Abstract
<jats:p>The rapidly increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles has made the cybersecurity of their communication and control systems a critical issue. Since UAVs are widely used in military, industrial, logistics, and civilian fields, ensuring their secure communication channels is of strategic importance. There is a need to develop energy-efficient and computationally lightweight authentication protocols, as well as reliable cryptographic key exchange protocols, which are the basis of secure communication. Therefore, the scientific study of functional architecture and data exchange models plays a key role in ensuring the reliability, scalability, and cybersecurity of the system. This review article analyzes the role of existing authentication and encryption protocols, as well as lightweight cryptography, PUF-based authentication, and blockchain technologies in UAV security. Future research directions - post-quantum cryptography and security mechanisms integrated with artificial intelligence - are also discussed.</jats:p>