{"id":76896,"date":"2026-02-11T09:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=76896"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:01:26","slug":"signal-jamming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/signal-jamming\/","title":{"rendered":"New technology\u00a0aims to create resilient networks\u00a0in spite of\u00a0\u2018noise\u2019\u00a0from signal jamming"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cybersecurity project from Northern Arizona University aims to\u00a0better\u00a0teach drone technology how to ignore \u201cbad\u201d data from signal jamming, so a drone can continue its mission even in contested areas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Led by\u00a0<\/span>Bertrand\u00a0Cambou<\/span><\/b>, professor emeritus in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and CEO and co-founder of High Entropy Security, the\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technology offers a way to create resilient networks that can deliver information securely in the toughest conditions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The product\u00a0is a collaborative effort that\u00a0includes 80 technologies\u00a0Cambou\u2019s\u00a0cybersecurity lab\u00a0has invented that have been issued patents or have patents pending.\u00a0It\u00a0has been funded by the Army Research Lab and Air Force Research Lab for years;\u00a0now\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0being developed for commercialization with funding from the Regents Grant program,\u00a0a partnership between the Arizona Board of Regents and the Arizona Office of Defense Innovation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next six months, we\u2019re using these resources to prepare for commercialization,\u201d Cambou said. \u201cThe money that ABOR is spending is to help companies like ours be commercially successful.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How it works in a military setting<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

As uncrewed\u00a0aircraft\u00a0systems, or drones, become a large part of every country\u2019s military,\u00a0ways to block that machinery, or capture it and decrypt whatever communication is in it,\u00a0are\u00a0also increasing. Right now,\u00a0Cambou\u00a0said, a country could deploy 200 drones and only see two succeed in their mission\u00a0of delivering\u00a0data\u00a0securely from one point to another through hostile, or zero-trust, territory.\u00a0That puts people,\u00a0plans\u00a0and resources at risk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2021,\u00a0NAU\u2019s cybersecurity lab\u00a0proposed\u00a0a new technology. Right now, the military sends encrypted data to drones to complete a mission, and enemies use signal jamming to block, disrupt or degrade communication between the drone and the operator.\u00a0Signal jamming\u00a0leads to\u00a0lots of failed missions,\u00a0Cambou\u00a0said;\u00a0the best technology\u00a0fails when\u00a0when\u00a020-25%\u00a0of the data it receives is\u00a0corrupted.\u00a0The military needed a way to ensure that drones can\u00a0both\u00a0receive key information successfully and\u00a0keep\u00a0its\u00a0own\u00a0encrypted data\u00a0safe.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The novel\u00a0solution,\u00a0for\u00a0which\u00a0NAU\u00a0has since developed prototypes,\u00a0is a new mechanism that will allow a drone to have up to 45%\u00a0bad\u00a0data and still be able to\u00a0identify\u00a0and act on the correct data.\u00a0The research\u00a0team, which includes\u00a0associate professor\u00a0<\/span>Michael Gowanlock<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0undergraduate students from\u00a0associate\u00a0research\u00a0professor\u00a0<\/span>Julie\u00a0Heynssens\u2019<\/span><\/b>\u00a0cybersecurity\u00a0lab, tested the mechanism by introducing noise artificially. You\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0just use signal jamming technology wherever you want, so\u00a0the artificial\u00a0noise replicates the effects of signal jamming. They gave directions to a radio-controlled car, increasing the noise as they\u00a0went. Even with significant noise, the car\u00a0turned the\u00a0right\u00a0way\u00a0when directed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Good
The red code represents the bad, or corrupted, data that the software recognizes and filters out.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tests have shown that even with 40% noise in the transmission, the technology sees only 1 bit error per million bits in the encryption keys.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is unheard of,\u201d Cambou said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The technology\u00a0is also ready for the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur team\u00a0has developed software to incorporate all of the latest post-quantum computing algorithms that are standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, so when quantum computing becomes widely available, we\u2019ll be prepared for it,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Cristy Salanga<\/span><\/b>, NAU\u2019s patent manager and\u00a0cofounder of High Entropy Security. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0ready for quantum.\u00a0It\u2019ll\u00a0still be secure then.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Commercial applications<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enemy signal jamming\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0the only factor that stops technology from working. Factors as simple and commonplace as poor network coverage on the top of a mountain, a disaster-stricken area or even a crowded farmers market can stop tech like ATMs and credit card machines from working.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re using a drone, a self-driving or other tech, when you\u2019re\u00a0outside areas of coverage,\u00a0you\u00a0have\u00a0a dead spot,\u201d\u00a0Cambou\u00a0said. \u201cOne solution is to use\u00a0satellite, which\u00a0is\u00a0expensive, and\u00a0the bandwidth\u00a0is limited. With our technology,\u00a0we can\u00a0actually deal\u00a0with coverage.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It works, he said, because poor network coverage simply means the data is not clean; there are a lot of bad\u00a0bits\u2014same\u00a0as with signal jamming. Their tech recognizes the poor coverage\u00a0as noise, filters it out and focuses on the direction that is being given. Although the cause of the noise is different, the\u00a0filtering\u00a0method\u00a0is the same.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read about a new drone project that received ABOR funding for commercialization.<\/a><\/p>\n

Patents and inventions at NAU<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Cambou\u2019s\u00a0cybersecurity lab\u00a0is the most prolific inventor in NAU\u2019s history, with more than 100 patents.\u00a0But\u00a0this is\u00a0not the only\u00a0success at NAU. Led by\u00a0Salanga,\u00a0who is\u00a0program director for the\u00a0<\/span>NSF I-Corps,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0NAU\u00a0offers support for professors\u00a0seeking patents for their creations.\u00a0This allows researchers to develop technology\u00a0they can then commercialize.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It also makes for profitable collaborations. Some of the codes and methods\u00a0Cambou\u00a0used in the development of this technology came from Jeffrey\u00a0Hoffstein, a mathematician at Brown University who is a leader in\u00a0the field of cryptography. He is the chief innovation officer for High Entropy Security,\u00a0and in part due to their partnership,\u00a0the\u00a0company has an exclusive licensing agreement with Brown.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Images taken by cybersecurity Ph.D. student Logan Garrett<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Graphic<\/p>\n

\"Graphic<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cybersecurity project from Northern Arizona University aims to\u00a0better\u00a0teach drone technology how to ignore \u201cbad\u201d data from signal jamming, so a drone can continue its mission even in contested areas.\u00a0 Led by\u00a0Bertrand\u00a0Cambou, professor emeritus in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and CEO and co-founder of High Entropy Security, the\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technology offers a way…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":76897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}