Many organizations still view drones as “just a gadget” rather than what they truly are: advanced IT systems that collect, store, and transmit sensitive information. As a result, organizations are implementing drone technology without considering cybersecurity, creating unexpected security risks for Sweden’s critical infrastructure.

The consequences of insecure drones are becoming increasingly serious – from data leaks and financial losses, which can be costly enough on their own, to something as severe as posing a national security threat.

Delaying action on drone cybersecurity is no longer an option – it’s not a question of if, but when the problem will arise.

We offer Drone Cybersecurity Assessments 

RISE has developed the Drone Cybersecurity Assessment – a comprehensive cybersecurity evaluation that gives you control over your drone systems before implementation. This service is specially designed for organisations working with societal critical activities, where cyber security and functional safety are crucial. By analysing both technical and regulatory aspects, you get a clear picture of the safety status of your drone systems before they are put into operation.

The service includes

• Network communication: Analysis of which external services the drone contacts during start-up and operation.
• Data encryption: Review of how data is protected – is it encrypted and safe?
• Physical safety: Assessment of the consequences of theft or physical access to the drone.

Why you should choose RISE

As Sweden's independent research institute, RISE has unique expertise in both drone technology and cyber security. With our security assessment, you get: 

• Mapping of how your drones handle sensitive information.

• Identification of safety vulnerabilities and action proposal before they lead to incidents.

• A competitive advantage in procurement where security is crucial.

• Protection against becoming a weak link in Sweden's security chain.

We collaborate with other areas of expertise 

To provide a comprehensive overview of your drone systems, we can also involve expertise in: 

• EMC testing – electromagnetic compatibility and interference immunity.

• Functional safety – especially for safety-critical systems.

• Energy and infrastructure – for robust integration in complex environments.

What happens after the evaluation?

You will receive an independent and detailed safety assessment, along with recommendations tailored to your needs and risk profile. The results can be used as a basis for decisions, procurement or further development of your drone systems.

Contact us today!

Contact us to book a security assessment or get more information about how we can help your organisation. 

Background

Swarm technology is a projected next step in drone research and development. Today, an operator typically pilots a single drone. In the future, operators are expected to control multiple collaborating and autonomous drones that display an emergent behavior; their collective behavior emerges from local (and autonomous) interactions between drones. This presents new technological requirements and new cognitive demands for the operator. Specifically, questions are raised regarding which control mechanisms, feedback systems, and visualization tools the operator will require, and how these may affect the operator’s mental workload and situation awareness. The interaction design is also affected by the operator’s task and work context. It is therefore important to consider the technological, human, and organizational factors when developing autonomous drone systems.

Goal

The purpose of the HISOS project is to identify and understand the swarm operator’s command and control challenges and develop design solutions for systems and user interfaces to support the collaboration between humans and swarm systems. The goal is to develop design guidelines for human-swarm interaction that can be used to develop safe and efficient autonomous systems-of-systems.

Applications

The research conducted in the HISOS project is connected to several other RISE projects. For example, HISOS provides input to the CONTROL project which serves to develop a testbed for simulating and commanding autonomous systems-of-systems. In the Eyes-On-Scene project, researchers study how a drone can be deployed to assist in maritime search and rescue operations, where HISOS provides a vision of multiple collaborating drones for this use case. 

The insights gained from HISOS regarding human-swarm interaction can be generalized to inform the design of other autonomous systems-of-systems, like autonomous public transport systems, transport and logistics, or surveillance systems. Lessons learned also applies to the command and control of aerial, ground, or underwater autonomous vehicles. 

In most cases, today's drones are equipped with cameras for documentation purposes and have an operator who constantly monitors and/or controls the drone manually. In many cases, this is an excellent system, but there are times when a standard camera cannot measure what is of interest, or the object to be examined may be difficult to access or far away. This requires a drone system that can be equipped with other suitable sensors and has the ability to control itself autonomously in a safe manner.

At RISE, we design suitable drone systems for various applications, and we also build prototypes and carry out measurements. We are also experts in current and upcoming regulations to ensure that the solutions developed both work technically and can be used in reality in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We also offer third-party verification (TPTA) of safety solutions for drones.

We are developing a software layer called the Drone Safety System (DSS). This enables us to build different applications according to specific needs. The latest applications we have developed are:

• 3D imaging of objects at crime scenes.

We are also studying how swarms of drones can interact, and how an operator can control a large number of interacting drones without losing track of what the swarm is doing, while still being able to utilise its ability to make decisions on its own. We also run a test bed for drones.

RISE offers experts on the usage of drones at the airports for different applications including air surveillance, light calibration, ground survey. RISE helps to identify the use cases, specify the requirements, develop AI methods, as well as demonstrate the solutions.

Together with authorities and airports as needs owners, RISE brings drone-based solutions developed by Swedish industries to the airport environment. Solutions are expected to contribute to the future autonomous airports with advanced automation, connectivity and electrification, new skills, increased operation and resource efficiency, reduced emission and operational costs.

You have a prototype or product with drones and is exploring the potential of different applications areas. Or you as authorities or airports are exploring emerging drone solutions for ground operations. RISE takes the products from Swedish industry and design solutions for concrete use cases. RISE works together with partners and coordinate efforts for detailed application design, requirement analysis, as well demo and pilot.

With RISE as a research partner, customers can expect application-oriented research on algorithm development, detailed use-case based application development, demonstration, as well as impact evolution. For Swedish industry, this means the acceleration of product introduction. For authorities and airports, this means the early trials of emerging technologies for decision-making.

Luftfartsverket (LFV) has initialized a program with the vision of “The Autonomous Airport”. The first step was to establish a test site at Sundsvall and Örnsköldsvik Airports – currently under way. In order to support the vision for autonomous and remotely controlled airports and utilization of drones for the Swedish society, this project will develop drone solutions for automated operations at airports with the aim to minimize operational costs and environmental impacts, as well as to improve airport safety and resource efficiency. Airport surveillance such as border inspection is challenging and labor-intensive, especially for small airports. The project will emanate from the test site at Örnsköldsvik airport (OER) and will develop and demonstrate drone-based solutions for automatic airport surveillance. The major tasks include 1) use case identification and requirement analysis, 2) drone system investigation and prototyping, 3) drone communication solutions investigation and development for remote control and video streaming, 4) drone system demonstration at the airports.

This project serves as a first step to introduce drones in daily operations for airports. It will support OER airport as a pioneer test site for future airport automation, and for drone innovation in Swedish airports. The project will be supervised by LFV and Swedish Regional Airports and will consider the expansion to other small airports, as well as medium and large airports. While focusing on drone development, the project will also consider future integration of advanced intelligence. The knowledge will contribute to the society with e.g., automation techniques, policies, as well as business insights of drones in airports.