Securing Drones from Hackers

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The first mass-produced drones commissioned by the Japanese government have been released for sale with a focus on securing drones from malicious hackers.

In a project carried out by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) through the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japanese firms gained over US$14 million in funding to create the small four-rotor Soten drone.

Developed by Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory (ACSL), Soten weighs only 1.7 kilograms and can shoot 4K video, mainly intended for industrial inspection missions.

Its maximum flight time is 29 minutes per charge and it is LTE compatible, capable of beyond visual line-of-sight flights.

The special point is the Secure Flight Management Cloud developed by NTT Docomo, which aims to make it difficult for drones to be hijacked or otherwise hacked by unauthorized users.

This cloud service operates integrally with the aircraft, and the data collected by the drone, including video and stills, is encrypted immediately inside the drone and then uploaded to the cloud for decryption.

The management screen can be accessed from the web.

In addition, this cloud service can centrally manage information necessary for operations, including the setting flight plans, managing flight team authorization, and monitoring equipment malfunctions.

The Safe and Secure Drone Basic Technology Development project was implemented from 2020 by NEDO, with the potential for cyberattacks from nations such as China and Russia at the front of the Japanese government’s mind.

Government agencies are expected to procure the Soten drone for many official operations.

ACSL predicts that it will sell over one thousand units by the end of 2022.

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