Instant Friend-or-Foe Identification for Stealth Devices in Coalition-Drone Swarms

The war in Ukraine demonstrates the versatility of drones in modern warfare. However, only the initial steps of this technological disruption are visible. The evolution will bring a shift from individually operated drones to swarms of drones. These swarms will operate semi- or fully autonomously, diminishing the role of human operators. Instead of real time operations, humans will set mission objectives and supervise operations. The complexity increases further as drones from diverse origins, with different capabilities, and with different levels of trust, collaborate in joint missions. This poses a challenging research question of how to identify, quickly and securely, other devices in a coalition mission featuring numerous autonomously operating units. This article introduces a novel mechanism for securely identifying autonomously operating drones on the battlefield without prior communication. Pre-deployment configuration enables autonomous decision-making in missions, eliminating the need to consult third parties during the identification process. This research focuses on a scenario where an ongoing mission that has suffered from equipment depletion necessitates replacement with new equipment. The present paper demonstrates how a valuable device can securely identify its neighbors before revealing its existence. A practical example of the benefits is the ability to conceal the precise location of the valuable device by utilizing low-cost, expendable civilian drones as message repeaters. The primary contribution of this paper is a solution that allows a device to operate in a stealthy mode and to distinguish friends and foes instantly and securely without prior encounters. The proposed concept of secure identification facilitates trust management in coalition drone swarms operating on the battlefield. Transparent use of data encryption is possible, but it is beyond the scope of this paper. Beyond flying drones, this solution is applicable to any autonomous or semi-autonomous system across various domains, as well as to human-carried devices that benefit from stealthy operation.