A Blockchain-based Framework for Drone-Mounted Base Stations in Tactile Internet Environment

Abstract

5G, blockchain, and drones are potentially revolutionizing future technologies. 5G promises to provide a tactile internet environment to the users. Tactile internet is characterized by ultra-low latency, with high reliability, security, and availability. Few attempts have been made in academia and industry to use drones-mounted small cell base stations. Such flying base stations can be used in disaster areas, emergencies, or in rural areas. The major challenge in deploying such flying base stations is data security. Drones being resource-constrained devices cannot be overloaded with heavy security algorithms. Moreover, the decision of user association, drone movement, and bandwidth allocation are major bottlenecks in deploying such networks. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based security framework for drone mounted base stations in the tactile internet environment. Furthermore, a game-theoretic model is proposed as a smart contract to decide on the dynamic bandwidth allocation to different users based on bandwidth availability and cost. Numerical results show that the proposed model helps in better user experience in terms of bandwidth allocation in low network areas.