Uas authentication and security establishment

A method performed by a network equipment (NE), comprising:

• receiving, at a network function, a command and control (C2) pairing request from a first user equipment (UE), the C2 pairing request comprising at least one parameter for establishing secure communications between the first UE and a second UE;
• verifying, at the network function, the at least one parameter based on an unmanned aerial system (UAS) security context that is stored locally at the network function, the UAS comprising the first and second UEs;
• in response to successful verification of the at least one parameter, sending the C2 pairing request to a UAS Service Supplier (USS)/UAS Traffic Management (UTM) from the network function;
• receiving, at the network function, a C2 pairing response from the USS/UTM;
• and
• sending the C2 pairing response to the first UE from the network function to establish the secure communications.

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• at least one memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
• send, to a network function, a command and control (C2) pairing request for establishing secure communications between the UE and a second UE, the C2 pairing request comprising an identifier for the UE, an identifier for the second UE, an identifier for an unmanned aerial system (UAS) comprising the UE and the second UE, security capability information for the UE, a UAS authorization token, a nonce, a UAS security information identifier, a UAS root key, or a UAS session key identifier;
• receive, from the network function, a C2 pairing response comprising a success indicator, a UAS session key identifier, a UAS session key, UAS security information, a selected security algorithm, or an address for the second UE;
• derive a second UAS session key using a locally-stored UAS root key and a second UAS session key identifier using the second UAS session key;
• verify that the second UAS session key identifier matches the UAS session key identifier received in the C2 pairing response;
• derive at least one security key for securing communications between the UE and the second UE based on the UAS session key;
• and
• establish secure communications with the second UE using the at least one security key.

A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• sending, to a network function, a command and control (C2) pairing request for establishing secure communications between the UE and a second UE, the C2 pairing request comprising an identifier for the UE, an identifier for the second UE, an identifier for an unmanned aerial system (UAS) comprising the UE and the second UE, security capability information for the UE, a UAS authorization token, a nonce, a UAS security information identifier, a UAS root key, or a UAS session key identifier;
• receiving, from the network function, a C2 pairing response comprising a success indicator, a UAS session key identifier, a UAS session key, UAS security information, a selected security algorithm, or an address for the second UE;
• deriving a second UAS session key using a locally-stored UAS root key and a second UAS session key identifier using the second UAS session key;
• verifying that the second UAS session key identifier matches the UAS session key identifier received in the C2 pairing response;
• deriving at least one security key for securing communications between the UE and the second UE based on the UAS session key;
• and
• establishing secure communications with the second UE using the at least one security key.