• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.93-100
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• 2023

This paper presents a novel approach for assigning group keys within a dynamic swarm unmanned system environment. In this environment, multiple groups of unmanned systems have the flexibility to merge into a single group or a single unmanned system group can be subdivided into multiple groups. The proposed protocol encompasses two key steps: group key generation and sharing. The responsibility of generating the group key rests solely with the leader node of the group. The group's leader node employs a secret sharing scheme to fragment the group key into multiple fragments, which are subsequently transmitted. Nodes that receive these fragments reconstruct a fresh group key by combining their self-generated secret fragment with the fragment obtained from the leader node. Subsequently, they validate the integrity of the derived group key by employing the hash function. The efficacy of the proposed technique is ascertained through an exhaustive assessment of its security and communication efficiency. This analysis affirms its potential for robust application in forthcoming swarm unmanned system operations scenarios characterized by frequent network group modifications.