Practical Zero-Trust for Mission-Critical Robotic Fleets via Hardware Attestation and Packet Timing Watermarking

Electrical Engineering and Systems Science > Systems and Control
[Submitted on 4 Sep 2026]
Title:Practical Zero-Trust for Mission-Critical Robotic Fleets via Hardware Attestation and Packet Timing Watermarking
View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:Autonomous unmanned vehicles are vital to tactical missions, mission-critical public-safety operations like search and rescue and disaster response. However, their reliance on open wireless links and standard Robot Operating System (ROS 2) middleware exposes a broad cyber-physical attack surface. A compromise of these systems can disrupt real-time control loops, leading to mission failure or asset loss in high-stakes environments. This paper presents and empirically evaluates a layered, context-aware cybersecurity framework enforcing Zero-Trust principles for a multi-node robotic fleet over Wi-Fi. The framework integrates an active hardware root of trust (TPM 2.0), centralized in-band and out-of-band SIEM telemetry monitoring (ELK Stack and Kismet), and a non-cryptographic Inter-Packet Delay (IPD) timing watermark. Evaluated on a live ROS 2 mobile testbed under multi-layer exploits (OSI Layers 2-5), results demonstrate that while volume-based filters isolate brute denial-of-service floods, tracking the statistical sample kurtosis (K) of the embedded IPD watermark exposes stealthy Man-in-the-Middle command injections with complete detection accuracy without payload overheads.
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Facts Only

* Autonomous unmanned vehicles rely on open wireless links and ROS 2 middleware.
* The cyber-physical attack surface of these systems is broad.
* The framework integrates an active hardware root of trust using TPM 2.0.
* Monitoring includes in-band and out-of-band SIEM telemetry (ELK Stack and Kismet).
* A non-cryptographic Inter-Packet Delay (IPD) timing watermark is used.
* Evaluation occurred on a live ROS 2 mobile testbed.
* Exploits targeted OSI Layers 2 through 5.
* Volume-based filters isolated brute denial-of-service floods.
* Tracking the statistical sample kurtosis (K) of the IPD watermark exposed command injections.

Executive Summary

A layered, context-aware cybersecurity framework is presented for securing multi-node robotic fleets operating over Wi-Fi in mission-critical applications. The framework enforces Zero-Trust principles by integrating hardware root of trust via TPM 2.0, centralized monitoring using SIEM telemetry from in-band and out-of-band sources (ELK Stack and Kismet), and a non-cryptographic Inter-Packet Delay (IPD) timing watermark. Evaluation was conducted on a live ROS 2 mobile testbed under multi-layer exploits targeting OSI Layers 2 through 5. The testing demonstrated that while volume-based filters effectively mitigated denial-of-service floods, tracking the statistical sample kurtosis (K) of the embedded IPD watermark successfully exposed stealthy Man-in-the-Middle command injections with full detection accuracy without incurring significant payload overheads.

Full Take

The core tension in this work lies between achieving high-assurance security in dynamic, real-time environments and maintaining operational performance. The integration of hardware attestation with subtle timing information suggests a potential path toward security mechanisms that operate beneath traditional cryptographic or application-layer scrutiny. The move from volume filtering (defending against denial-of-service) to statistical signal analysis (tracking IPD kurtosis) implies a shift in defensive focus from observable data anomalies to inherent, low-level physical layer characteristics. This challenges the assumption that high-stakes systems must rely solely on high-bandwidth, explicit security protocols; instead, exploitable information might reside in timing artifacts. The implication is that resilience in robotics demands monitoring the system's temporal integrity itself, suggesting a paradigm where trust is not just verified by credentials but also by verifiable physical behavior. Further inquiry should focus on whether this method introduces new side-channel vulnerabilities or if the statistical sampling process itself can be reverse-engineered to create sophisticated timing attacks.

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The text exhibits the high technical density and structured argumentation characteristic of peer-reviewed academic work rather than general synthetic content.

Signals Detected

Moderate sentence structure variance; technical density suggests domain expertise.

High internal logical flow typical of academic abstract structure, focusing on a specific technical gap and solution.

Absence of verbatim quoting or highly speculative attribution; methodology is presented clearly within the context of an experimental result.

Claims are grounded in specific technical terminology (TPM 2.0, ROS 2, OSI Layers) consistent with research literature; no obvious confabulation detected.

Human Indicators

The specific combination of advanced theoretical concepts (Zero-Trust, Hardware Attestation, IPD timing watermarking) and empirical evaluation setup points toward genuine technical research presentation.