An RBAC-Based Access Control and Security Architecture for UAV Networks in Precision Agriculture Using Software-Defined Drone Networking

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, are widely employed in applications such as surveillance, delivery, mapping, and precision agriculture. Their flexibility, mobility, and cost effectiveness have accelerated their adoption in both civilian and industrial domains. However, the rapid evolution of UAV technologies introduces significant challenges related to limited resources, data processing constraints, and, most critically, security and privacy. Cyberattacks targeting UAV systems may result in data breaches, mission failures, operational disruptions, and risks to human safety. In our previous work, we proposed a lightweight identity authentication scheme based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and integrated it into a Software-Defined Drone Network (SDDN) architecture to ensure strong security with low computational overhead. Building on this foundation, the present study focuses on the agricultural domain, where UAVs are increasingly used for crop monitoring, precision farming, and environmental data collection. Due to the sensitivity of agricultural data and the involvement of multiple stakeholders, fine-grained access control is essential. The main contribution of this work is the design and evaluation of an SDDN-based security framework that integrates role-based access control (RBAC) with trust management to enable secure, scalable, and controlled UAV operations in agricultural environments. The framework restricts user actions according to predefined roles, improving system security and manageability. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively enforces access policies, enhances trust-aware decision making, and maintains low computational overhead suitable for resource-constrained UAV networks. Validation is conducted using Python and YAML-based configurations on Google Colab, confirming the practicality of the proposed solution.

@article{Kammoun2025,
  title     = {An RBAC-Based Access Control and Security Architecture for UAV Networks in Precision Agriculture Using Software-Defined Drone Networking},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {16},
  number    = {12},
  year      = {2025},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Nadia Kammoun and Aida Ben Chehida Douss and Ryma Abassi},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2025.01612128},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2025.01612128}
}