Aeronautical communication transition from analog to digital data : A network security survey
Résumé
The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive survey of security challenges in aeronautical data communication networks. The civil aviation industry is currently going through an evolution of the air traffic management system. The aviation communication technologies are progressively shifting towards the use of digital data instead of analog voice for traffic control, airline business, and passenger onboard entertainment systems. This paper illustrates the cause-to-effect chain link starting from the modernization of the aeronautical communication systems and leading to the network security concern in the civil aviation. The general threats to air-ground communication are depicted and then categorized. The paper gives an overview of the civil aviation industry efforts for securing the future aeronautical data communications. The security mechanisms and protocols proposed for this purpose are discussed. Open research issues and challenges that have to be addressed in the security of current and future aeronautical data communication networks are presented in detail. The paper concludes with some improvement directions which can help to address those security issues. This survey can be used as a reference guide to first understand the factors that urge both the research community and the aviation industry to be concerned about network security in future aeronautical data communications. Also, it can be used as a first reading to have a global overview of network security issues, challenges and potential solutions in air-ground communication networks.