document title / titre du document TRP W ORK PLAN ... - emits - ESA

TRP Work Plan 2005-2007
Description of Activities
TEC-SB/7935/dc
12/Feb/09
TRP Reference:
T104-11FP
Autonomous High Data Rate Secured Downlink System - Breadboard (Old title: High
Title:
Data Rate Downlink Data Processor Chain – Breadboard)
Security for Earth Observation (EO) systems including the space borne assets is one of the urgently to be addressed topics.
In addition guarantee the safety of the space assets the integrity and originality of the data from observation by space borne
platforms up to delivery to users on ground needs to be implemented. This classically includes security in uplinks and
downlinks and after reception on ground.
A study on link protection for EO systems (recently conducted by ESA, Contract No. 17176/03/NL/GS) showed, that currently
no agreed security concept for the space/ground links exist. The existing ESA Packet Telecommand Decoder standard
foresees only a very weak authentication scheme. Secure communication shall incorporate as minimum means for
self-authentication, key agreement, message authentication and en-/decryption of telemetry data. Typically the high rate
downlink is secured by encryption and message authentication. The encryption and authentication keys for the downlink are
classically generated on ground and sent to the space platform via a command uplink, which needs then be highly secured.
This is a feasible approach but requires the design of both a secured high rate downlink and a highly secured low rate up- and
downlink. Also it requires a bi-directional communication link for the key exchange and authentication. Some ground stations
are not providing real-time full duplex communication.
A secured downlink system should be as far as feasible decoupled from the requirements of the command/control links, taking
into account, that evaluation, standardization, development and implementation of a secured command and control link will
take some years time from the current view.
There are algorithms existing that provide secure key exchange and authentication by using a unidirectional link, only. Elliptic
Curve (EC) based cryptography today is regarded as high secure implementation of the standard techniques. An EC based
unidirectional scheme could provide the necessary level of security for a unidirectional link.
The keys for encryption and authentication could in principle be generated on-board. This requires a cryptographically reliable
key generator to be implemented space compliant.
By combining both EC based unidirectional key exchange/authentication and on-board key generation an autonomous
secured downlink system can be designed, which is decoupled from the security requirements of the command uplink. This
could allow a straightforward “Sensor to User” end-to-end security concept.
The currently used downlink systems provide some 100 Mbit/s data rate. The applied algorithms and protocols shall therefore
be suitable for high rate implementation.
The study objective is to identify alternative and optimised solutions for future applications in EO downlink systems and shall
comprise following elements:
• Analysis of Security requirements for downlink systems including the on ground part;
• Design of a high rate secured downlink system with selection of appropriate algorithms and protocols;
• Breadboard (BB) implementation of core technology to demonstrate feasibility of high rate application as well as space
compliance.
Deliverables:
System Requirements Document, Breadboard of core elements + test report and test results evaluation.
Current TRL: TRL1 Target TRL: TRL3-4 Application Need/Date: TRL5 by 2008-2009
Application/Mission: EO, other programmes Contract Duration: 18 months
SW Clause : - Dossier0 Ref.: T-7794
Consistency with Harmonisation
Roadmap and Conclusions:
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