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PSCR UAS Working Group Reading List
| Title | Description | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomous Cybersecurity and AI Risk Management for Uncrewed Systems: Challenges and Opportunities Using the NIST Frameworks | Properly managing cybersecurity and AI risks can rapidly increase the adoption of autonomous drone technologies, by contextualizing these risks and supporting users in making informed choices about them. This paper uses the NIST Cyber Security Framework 2.0, and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, to put these risks in context for all stakeholders, from policymakers through to the boots-on-the-ground. | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| Autonomous Aerial Drones Connecting Public Safety: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future | Communication relay drones bring unique capabilities to current and future public safety missions; also to consider are the potential challenges faced in a UAS deployment, and the regulatory and ethical considerations that come with UAS use. This paper dovetails NIST PSCR's UAS portfolio work to drive the development of UAS for public safety, emphasizing reliable communications, responsible management of AI and Cybersecurity risk, and application-relevant performance measurement. | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| Drone as First Responder Programs: A New Paradigm in Policing | The Drone as First Responder (DFR) application encapsulates many of the Cybersecurity and AI Risk Management challenges facing public safety. This report provides a good overview of many of the application-specific issues that need to be considered, both for DFR in particular, and for increasingly connected and autonomous UAS operations more generally. | MITRE |
| NIST AI Risk Management Framework | The NIST AI Risk Management Framework provides a 50,000 foot, application-agnostic view of how AI risk is managed. It is one of the documents that forms the basis of the activities of this working group, which aims to create application-specific resources based on this framework. | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 (Draft Available) | The NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, due to be released in mid-February 2024, provides a 50,000 foot, application-agnostic view of how cybersecurity risk is managed. It is one of the documents that forms the basis of the activities of this working group, which aims to create application-specific resources based on this framework. | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| UC Berkeley AI Risk-Management Standards Profile for General-Purpose AI Systems (GPAIS) and Foundation Models | This is one of the first application-specific profiles to be created for the AI Risk Management Framework. One of the anticipated documents to be produced by this working group is an equivalent profile for the UAS in Public Safety application. While the two applications have significant differences, it may still be useful as an example of what an application-specific profile might look like. | University of California, Berkeley |
| Artificial Intelligence in Justice and Public Safety Whitepaper | The data, generally video and images, gathered from UAS, are increasingly being fed into AI systems for justice and public safety purposes. This whitepaper provides an overview of some of the ethical, societal, and administration of justice risks associated with the use of AI in these systems that are increasingly coupled to UAS. It also provides a good overview of AI more generally, in a justice and public safety context. | IJIS Technology and Architecture Committee (ITAC) |
| Cyber Hygiene Whitepaper by the IJIS Institute | UAS in public safety are increasingly connected to systems that contain sensitive information, and the UAS itself can sometimes be gathering sensitive information. While this whitepaper is focused on more traditional IT systems, its guidance still applies to highly connected UAS. Of course, it is also just a starting point, for UAS also require additional cyber hygiene practices. One of the goals of this working group is to develop guidance as to what additional cyber hygiene measures should be taken beyond those of traditional IT systems. | IJIS Institute |
| Restoring Communication After a Disaster | The intersection between communications technologies and UAS has grown tremendously in the past few years. This article provides an overview of the multitude of ways in which UAS may be connected to other systems. This understanding is critical to analyzing the exposure of the UAS to risk, particularly in terms of cybersecurity. | Inside Unmanned Systems |
| NIST Response to the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence | AI risks have become increasingly topical, and resources are starting to be devoted to its management. The NIST response provides an overview of where resources are available and opportunities that the working group has for leveraging this increased awareness and activity to produce guidance for public safety. | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) |
| Fact Sheet on the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence | Significant resources are being devoted across government to address at least specific aspects of other AI Risk Management problem. This fact sheet provides an overview of where those resources could be leveraged for the UAS in Public Safety application. | The White House |
| What Self-Driving Cars Tell Us About AI Risks | The experience of the self-driving car industry, which has arguably significantly greater funding and visibility than the UAS space, is informative in seeing where the future issues might lie in terms of managing the risks of AI, particularly when controlling autonomous systems. While some of the concrete challenges are different between self driving cars and UAS, much of the underlying AI risk is very similar. | IEEE Spectrum |
| GNSS outages: Safeguarding global navigation systems in aviation | One of the core services that virtually all UAS used in public safety depend on is GPS, and its other satellite equivalents. Jamming or otherwise interfering with such systems has become more widespread as the cost of the requisite equipment has plummeted. Managing the risk that this poses a risk to UAS operations is a particular challenge, especially as, unlike crewed aviation, it is not possible to switch to conventional navigational aids. This and the following two documents outline some of the risks and ways of managing these risks. | European Business Aircraft Association (EBAA) |
| Recognizing and Mitigating Global Positioning System (GPS) / Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Disruptions. | GPS jamming and interference is not just limited to conflict zones, it is reported within the US on a regular basis, due to both legal and illegal activities. This FAA document describes the FAA's crewed aviation focused advice on the topic and highlights the need for similar guidance in the UAS space. | FAA |
| Ghost ships, crop circles, and soft gold: A GPS mystery in Shanghai | Like aviation, the shipping industry has also come to rely on GPS as a largey unquestioned source of truth. This article describes a specific case of deliberate long term GPS interference, unsolved at the time of publication, that resulted in significant actual risk to GPS users in a highly populated area. One could easily imagine the significant risks of operating an autonomous UAS in such a situation. | MIT Technology Review |
| The Serious Threat Of GPS Spoofing: An Analysis | A new menace called GPS Spoofing has led to 20 separate incidents of civilian jet navigation failures near Iraq. | Aviation Week Network |
Created February 27, 2024, Updated May 13, 2024