BLADE-CUAS Governance Node

Beam-Layer Authority for Directed Engagements, Counter-UAS Node - Reference Design and Simulation

An authority-governed Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) node that arbitrates authority between commercial detection sensors and the human operators authorized to act. BLADE-CUAS is passive: it does not detect, track, or mitigate drones directly. It computes classification confidence, federal-SLTT authority tier, ROE-aware engagement window, and a court-admissible evidence chain. It implements the nine-stage AUTHREX pipeline (SENSE, SATA, ADARA, IFF, HMAA, MAIVA, FLAME, ERAM, CARA) with a four-tier HMAA model (T3/T2/T1/T0) and Dempster-Shafer multi-modal consensus across radar, RF spectrum, EO/IR, ADS-B/Remote ID, and optional LIDAR. Sixth platform in the BLADE family, with approximately 75% architectural reuse from BLADE-EDGE.

This is a reference design and simulation (TRL 2-3 hardware / 3-4 simulation). No hardware has been fabricated. All parameter values are synthetic research placeholders. Empirical validation against physical sensors is a post-petition activity. No federal endorsement is claimed.

Publication

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20299604
Author: Burak Oktenli · Georgetown University, M.P.S. Applied Intelligence
ORCID: 0009-0001-8573-1667
License: CC BY 4.0 · Version: v1.0 · May 2026

Federal Drivers

• Executive Order 14305 (signed 6 June 2025) - Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty; expanded the C-UAS authority framework and authorized SLTT participation under coordinated regulation.
• FY26 NDAA Title LXXXVI - Safer Skies Act (P.L. 119-60) (signed 18 December 2025) - restructured the Joint Counter-Small UAS Office and codified evidence-chain standards.
• FEMA Counter-UAS Grant Program (P.L. 119-21 section 90005(a)) - FY26 Notice of Funding Opportunity active with $500M authorized for SLTT agencies.

Key Specifications

• Governance Plane: Xilinx Kria K26 SOM (Zynq UltraScale+ class FPGA + ARM Cortex-A53), hosting the AUTHREX pipeline as deterministic logic
• ML / Fusion Plane: NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB, running sensor fusion, ADARA inference, and classification ensembles
• HSM: Infineon SLB 9670 TPM 2.0 (FIPS 140-2 Level 2), holding ECDSA P-256 signing keys
• Secure Element: NXP EdgeLock SE051 for operator credentialing and mTLS certificates
• Sensors (reference targets): Echodyne EchoGuard radar, Ettus B205mini-i SDR, FLIR Boson 640 + Sony IMX585, uAvionix pingRX Pro ADS-B/RID, optional Livox HAP LIDAR
• Power: 250 W typical / 400 W peak; 280 Wh LiFePO4 hot-swappable battery; MIL-STD-1275 vehicle bus, 12 V automotive, and 110/220 VAC input
• Enclosure: MIL-STD-810G transportable case, NEMA 4X external rating
• Reference BOM: approximately $43.5K typical ($35K-$55K range)

Nine-Stage AUTHREX Pipeline (C-UAS Instantiation)

• SENSE: Passive ingestion of radar, RF, EO/IR, ADS-B/Remote ID, and optional LIDAR; each input ECDSA-signed at acquisition
• SATA: Per-sensor trust scoring tau in [0,1]; sensors below threshold excluded from consensus
• ADARA: Spoofed Remote ID detection against RF spectrum and radar; decoy and ghost track detection
• IFF: Operator credential verification (federal, SLTT, dual-role) via mTLS + HSM-backed credentials
• HMAA: Tier arbitration combining classification, operator role, geofence policy, and ROE (T3/T2/T1/T0)
• MAIVA: Dempster-Shafer consensus across modalities; minimum N=3 independent modalities for actionable classification
• FLAME: Tier-dependent deliberation window (4-8 s default at T2; immediate at T1 requiring explicit federal confirmation)
• ERAM: Engagement Risk Assessment Model scoring collateral risk, geofence proximity, operator certainty, and ROE compliance
• CARA: Recovery on misclassification; reverts state and emits a corrective audit entry

Court-Admissible Evidence Chain

• Every sensor input ECDSA P-256 signed at acquisition (TPM 2.0 hardware key); foundation for Fed. R. Evid. 901
• Hash-chained audit ledger (prev_hash linkage); append-only with periodic external anchor
• Decision provenance recording the full classification context; foundation for Fed. R. Evid. 803(6)
• Admissibility caveat: final admissibility is a judicial determination, not a system property

Validation Scenarios (Simulator)

• S1 Stadium - compliant commercial drone (valid Remote ID, radar-corroborated) - T3 track and log
• S2 Stadium - spoofed Remote ID with mild PTP clock drift - T2 SLTT defer
• S3 Motorcade - fixed-wing UAS, no Remote ID broadcast - T1 federal confirm
• S4 False positive - bird flock or natural-source returns - T3 CARA recover
• S5 Coordinated swarm probe - three simultaneous tracks; FLAME contracts under density - T1 federal confirm
• S6 Ambiguous track - partial credentials, mixed signals - T2 SLTT defer

Across a 300-run Monte Carlo batch (six scenarios, fifty runs each) the simulator records zero false tier elevations and zero false authority releases.

Standards Alignment

• RTCA DO-365 (Counter-UAS detection, track, and identification)
• MIL-STD-461G (EMI/EMC), MIL-STD-810G (transportable environmental), MIL-STD-1275 (vehicle power)
• FCC Part 15 (RF emissions for passive sensing)
• ASTM F3411 (Remote ID), 14 CFR Part 89 (FAA Remote ID rule)
• DoDD 3000.09 (authority tier model mapped to HMAA T3/T2/T1/T0)
• NIST AI RMF 1.0 (AI Risk Management Framework)
• Fed. R. Evid. 901 / 902 / 803(6) (evidence chain foundation)

Related Work

• SATA: 10.5281/zenodo.18936251
• HMAA: 10.5281/zenodo.18861653
• CARA: 10.5281/zenodo.18917790
• ADARA: 10.5281/zenodo.19043924
• MAIVA: 10.5281/zenodo.19015517
• FLAME: 10.5281/zenodo.19015618
• BLADE-EDGE (defense): 10.5281/zenodo.19177472
• BLADE-AV (automotive): 10.5281/zenodo.19232130
• BLADE-MARITIME (maritime): 10.5281/zenodo.19246785
• BLADE-INFRA (critical infrastructure): 10.5281/zenodo.19277887
• BLADE-SPACE (orbital): 10.5281/zenodo.20183269

Author

Burak Oktenli
Georgetown University, M.P.S. Applied Intelligence
ORCID: 0009-0001-8573-1667
Website: burakoktenli.com