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Articles 1 - 30 of 264
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Analyzing Microarchitectural Residue In Various Privilege Strata To Identify Computing Tasks, Tor J. Langehaug
Analyzing Microarchitectural Residue In Various Privilege Strata To Identify Computing Tasks, Tor J. Langehaug
Theses and Dissertations
Modern multi-tasking computer systems run numerous applications simultaneously. These applications must share hardware resources including the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and memory while maximizing each application’s performance. Tasks executing in this shared environment leave residue which should not reveal information. This dissertation applies machine learning and statistical analysis to evaluate task residue as footprints which can be correlated to identify tasks. The concept of privilege strata, drawn from an analogy with physical geology, organizes the investigation into the User, Operating System, and Hardware privilege strata. In the User Stratum, an adversary perspective is taken to build an interrogator program that …
Development Of A Security-Focused Multi-Channel Communication Protocol And Associated Quality Of Secure Service (Qoss) Metrics, Paul M. Simon
Development Of A Security-Focused Multi-Channel Communication Protocol And Associated Quality Of Secure Service (Qoss) Metrics, Paul M. Simon
Theses and Dissertations
The threat of eavesdropping, and the challenge of recognizing and correcting for corrupted or suppressed information in communication systems is a consistent challenge. Effectively managing protection mechanisms requires an ability to accurately gauge the likelihood or severity of a threat, and adapt the security features available in a system to mitigate the threat. This research focuses on the design and development of a security-focused communication protocol at the session-layer based on a re-prioritized communication architecture model and associated metrics. From a probabilistic model that considers data leakage and data corruption as surrogates for breaches of confidentiality and integrity, a set …
Applying Models Of Circadian Stimulus To Explore Ideal Lighting Configurations, Alexander J. Price
Applying Models Of Circadian Stimulus To Explore Ideal Lighting Configurations, Alexander J. Price
Theses and Dissertations
Increased levels of time are spent indoors, decreasing human interaction with nature and degrading photoentrainment, the synchronization of circadian rhythms with daylight variation. Military imagery analysts, among other professionals, are required to work in low light level environments to limit power consumption or increase contrast on display screens to improve detail detection. Insufficient exposure to light in these environments results in inadequate photoentrainment which is associated with degraded alertness and negative health effects. Recent research has shown that both the illuminance (i.e., perceived intensity) and wavelength of light affect photoentrainment. Simultaneously, modern lighting technologies have improved our ability to construct …
Approximate Dynamic Programming For An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Routing Problem With Obstacles And Stochastic Target Arrivals, Kassie M. Gurnell
Approximate Dynamic Programming For An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Routing Problem With Obstacles And Stochastic Target Arrivals, Kassie M. Gurnell
Theses and Dissertations
The United States Air Force is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to speed analysis in efforts to modernize the use of autonomous unmanned combat aerial vehicles (AUCAVs) in strike coordination and reconnaissance (SCAR) missions. This research examines an AUCAVs ability to execute target strikes and provide reconnaissance in a SCAR mission. An orienteering problem is formulated as anMarkov decision process (MDP) model wherein a single AUCAV must optimize its target route to aid in eliminating time-sensitive targets and collect imagery of requested named areas of interest while evading surface-to-air missile (SAM) battery threats imposed as obstacles. The AUCAV adjusts its …
A Thematic And Reference Analysis Of Touchless Technologies, Eric R. Curia
A Thematic And Reference Analysis Of Touchless Technologies, Eric R. Curia
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research is to explore the utility and current state of touchless technologies. Five categories of technologies are identified as a result of collecting and reviewing literature: facial/biometric recognition, gesture recognition, touchless sensing, personal devices, and voice recognition. A thematic analysis was conducted to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the five categories. A reference analysis was also conducted to determine the similarities between articles in each category. Touchless sensing showed to have the most advantages and least similar references. Gesture recognition was the opposite. Comparing analyses shows more reliable technology types are more beneficial and diverse.
Securing Infiniband Networks With End-Point Encryption, Noah B. Diamond
Securing Infiniband Networks With End-Point Encryption, Noah B. Diamond
Theses and Dissertations
The NVIDIA-Mellanox Bluefield-2 is a 100 Gbps high-performance network interface which offers hardware offload and acceleration features that can operate directly on network traffic without routine involvement from the ARM CPU. This allows the ARM multi-core CPU to orchestrate the hardware to perform operations on both Ethernet and RDMA traffic at high rates rather than processing all the traffic directly. A testbed called TNAP was created for performance testing and a MiTM verification process called MiTMVMP is used to ensure proper network configuration. The hardware accelerators of the Bluefield-2 support a throughput of nearly 86 Gbps when using IPsec to …
The Application Of Virtual Reality In Firefighting Training, Dylan A. Gagnon
The Application Of Virtual Reality In Firefighting Training, Dylan A. Gagnon
Theses and Dissertations
Immersive simulations such as virtual reality is becoming more prevalent for use in training environments for many professions. United States Air Force firefighters may benefit from incorporating VR technology into their training program to increase organizational commitment, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and job performance. With implementing a new training platform, it is also important to understand the relationship between these variables and the perceived benefits and efficacy of the VR training, which has not yet been studied in previous research. This study addresses this issue by gathering data from fire departments currently fielding a VR fire training platform.
Double Cone Flow Field Reconstruction Between Mach 4 And 12 Using Machine Learning Techniques, Trevor A. Toros
Double Cone Flow Field Reconstruction Between Mach 4 And 12 Using Machine Learning Techniques, Trevor A. Toros
Theses and Dissertations
No abstract provided.
The Impact Of Visual Feedback And Control Configuration On Pilot-Aircraft Interface Using Head Tracking Technology, Christopher M. Arnold
The Impact Of Visual Feedback And Control Configuration On Pilot-Aircraft Interface Using Head Tracking Technology, Christopher M. Arnold
Theses and Dissertations
Traditional control mechanisms restrict human input on the displays in 5th generation aircraft. This research explored methods for enhancing pilot interaction with large, information dense cockpit displays; specifically, the effects of visual feedback and control button configuration when augmenting cursor control with head tracking technology. Previous studies demonstrated that head tracking can be combined with traditional cursor control to decrease selection times but can increase pilot mental and physical workload. A human subject experiment was performed to evaluate two control button configurations and three visual feedback conditions. A Fitts Law analysis was performed to create predictive models of selection time …
Bayesian Convolutional Neural Network With Prediction Smoothing And Adversarial Class Thresholds, Noah M. Miller
Bayesian Convolutional Neural Network With Prediction Smoothing And Adversarial Class Thresholds, Noah M. Miller
Theses and Dissertations
Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for image classification for each frame in a video is a very common technique. Unfortunately, CNNs are very brittle and have a tendency to be over confident in their predictions. This can lead to what we will refer to as “flickering,” which is when the predictions between frames jump back and forth between classes. In this paper, new methods are proposed to combat these shortcomings. This paper utilizes a Bayesian CNN which allows for a distribution of outputs on each data point instead of just a point estimate. These distributions are then smoothed over multiple …
Team Air Combat Using Model-Based Reinforcement Learning, David A. Mottice
Team Air Combat Using Model-Based Reinforcement Learning, David A. Mottice
Theses and Dissertations
We formulate the first generalized air combat maneuvering problem (ACMP), called the MvN ACMP, wherein M friendly AUCAVs engage against N enemy AUCAVs, developing a Markov decision process (MDP) model to control the team of M Blue AUCAVs. The MDP model leverages a 5-degree-of-freedom aircraft state transition model and formulates a directed energy weapon capability. Instead, a model-based reinforcement learning approach is adopted wherein an approximate policy iteration algorithmic strategy is implemented to attain high-quality approximate policies relative to a high performing benchmark policy. The ADP algorithm utilizes a multi-layer neural network for the value function approximation regression mechanism. One-versus-one …
Exploiting The Iot Through Network-Based Covert Channels, Kyle S. Harris
Exploiting The Iot Through Network-Based Covert Channels, Kyle S. Harris
Theses and Dissertations
Information leaks are a top concern to industry and government leaders. The IoT is a technology capable of sensing real-world events. A method for exfiltrating data from these devices is by covert channel. This research designs a novel IoT CTC without the need for inter-packet delays to encode data. Instead, it encodes data within preexisting network information, namely ports or addresses. Additionally, the CTC can be implemented in two different modes: Stealth and Bandwidth. Performance is measured using throughput and detectability. The Stealth methods mimic legitimate traffic captures while the Bandwidth methods forgo this approach for maximum throughput. Detection results …
Malware Detection Using Electromagnetic Side-Channel Analysis, Matthew A. Bergstedt
Malware Detection Using Electromagnetic Side-Channel Analysis, Matthew A. Bergstedt
Theses and Dissertations
Many physical systems control or monitor important applications without the capacity to monitor for malware using on-device resources. Thus, it becomes valuable to explore malware detection methods for these systems utilizing external or off-device resources. This research investigates the viability of employing EM SCA to determine whether a performed operation is normal or malicious. A Raspberry Pi 3 was set up as a simulated motor controller with code paths for a normal or malicious operation. While the normal path only calculated the motor speed before updating the motor, the malicious path added a line of code to modify the calculated …
Application Of Machine Learning Models With Numerical Simulations Of An Experimental Microwave Induced Plasma Gasification Reactor, Owen D. Sedej
Application Of Machine Learning Models With Numerical Simulations Of An Experimental Microwave Induced Plasma Gasification Reactor, Owen D. Sedej
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis aims to contribute to the future development of this technology by providing an in-depth literature review of how this technology physically operates and can be numerically modeled. Additionally, this thesis reviews literature of machine learning models that have been applied to gasification to make accurate predictions regarding the system. Finally, this thesis provides a framework of how to numerically model an experimental plasma gasification reactor in order to inform a variety of machine learning models.
Identifying Characteristics For Success Of Robotic Process Automations, Charles M. Unkrich
Identifying Characteristics For Success Of Robotic Process Automations, Charles M. Unkrich
Theses and Dissertations
In the pursuit of digital transformation, the Air Force creates digital airmen. Digital airmen are robotic process automations designed to eliminate the repetitive high-volume low-cognitive tasks that absorb so much of our Airmen's time. The automation product results in more time to focus on tasks that machines cannot sufficiently perform data analytics and improving the Air Force's informed decision-making. This research investigates the assessment of potential automation cases to ensure that we choose viable tasks for automation and applies multivariate analysis to determine which factors indicate successful projects. The data is insufficient to provide significant insights.
Analysis Of Generalized Artificial Intelligence Potential Through Reinforcement And Deep Reinforcement Learning Approaches, Jonathan Turner
Analysis Of Generalized Artificial Intelligence Potential Through Reinforcement And Deep Reinforcement Learning Approaches, Jonathan Turner
Theses and Dissertations
Artificial Intelligence is the next competitive domain; the first nation to develop human level artificial intelligence will have an impact similar to the development of the atomic bomb. To maintain the security of the United States and her people, the Department of Defense has funded research into the development of artificial intelligence and its applications. This research uses reinforcement learning and deep reinforcement learning methods as proxies for current and future artificial intelligence agents and to assess potential issues in development. Agent performance were compared across two games and one excursion: Cargo Loading, Tower of Hanoi, and Knapsack Problem, respectively. …
Enterprise Resource Allocation For Intruder Detection And Interception, Adam B. Haywood
Enterprise Resource Allocation For Intruder Detection And Interception, Adam B. Haywood
Theses and Dissertations
This research considers the problem of an intruder attempting to traverse a defender's territory in which the defender locates and employs disparate sets of resources to lower the probability of a successful intrusion. The research is conducted in the form of three related research components. The first component examines the problem in which the defender subdivides their territory into spatial stages and knows the plan of intrusion. Alternative resource-probability modeling techniques as well as variable bounding techniques are examined to improve the convergence of global solvers for this nonlinear, nonconvex optimization problem. The second component studies a similar problem but …
Laser Illuminated Imaging: Beam And Scene Deconvolution Algorithm, Benjamin W. Davis
Laser Illuminated Imaging: Beam And Scene Deconvolution Algorithm, Benjamin W. Davis
Theses and Dissertations
Laser illuminated imaging systems deal with several physical challenges that must be overcome to achieve high-resolution images of the target. Noise sources like background noise, photon counting noise, and laser speckle noise will all greatly affect the imaging systems ability to produce a high-resolution image. An even bigger challenge to laser illuminated imaging systems is atmospheric turbulence and the effect that it will have on the imaging system. The illuminating beam will experience tilt, causing the beam to wander off the center of the target during propagation. The light returning to the detector will similarly be affected by turbulence, and …
Aircraft Inspection By Multirotor Uav Using Coverage Path Planning, Patrick H. Silberberg
Aircraft Inspection By Multirotor Uav Using Coverage Path Planning, Patrick H. Silberberg
Theses and Dissertations
All military and commercial aircraft must undergo frequent visual inspections in order to identify damage that could pose a danger to safety of flight. Currently, these inspections are primarily conducted by maintenance personnel. Inspectors must scrutinize the aircraft’s surface to find and document defects such as dents, hail damage, broken fasteners, etc.; this is a time consuming, tedious, and hazardous process. The goal of this work is to develop a visual inspection system which can be used by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and to test the feasibility of this system on military aircraft. Using an autonomous system in place …
Long Distance Bluetooth Low Energy Exploitation On A Wireless Attack Platform, Stephanie L. Long
Long Distance Bluetooth Low Energy Exploitation On A Wireless Attack Platform, Stephanie L. Long
Theses and Dissertations
In the past decade, embedded technology, known as the Internet of Things, has expanded for many uses. The smart home infrastructure has drastically grown to include networked refrigerators, lighting systems, speakers, watches, and more. This increase in the use of wireless protocols provides a larger attack surface for cyber actors than ever before. Wireless loT traffic is susceptible for sniffing by an attacker. The attack platform skypie is upgraded to incorporate Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon collection for pattern-of-life data, as well as device characteristic enumeration and potential characteristic modification. This platform allows an attacker to mount the skypie to …
Infiniband Network Monitoring: Challenges And Possibilities, Kyle D. Hintze
Infiniband Network Monitoring: Challenges And Possibilities, Kyle D. Hintze
Theses and Dissertations
Within the realm of High Performance Computing, the InfiniBand Architecture is among the leading interconnects used today. Capable of providing high bandwidth and low latency, InfiniBand is finding applications outside the High Performance Computing domain. One of these is critical infrastructure, encompassing almost all essential sectors as the work force becomes more connected. InfiniBand is not immune to security risks, as prior research has shown that common traffic analyzing tools cannot effectively monitor InfiniBand traffic transmitted between hosts, due to the kernel bypass nature of the IBA in conjunction with Remote Direct Memory Access operations. If Remote Direct Memory Access …
Comparison Of Conic Ray Tracing For Occlusion Determination On 3d Point Cloud Data, Henry Cho
Comparison Of Conic Ray Tracing For Occlusion Determination On 3d Point Cloud Data, Henry Cho
Theses and Dissertations
The US Air Force has been increasing the use of automation in its weapon systems to include the remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) platforms. The RPA career field has had issues with poor pilot retention due to job stressors. For example, RPA operators spend a lot of time and attention surveilling a suspect on the ground for many hours, so adding automation to this activity could help improve pilot retention. The research problem in this thesis attempted to automate the process of observing a ground target. This thesis presents a method termed conic ray tracing for determining visibility and occlusion of …
Enumerating And Locating Bluetooth Devices For Casualty Recovery In A First-Responder Environment, Justin M. Durham
Enumerating And Locating Bluetooth Devices For Casualty Recovery In A First-Responder Environment, Justin M. Durham
Theses and Dissertations
It is difficult for first-responders to quickly locate casualties in an emergency environment such as an explosion or natural disaster. In order to provide another tool to locate individuals, this research attempts to identify and estimate the location of devices that would likely be located on or with a person. A variety of devices, such as phones, smartwatches, and Bluetooth-enabled locks, are tested in multiple environments and at various heights to determine the impact that placement and interference played in locating the devices. The hypothesis is that most Bluetooth devices can be successfully enumerated quickly, but cannot be accurately located …
Indoor Navigation Using Convolutional Neural Networks And Floor Plans, Ricky D. Anderson
Indoor Navigation Using Convolutional Neural Networks And Floor Plans, Ricky D. Anderson
Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this thesis is to evaluate a new indoor navigation technique by incorporating floor plans along with monocular camera images into a CNN as a potential means for identifying camera position. Building floor plans are widely available and provide potential information for localizing within the building. This work sets out to determine if a CNN can learn the architectural features of a floor plan and use that information to determine a location. In this work, a simulated indoor data set is created and used to train two CNNs. A classification CNN, which breaks up the floor plan into …
Automated Network Exploitation Utilizing Bayesian Decision Networks, Graeme M. Roberts
Automated Network Exploitation Utilizing Bayesian Decision Networks, Graeme M. Roberts
Theses and Dissertations
Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) is the process of using tactics and techniques to penetrate computer systems and networks in order to achieve desired effects. It is currently a manual process requiring significant experience and time that are in limited supply. This thesis presents the Automated Network Discovery and Exploitation System (ANDES) which demonstrates that it is feasible to automate the CNE process. The uniqueness of ANDES is the use of Bayesian decision networks to represent the CNE domain and subject matter expert knowledge. ANDES conducts multiple execution cycles, which build upon previous action results. Cycles begin by modeling the current …
A Cyber Threat Taxonomy And A Viability Analysis For False Injections In The Tcas, John W. Hannah
A Cyber Threat Taxonomy And A Viability Analysis For False Injections In The Tcas, John W. Hannah
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis provided background information on the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Additionally, the thesis developed a threat taxonomy for TCAS, resulting in the determination that a false injection attack presents the most comprehensive risk. Moreover, the thesis presents the development of a program to determine what ranges, altitudes, and relative bearings are most vulnerable to a false injection attack. The program includes test for all requirements of a successful false injection. Furthermore, the thesis presents an analysis of results and creates threat maps as situational awareness tools. Lastly, the thesis discusses potential solutions to the false injection attack, covers …
A Framework For Autonomous Cooperative Optimal Assignment And Control Of Satellite Formations, Devin E. Saunders
A Framework For Autonomous Cooperative Optimal Assignment And Control Of Satellite Formations, Devin E. Saunders
Theses and Dissertations
A decentralized, cooperative multi-agent optimal control framework is presented to offer a solution to the assignment and control problems associated with performing multi-agent tasks in a proximity operations environment. However, the framework developed may be applied to a variety domains such as air, space, and sea. The solution presented takes advantage of a second price auction assignment algorithm to optimally task each satellite, while model predictive control is implemented to control the agents optimally while adhering to safety and mission constraints. The solution is compared to a pseudospectral collocation method, and a study on tuning parameters is included.
Delayed Authentication System For Civilian Satellite, Sean M. Feschak
Delayed Authentication System For Civilian Satellite, Sean M. Feschak
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis presents the feasibility of a Delayed Authentication System (DAS) for civilian satellite navigation (satnav) receivers. In satnav systems, encrypted signal components are transmitted synchronously with civilian components. Hence, the civilian signals can be authenticated by detecting the presence of encrypted signal components within the received signal. To authenticate, a reference station transmits estimated encrypted signal spreading code symbols processed using a high gain antenna. In this thesis, it is shown that a 1-meter diameter dish antenna is adequate to provide a high probability of successful authentication, thereby reducing overall system complexity and cost.
Stereo Camera Calibrations With Optical Flow, Joshua D. Larson
Stereo Camera Calibrations With Optical Flow, Joshua D. Larson
Theses and Dissertations
Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are currently unable to refuel mid-air due to the large communication delays between their operators and the aircraft. AAR seeks to address this problem by reducing the communication delay to a fast line-of-sight signal between the tanker and the RPA. Current proposals for AAR utilize stereo cameras to estimate where the receiving aircraft is relative to the tanker, but require accurate calibrations for accurate location estimates of the receiver. This paper improves the accuracy of this calibration by improving three components of it: increasing the quantity of intrinsic calibration data with CNN preprocessing, improving the quality …
Optimizing A Bank Of Kalman Filters For Navigation Integrity, Luis E. Sepulveda
Optimizing A Bank Of Kalman Filters For Navigation Integrity, Luis E. Sepulveda
Theses and Dissertations
Alternative navigation is an area of research which employs a variety of sensor technologies to provide a navigation solution in Global Navigation Satellite System degraded or denied environments. The Autonomy and Navigation Technology Center at the Air Force Institute of Technology has recently developed the Autonomous and Resilient Management of All-source Sensors (ARMAS) navigation framework which utilizes an array of Kalman Filters to provide a navigation solution resilient to sensor failures. The Kalman Filter array size increases exponentially as system sensors and detectable faults are scaled up, which in turn increases the computational power required to run ARMAS in areal-world …