CSNet 2025 Keynotes

Keynote #1

Title: Securing the Skies: Advanced Technologies for Airspace Protection

Abstract: With drones becoming ubiquitous in civil airspace, their potential to transform industries is clear, but so is the growing threat of misuse. Malicious and unauthorized drone operations pose real risks to public safety and infrastructure. To stay ahead of these challenges, we need intelligent, integrated solutions for monitoring and control.

In this talk, I will introduce the latest developments from the Secure UTM Systems Lab, where we are advancing airspace security through a suite of cutting-edge technologies. Our work includes secure remote identification modules and services, computer vision-based drone matching and disambiguation, large language model-powered airspace monitoring, crowd sensing-driven surveillance, and intelligent contingency management systems.

Bio: Abdulhadi Shoufan received his PhD from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, in 2007. He led the Security Hardware group at the Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt until 2010. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at Khalifa University. His research interests include zero-trust architecture, embedded security, cryptographic hardware, secure UAV operations, unmanned traffic management (UTM), learning technologies, and engineering education. He has collaborated on projects with several organizations, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, PSEG, the Technology Innovation Institute, the UAE Ministry of Education, and Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security.