DSAS2026 Workshop @ DSN 2026

Dependable and Secure Autonomous Systems — Space and Drone/UAV Technologies in the Age of AI

Overview

DSAS2026 – Dependable and Secure Autonomous Systems is a full-day workshop at DSN 2026 focusing on the dependability and security of autonomous systems across:

  • Space systems (satellites, ground segment, space-enabled services)
  • Drone/UAV systems (autonomous aerial platforms, swarms, resilient navigation)

The workshop emphasizes the impact of AI/ML-enabled autonomy on assurance, robustness, safety, and resilience, and brings together researchers working on dependable systems, security, cyber-physical systems, and autonomous platforms.

Topics of Interest

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Dependability and Security of Space Systems

  • Fault tolerance, resilience, and survivability of space platforms
  • Failure modeling and dependability analysis under space-specific constraints
  • Secure and dependable ground–space and inter-satellite communications
  • Jamming, spoofing, and interference resilience
  • Mission assurance and lifecycle dependability (launch, operations, decommissioning)

Dependability and Security of Drone/UAV Systems

  • Fault tolerance and resilient autonomy for UAVs under resource and energy constraints
  • Secure navigation and sensing (e.g., spoofing/jamming resilience, sensor fusion)
  • Safety assurance, failsafe behaviors, and graceful degradation (e.g., safe landing modes)
  • Dependability and security of drone swarms / multi-agent coordination
  • Empirical studies, datasets, and testbeds for UAV reliability and security

AI/ML in Space and Drone/UAV Systems

  • Dependability and robustness of AI/ML-enabled space components
  • Verification, validation, and certification of learning-based space systems
  • AI-driven autonomy, planning, and control under uncertainty
  • Adversarial ML threats in space environments
  • Trust, explainability, and runtime monitoring for AI in space missions
  • Human–AI interaction and decision-making in mission-critical space operations

Cross-Cutting Themes

  • Metrics, benchmarks, and datasets for space system dependability and security
  • Secure software and hardware supply chains for space technologies
  • Resilience and recovery from on-orbit anomalies or cyber-physical attacks
  • Case studies and lessons learned from open, unclassified space missions

Paper Submission

We invite original, unpublished research contributions in the following categories:

Submission Types

  • Full papers: up to 6 pages, IEEE two-column format (references excluded)
  • Short / Work-in-Progress papers: up to 4 pages, IEEE two-column format (references excluded)

Submission Site

👉 Submit your paper via EasyChair:
EasyChair submission system

(Select the DSAS2026 Workshop track during submission.)

Review Process

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the workshop Program Committee. Each paper will receive 2–3 reviews, and acceptance decisions will be based on relevance, technical quality, and clarity.

Important Dates

  • Paper submission: March 15, 2026 (AoE)
  • Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2026 (AoE)
  • Camera-ready deadline: April 27, 2026 (AoE, hard deadline)
  • Workshop date: June 22, 2026 (during DSN 2026)

Open and Unclassified Research Policy

This workshop accepts open, unclassified research only. Submissions must not require security clearance and must be suitable for open academic publication.

Contact

For questions about the workshop or submissions, please contact:

Gokhan Kul
Email: gkul@umassd.edu