A Novel Orchestration Framework for Zero Trust Unmanned Vehicular Networks in ROS 2

As unmanned vehicular networks become more prevalent in civilian and defense applications, the need for robust security solutions grows in parallel. While ROS 2 offers a flexible platform for robotic operations, its security model lacks the adaptability required for dynamic trust management and proactive threat mitigation. To address these shortcomings, we propose a novel framework that integrates containerized ROS 2 nodes with Kubernetes-based orchestration, a dynamic trust management subsystem, and integrability with simulators for real-time and protocol-flexible network simulation. By embedding trust management directly within each ROS 2 container and leveraging Kubernetes, we overcome ROS 2’s security limitations by enabling real-time monitoring and machine learning-driven anomaly detection (via an autoencoder trained on custom data), facilitating the isolation or removal of suspicious nodes. Additionally, Kubernetes policies allow seamless scaling and enforcement of trust-based security rules, mitigating the static constraints of the default ROS 2 security stack. This approach delivers a robust, scalable, and adaptive platform for unmanned vehicle fleets operating in contested or untrusted domains.