Blockchain Technology for Networked Swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is quickly growing with a wide range of current and planned future applications. As the technology grows in usage, the data gathered by UAV systems as well as the UAVs themselves will become bigger targets for cyber-attacks. New cyber security technologies, such as the immutable ledger technology known as blockchain, should therefore be applied to provide a defense against the growing threat of cyber-attacks. This paper explores blockchain technology, first through a general overview of its components and characteristics, and then at what security improvements it can provide to a system. Following this exploration, the application of blockchain to a UAV swarm environment is briefly expanded on. Lastly, one such blockchain framework known as Hyperledger Fabric is explored, that could potentially be applied to a swarm of UAVs to increase its security.