A large international airport is a microcosm of the entire aviation sector, hosting hundreds of different types of aviation and non-aviation stakeholders: aircraft, passengers, airlines, travel agencies, air traffic management and control, retails shops, runway systems, building management, ground transportation, and much more. Their associated information technology and cyber physical systems—along with an exponentially resultant number of interconnections—present a massive cybersecurity challenge. Unlike the physical security challenge, which was treated in earnest throughout the last decades, cyber-attacks on airports keep coming, but most airport lack essential means to confront such cyber-attacks. These missing means are not technical tools, but rather holistic regulatory directives, technical and process standards, guides, and best practices for airports cybersecurity—even airport cybersecurity concepts and basic definitions are missing in certain cases. Unsettled Topics Concerning Airport Cybersecurity Standards and Regulation offers a deeper analysis of these issues and their causes, focusing on the unique characteristics of airports in general, specific cybersecurity challenges, missing definitions, and conceptual infrastructure for the standardization and regulation of airports cybersecurity. This last item includes the gaps and challenges in the existing guides, best-practices, standards, and regulation pertaining to airport cybersecurity. Finally, practical solution-seeking processes are proposed, as well as some specific potential frameworks and solutions. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity on the Air & Ground Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2021020

The certification process of the Boeing 787, starting in 2005, marked a watershed for airworthiness regulation. The “Dreamliner,” the first true “flying data center,” could no longer be certified for airworthiness ignoring “sabotage,” like the classic safety regulation for commercial passenger aircraft. Its extensive application of data networks, including enhanced external digital communication, forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for the first time, to set “Special Conditions” for cybersecurity. In the 15 years that ensued, airworthiness regulation followed suit, and all key rule-, regulation-, and standard-making organizations weighed in to establish a new airworthiness cybersecurity superset of legislation, regulation, and standardization. The resulting International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) resolutions, US and European Union (EU) legislations, FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations, and the DO-326/ED-202 set of standards are already the de-facto, and soon becoming the official, standards for legislation, regulation, and best practices, with the FAA already mandating it to a constantly growing extent for a few years now—and EASA adopting the set in its entirety in July 2020. This emerging superset of documents is now carefully studied by all relevant actors—including industry, regulators, and academia—as the aviation ecosystem moves forward with DO-326/ED-202 set training, gap analysis, and even with certification itself. This report suggests a deeper analysis of these sets of regulatory documents and their effects on the aviation sector as they gradually become the law of the land, starting with their expected effects on the aviation ecosystem, the issues they pose to supply chains, and the challenges they present to the airworthiness certification process itself. Then, this report examines the major DO-326/ED-202 set gaps, inherent dilemmas, and methodological uncertainties. For each such unsettled domain, six aspects are reviewed. Finally, practical solution-seeking processes are proposed, and some specific potential frameworks and solutions are pointed out whenever applicable. It is the intention of this report that these insights and observations would assist regulators, applicants, and standard makers through, at least, the 2020s with accommodating this new regulation and start adjusting it to emerging realities. NOTE: SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry. The goal of SAE EDGE™ Research Reports is to stimulate discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of identified issues. SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are not intended to resolve the challenges they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity on the Air & Ground Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2020013

Traditional physical infrastructure increasingly relies upon software. Yet, 75% of software projects fail in budget by 46% and schedule by 82%. While other systems generally have a “responsible-in-charge” (RIC) professional, the implementation of a similar system of accountability in software is not settled. This is a major concern, as the consequences of software failure can be a matter of life-or-death. Further, there has been a 742% average annual increase in software supply chain attacks on increasingly used open-source software over the past three years, which can cost up to millions of dollars per incident. Developing the Role of the System Software Integrator to Mitigate Digital Infrastructure Vulnerabilities discusses the verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification needed to vet systems before implementation and the continued maintenance measures required over the lifespan of software-integrated assets. It also proposes a certified System Software Integrator role that would be responsible for public safety in traditional infrastructure. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity and Trust Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2023028

While being the first to fly, the Wright Brothers were also the first and last complete “one stop shop” of aviation: the only case in human flight in which the same individuals personally carried out the research, development, testing, manufacturing, operation, maintenance, air control, flight simulation, training, setup, operation, and more. Since then, these facets gradually fragmented and drifted away from the aircraft. This report discusses the phenomenon of aircraft operation’s “fading humans,” including the development of flight instruments to support it, its growing automation, the emerging artificial intelligence paradigm, and the lurking cyber threats that all over the place. Controlling Aircraft – From Humans to Autonomous Systems: The Fading Humans examines the “fading” process itself, including its safety aspects, current mitigation efforts, ongoing research, and the unsettled topics that still remain. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity on the Air & Ground Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2023014

The Definitive Handbook on Terrorist Threats to Commercial Airline and Airport SecurityConsidered the definitive handbook on the terrorist threat to commercial airline and airport security, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen Sweet‘s seminal resource is now updated to include an analysis of modern day risks. She covers the history of aviation security

Up-To-Date Coverage of Every Aspect of Commercial Aviation Safety Completely revised edition to fully align with current U.S. and international regulations, this hands-on resource clearly explains the principles and practices of commercial aviation safety—from accident investigations to Safety Management Systems. Commercial Aviation Safety, Sixth Edition, delivers authoritative information on today's risk management on the ground and in the air. The book offers the latest procedures, flight technologies, and accident statistics. You will learn about new and evolving challenges, such as lasers, drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), cyberattacks, aircraft icing, and software bugs. Chapter outlines, review questions, and real-world incident examples are featured throughout. Coverage includes: • ICAO, FAA, EPA, TSA, and OSHA regulations • NTSB and ICAO accident investigation processes • Recording and reporting of safety data • U.S. and international aviation accident statistics • Accident causation models • The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) • Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Threat and Error Management (TEM) • Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) and Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) • Aircraft and air traffic control technologies and safety systems • Airport safety, including runway incursions • Aviation security, including the threats of intentional harm and terrorism • International and U.S. Aviation Safety Management Systems

Challenging the myth that the federal government exercises exclusive control over U.S. foreign-policymaking, Michael J. Glennon and Robert D. Sloane propose that we recognize the prominent role that states and cities now play in that realm. Foreign Affairs Federalism provides the first comprehensive study of the constitutional law and practice of federalism in the conduct of U.S. foreign relations. It could hardly be timelier. States and cities recently have limited greenhouse gas emissions, declared nuclear free zones and sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, established thousands of sister-city relationships, set up informal diplomatic offices abroad, and sanctioned oppressive foreign governments. Exploring the implications of these and other initiatives, this book argues that the national interest cannot be advanced internationally by Washington alone. Glennon and Sloane examine in detail the considerable foreign affairs powers retained by the states under the Constitution and question the need for Congress or the president to step in to provide "one voice" in foreign affairs. They present concrete, realistic ways that the courts can update antiquated federalism precepts and untangle interwoven strands of international law, federal law, and state law. The result is a lucid, incisive, and up-to-date analysis of the rules that empower-and limit-states and cities abroad.