Common use of System Model Clause in Contracts

System Model. Figure 1 shows the system model considered in this paper, in which we consider three major participants: a set of UAVs, a set of communication infrastructure or mobile edge computing operators [12], and a UAV service provider (USP) or the organization that owns the UAVs. Note that the communi- cation/MEC operators are companies that are different from the USP and specialize in providing connectivity, real-time analytics, and data processing support to the UAVs. For simplicity, we refer to these third-party communication service providers as well as mobile edge computing service providers as “MEC operators”. There are two major entities in an USP: control and monitoring center (CMC), and cloud data center (CDC). All UAVs are equipped with two PUFs [13] and also integrated with other services such as global positioning system (GPS), wireless communication interface, etc. In order to embark on a mission and be operational, each UAV first needs to register with the USP. Similarly, each MEC operator is required to register with the USP as well and they communicate with the USP via a secure channel. Each UAV is required to send its field data to the USP via a MEC operator. The MEC operators have enough computational capability to support both the UAV and the USP to establish a session key for facilitating secure communication. Since the operational region of the UAVs may span large geographical areas, the area over which a MEC operator provides its service is divided into several smaller regions. Also, it is possible that a single MEC operator does not provide coverage over all regions of interest for a USP. Thus, a USP may rely on more than one MEC operator for its operation. Also, in places with more than one MEC operator, the service rate and effectiveness of each MEC operator may vary based on the location and other factors. For instance, the service rate provided by the MEC operator in region Y (RegY in Fig. 1) could be higher than that in region X (RegX in Fig. 1). Thus, the UAVs should be capable of authenticating with multiple MEC operators without any compromise in their privacy.