A Study Regarding the Impact of Navigation Data Manipulation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle GNSS Sensors

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems have proven to be very useful in a variety of applications, such as monitoring and surveying an area of interest, mapping inaccessible terrain, real-time traffic monitoring, reconnaissance missions, transport of loads, and also for military purposes. The movement and stability in the air of these systems is dependent on the on-board sensors such as GNSS sensors, proximity sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, light and temperature sensors. GNSS sensors are vital devices capable of processing navigation signals to determine the position, orientation and speed of the UAV system during operation. GNSS sensors are also used in many applications that require navigation data as well as highly accurate synchronization data. Both GNSS systems and the sensors that process their data have been shown to be vulnerable to jamming and spoofing attacks. GNSS sensors are of particular importance and the information provided by them requires protection. Considering these things, this paper aims to carry out a study in which several UAV systems will be exposed to signal samples with manipulated navigation data. This study will help us to assess the impact of exploiting GNSS sensor vulnerabilities and the effects it can have during the operation of UAV systems.