Cyber Warfare — Applied Research

Wireless Power Transfer Security.

Supporting U.S. Air Force Academy senior design capstone projects on the security of wireless power transfer and wireless data protocols — from Bluetooth and RFID to LiFi and laser-based transmission. The work culminated in peer-reviewed publication at ACM WiSec 2025.

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Research Support

USAFA Senior Design Capstone Projects

Code Talkers Engineering supported the U.S. Air Force Academy Computer Science Department — Academy Center for Cyber Research (ACCR) — through a multi-year research engagement focused on wireless power transfer vulnerabilities and secure wireless data protocols.

The fundamental challenge: cybersecurity is consistently the last problem addressed when new transmission technologies emerge. Whether data or power, securing the capability against intrusion is non-negotiable — especially in the battlespace and space-adjacent environments where patching isn't always an option.

CTE's role was to mentor cadets, facilitate capstone projects, support academic publication, and help build lab environments capable of exploring genuinely uncharted territory in power and data transmission security.

Institution

U.S. Air Force Academy — CS Dept. / ACCR

Program Type

Multi-year senior design capstone research support

CTE Role

Mentor, capstone facilitator, co-researcher, co-author

Output

Peer-reviewed publication — ACM WiSec 2025

Scope of Work

Research Areas

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) Vulnerabilities

Identifying attack surfaces and security weaknesses in wireless energy transmission systems — from consumer charging pads to military drone resupply concepts.

LiFi & Visible Light Communication

Security analysis of data and power transmission via visible light, including interception, spoofing, and jamming vulnerabilities in the optical spectrum.

RFID & Bluetooth Security

Evaluating existing and novel secure protocols for near-field energy and data transfer, with focus on practical exploitation and mitigation techniques.

Lidar Security

Examining vulnerabilities in lidar-based transmission systems, including coherent attack surfaces and spoofing scenarios relevant to autonomous and space-adjacent platforms.

Secure Data Transfer Protocols

Developing and evaluating cryptographic and physical-layer security techniques suited for light-speed wireless transmission without encryption degradation.

Simulation & Lab Environments

Building reproducible simulation environments for energy and data transfer modeling, supporting academic publication and cadet-driven research.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Published Research

Improving Wireless Security Research: Cost-Effective Detection of Wireless Charging Vulnerabilities

WiSec 2025 — 18th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks

View on ACM Digital Library

The research demonstrated cost-effective methods for detecting vulnerabilities in wireless charging systems — a growing attack surface as wireless power transfer scales from consumer devices to defense and autonomous platforms. The work was conducted in collaboration with USAFA cadets as part of the senior design capstone program.