Industry 4.0 has revolutionized industrial processes. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has increased due to the need to facilitate automation. Initially, drone usage was confined to military usage and other institutions that required high-level government clearance. Back then, the number of operating drones was few who made it easier to regulate and secure. However, with the emergence of Industry 4.0, the need for drone usage has increased in various industries. These industries include insurance, health, e-commerce, learning institutions, conducting and coordinating military airstrikes, and performing weather monitoring, among other crucial functionalities. The increased use and adoption of drones has resulted in the Internet of Drones. As more industries continue to adopt drone usage, the issue of securing them arises. The need for organizations to ensure and coordinate thousands of drones has necessitated the adoption of a security mechanism that guarantees the security of these devices. We explore the use of Blockchain technology as a means of enhancing drone cybersecurity. We research how industrial players perceive Blockchain and its contribution to cybersecurity.
Payam Rahimi, Nasir D. Khan, Chrysostomos Chrysostomou, Vasos Vassiliou · 5 authors
In this work, we present an authentication mechanism based on Blockchain to provide a secure communication for wireless communications assisted UAV sensing system for maritime IoT critical applications, by deploying a private Blockchain network that is connected to a fusion center (FC) in the terrestrial area. The received packets would be validated by the FC, based on the stored IDs on the Blockchain, to avoid intrusion into the network. We further analyze the effect of Blockchain on the network performance in terms of delay and throughput to demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of the proposed authentication mechanism.
In disaster areas, a large amount of data (e.g., rescue commands, road damage, and rescue experience) should be delivered among ground rescuing vehicles for safe driving and efficient rescue. When communication infrastructures are destroyed by disasters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be employed to perform immediate rescue missions in destroyed areas and assist data sharing for ground Internet of vehicles (IoV). However, in such UAV-assisted IoV under disaster situation, there exist potential security threats on data sharing among vehicles and UAVs because of the untrusted network environment, unreliable misbehavior tracing, and low-quality shared data. To address these issues, in this article, we develop alightweightvehicularblockchain-enabledsecure (LVBS) data sharing framework in UAV-aided IoV for disaster rescue. First, we propose a novel UAV and blockchain-assisted collaborative aerial-ground network architecture in disaster areas. Second, we develop a credit-based consensus algorithm in the lightweight vehicular blockchain to securely and immutably trace misbehaviors and record data transactions for UAVs and vehicles with improved efficiency and security in reaching consensus. Third, since UAVs and vehicles have little explicit knowledge of the whole network, we develop reinforcement learning-based algorithms to optimally schedule the pricing and quality of data sharing strategies for both data contributor and data consumer via trial and error. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted, which demonstrate that LVBS can effectively improve the security of consensus phase and promote high-quality data sharing.
Flying Ad Hoc networks, (FANETs) in recent years, have actively been used in monitoring landscape, military and mapping terrains. However, with the advent of the emerging concept of smart cities and new business applications, these flying devices and drones have found a new use case in the medical and governance sector. But these networks suffer from the major problem of centralization. Although centralization does provide reliability and efficiency but also poses the threat of a single point of failure. Meanwhile, blockchain widely known for its decentralization is heavily researched and can be utilized in this case to offer a solution to the problem of centralization of FANETs. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a decentralized architecture of flying ad hoc nodes based on blockchain and using Practical byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) for consensus among nodes. By employing PBFT, the architecture is not only computationally efficient and fast. In addition, we have used a gossip protocol for passing messages among nodes. Lastly, we have simulated the working of our model and the experimental results show that the proposed method works with nearly constant throughput and latency while increasing the network size and approximately constant message overhead with increase transaction for given network size.
Amjad Saeed Khan, Gaojie Chen, Yogachandran Rahulamathavan, Gan Zheng · 6 authors
The UAV is emerging as one of the greatest technology developments for rapid network coverage provisioning at affordable cost. The aim of this paper is to outsource network coverage of a specific area according to a desired quality of service requirement and to enable various entities in the network to have intelligence to make autonomous decisions using blockchain and auction mechanisms. In this regard, by considering a multiple-UAV network where each UAV is associated to its own controlling operator, this paper addresses two major challenges: the selection of the UAV for the desired quality of network coverage and the development of a distributed and autonomous real-time monitoring framework for the enforcement of service level agreement (SLA). For a suitable UAV selection, we employ a reputation-based auction mechanism to model the interaction between the business agent who is interested in outsourcing the network coverage and the UAV operators serving in closeby areas. In addition, theoretical analysis is performed to show that the proposed auction mechanism attains a dominant strategy equilibrium. For the SLA enforcement and trust model, we propose a permissioned blockchain architecture considering Support Vector Machine (SVM) for real-time autonomous and distributed monitoring of UAV service. In particular, smart contract features of the blockchain are invoked for enforcing the SLA terms of payment and penalty, and for quantifying the UAV service reputation. Simulation results confirm the accuracy of theoretical analysis and efficacy of the proposed model.
Mahsa Keshavarz, M. Gharib, Fatemeh Afghah, Jonathan Ashdown
Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are prone to several cyber-physical attacks, which decrease the performance of the network and may cause damage to the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or their surrounding environment. In this article, we propose UASTrustChain, a trust management framework based on Blockchain time-stamped series. We consider a system of models, consists of a number of autonomous UAVs, whose behaviors are regularly monitored by a set of distributed observers (DOs). Since most cyber attacks cause interruption in the operations of UAVs or deviation from their original path, the DOs keep track of the UAVs' behavior in terms of their trajectory, as well as the number of their successful tasks. The DOs calculate a relative trust score for each UAV and keep these scores in a transparent, reliable, secure and open ledger. This framework can detect UAVs' abnormal behavior in a real-time manner further to detect the compromised distributed observers, if any. The proposed framework could also distinguish abnormal activities due to real attacks from those caused by harsh environmental conditions. We evaluate the proposed framework for its functionality and accuracy by performing extensive simulation experiments. Our simulation results show that the proposed trust model can detect compromised distributed observers and fades their effect on the UAVs trust scores. Results further show the ability of the system in detecting malicious UAVs, which can be under various cyber-physical attacks.
Internet of things (IoT), mobile edge computing (MEC), and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) have attracted significant attention in both industry and academic research. By consolidating these technologies, IoT can be facilitated with improved connectivity, better data transmission, energy saving, and other advantages. However, the communication between these entities is subject to potential cyber threats. In addition, the integrity of the data must be maintained after storing into local storage. Blockchain is a data structure that supports features like pseudonymity, data integrity etc. This paper represents a blockchain based data acquisition process in which information is gathered from IoTs using UAV as a relay and is securely kept in blockchain at MEC server. In the proposed scheme, data are encrypted prior to transfer to MEC server with the assistance of a UAV. Upon receiving the data, MEC server validates the data and the identity of the sender. Successful validation is followed by stocking of the data into blockchain, subsequent to obtaining consent from the validators. Security analysis is conducted in order to show the feasibility of the proposed secure scheme. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed via simulation and implementation.
Abstract The paper considers the problem of distributed decision making in the robot swarm. The enhancement technique of the related study approach is proposed using the data transmission distance constraints and the weighted voting strategy. The decision making process is organized by means of distributed ledger usage. The information propagation through the swarm is implemented via spreading randomized rumor. The avoidance of routing in the swarm improves the overall energy efficiency of the system. The weighted voting transactions take into account the positions of the robots relating to the unknown objects or obstacles, as well as the voting history, which is stored in a distributed ledger
Junfei Qiu, David Grace, Guoru Ding, Junnan Yao · 5 authors
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are envisioned to be widely deployed as an integral component in the next generation cellular networks, where spectrum sharing between the aerial and terrestrial communication systems will play an important role. However, there exist significant security and privacy challenges due to the untrusted broadcast features and wireless transmission of the UAV networks. This article endeavors to resolve the security issues through proposing a novel privacy-preserving secure spectrum trading and sharing scheme based on blockchain technology. Specifically, from the operator's perspective, a pricing-based incentive mechanism is first introduced, in which a primary mobile network operator (MNO) leases its owned spectrum to a secondary UAV network in exchange for some revenue from the UAV operators. To address the potential security issues, a spectrum blockchain framework is then proposed to illustrate detailed operations of how the blockchain helps to improve the spectrum trading environment. Under this framework, a Stackelberg game is formulated to jointly maximize the profits of the MNO and the UAV operators considering uniform and nonuniform pricing schemes. Security assessment and numerical results confirm the security and efficiency of our schemes for spectrum sharing in UAV-assisted cellular networks.
Xinghua Li, Yunwei Wang, Pandi Vijayakumar, Debiao He · 6 authors
A dynamic group key is required for secure communication in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Ad-Hoc Network (UAANET). However, due to the unreliable wireless channel and high-dynamic topology of UAANET, the situation that a node is missing certain group key broadcast messages occurs frequently. Existing group key distribution schemes cannot be directly applied to the UAANET, because of their poor security or real-time. Therefore, we present a mutual-healing group key distribution scheme based on the blockchain. Firstly, the Ground Control Station (GCS) builds a private blockchain where the group keys distributed by GCS are recorded. Meanwhile, through the blockchain, a dynamic list of UAANET membership certificates is also managed. According to different attack models, a basic mutual-healing protocol and an enhanced one are designed based on the Longest-Lost-Chain mechanism to recover the node's lost group keys with the aid of its neighbors. Security analysis and extensive experiments show that, compared with the existing mutual-healing schemes, our proposed solution can effectively resist various attacks with small overhead on time and storage.
In this paper, we propose an intrusion detection system (IDS) and Blockchain-based delivery framework, called DeliveryCoin, for drone-delivered services. The DeliveryCoin framework consists of four phases, including system initialization phase, creating the block, updating the blockchain, and intrusion detection phase. To achieve privacy-preservation, the DeliveryCoin framework employs hash functions and short signatures without random oracles and the Strong Diffie–Hellman (SDH) assumption in bilinear groups. To achieve consensus inside the blockchain-based delivery platform, we introduce a UAV-aided forwarding mechanism, named pBFTF. We also propose an IDS system in each macro eNB (5G) for detecting self-driving network attacks as well as false transactions between self-driving nodes. Furthermore, extensive simulations are conducted, and results confirm the efficiency of our proposed DeliveryCoin framework in terms of latency of blockchain consensus and accuracy.
Abstract With the exponential growth in the number of vital infrastructures such as nuclear plants and transport and distribution networks, these systems have become more susceptible to coordinated cyberattacks. One of the effective approaches used to strengthen the security of these infrastructures is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance and data collection. However, UAVs themselves are prone to attacks on their collected sensor data. Recently, blockchain (BC) has been proposed as a revolutionary technology that can be integrated within Internet of things (IoT) to provide a desired level of security and privacy. However, the integration of BC within IoT networks, where UAV's sensors constitute a major component, is extremely challenging. The major contribution of this study is twofold:(1) survey the security issues for UAV's collected sensor data, define the security requirements for such systems, and identify ways to address them; and (2) propose a novel BC‐based solution to ensure the security of and the trust between the UAVs and their relevant ground control stations. Our implementation results and analysis show that using UAVs as means for protecting critical infrastructure is greatly enhanced through the utilization of trusted BC‐based unmanned aerial systems.
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an emerging technology that becomes popular not only in military operation but also in civil applications. Internet of things (IoT) is another popular technology which brings automation in our daily life. Like other areas, IoT also exposes its potential in healthcare. Using IoT sensors, it becomes easy to monitor the health of a user remotely. UAV consolidated with mobile edge computing (MEC) can provide real-time services in outdoor health monitoring. However, communication among them surrounds with cyber threats and data integrity issue. Blockchain is a data structure in which data are shared among peers. In this paper, a blockchain based secure outdoor health monitoring scheme using UAV is proposed for a smart city. In the proposed scheme, health data (HD) are accumulated from users wearable sensors and these HD are transmitted to the nearest MEC server via UAV. Prior to transmitting to MEC, HD experience encryption in order to provide protection against cyber threats. Moreover, after arriving at MEC, HD are diagnosed and if any abnormalities are found in the user's health, MEC server notifies the user and the nearest hospitals. When the processing is completed, HD are stored in blockchain with the consent of validators. Finally, simulation results and experimental set up are discussed in order to manifest the feasibility of the proposed scheme.
Vishal Sharma, Ilsun You, Dushantha Nalin K. Jayakody, Daniel Gutiérrez Reina · 5 authors
Mobile edge computing (MEC) reduces the computational distance between the source and the servers by fortifying near-user site evaluations of data for expedited communications, using caching. Caching provides ephemeral storage of data on designated servers for low-latency transmissions. However, with the network following a hierarchical layout, even the near-user site evaluations can be impacted by the overheads associated with maintaining a perpetual connection and other factors (e.g., those relating to the reliability of the underpinning network). Prior solutions study reliability as a factor of throughput, delays, jitters, or delivery ratio. However, with modern networks supporting high data rates, a current research trend is in ultrareliability. The latter is defined in terms of availability, connectivity, and survivability. Thus, in this paper, we focus on the ultrareliable communication in MEC. Specifically, in our setting, we use drones as on-demand nodes for efficient caching. While some existing solutions use cache-enabled drones, they generally focus only on the positioning problem rather than factors relating to ultrareliable communications. We present a novel neural-blockchain-based drone-caching approach, designed to ensure ultrareliability and provide a flat architecture (via blockchain). This neural-model fortifies an efficient transport mechanism, since blockchain maintains high reliability amongst the peers involved in the communications. The findings from the evaluation demonstrate that the proposed approach scores well in the following metrics: the probability of connectivity reaches 0.99; energy consumption is decreased by 60.34%; the maximum failure rate is affected by 13.0%; survivability is greater than 0.90; reliability reaches 1.0 even for a large set of users.
With the rapid growth of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), there is now an increasing interest in the security of UAV systems. There exist various attacks which have threatened the security of UAV systems, in terms of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing. Consisted of multiple UAVs, the flying ad hoc networks (FANET) have been studied to extend the employment and coverage of UAV systems. Based on the connectivity and information interaction of FANET, in this article, the blockchain technology is applied to detect GNSS signal attacks for UAV systems. In particular, we first introduce an overview of the GNSS security of UAV systems and the principles for blockchain technology. Based on the principles, a logical architecture is proposed, where blockchain is taken into consideration for GNSS spoofing detection. Performance analysis verifies that the proposed GNSS spoofing detection system can be used effectively. Finally, several challenges in blockchain are discussed, including security, cost, and regulation.
Isaac J. Jensen, Daisy Flora Selvaraj, Prakash Ranganathan
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.
Tiago M. Fernández‐Caramés, Óscar Blanco-Novoa, Iván Froiz-Míguez, Paula Fraga‐Lamas
Industry 4.0 has paved the way for a world where smart factories will automate and upgrade many processes through the use of some of the latest emerging technologies. One of such technologies is Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which have evolved a great deal in the last years in terms of technology (e.g., control units, sensors, UAV frames) and have significantlyr educed their cost. UAVs can help industry in automatable and tedious tasks, like the ones performed on a regular basis for determining the inventory and for preserving item traceability. In such tasks, especially when it comes from untrusted third parties, it is essential to determine whether the collected information is valid or true. Likewise, ensuring data trustworthiness is a key issue in order to leverage Big Data analytics to supply chain efficiency and effectiveness. In such a case, blockchain, another Industry 4.0 technology that has become very popular in other fields like finance, has the potential to provide a higher level of transparency, security, trust and efficiency in the supply chain and enable the use of smart contracts. Thus, in this paper, we present the design and evaluation of a UAV-based system aimed at automating inventory tasks and keeping the traceability of industrial items attached to Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags. To confront current shortcomings, such a system is developed under a versatile, modular and scalable architecture aimed to reinforce cyber security and decentralization while fostering external audits and big data analytics. Therefore, the system uses a blockchain and a distributed ledger to store certain inventory data collected by UAVs, validate them, ensure their trustworthiness and make them available to the interested parties. In order to show the performance of the proposed system, different tests were performed in a real industrial warehouse, concluding that the system is able to obtain the inventory data really fast in comparison to traditional manual tasks, while being also able to estimate the position of the items when hovering over them thanks to their tag's signal strength. In addition, the performance of the proposed blockchain-based architecture was evaluated in different scenarios.
Alex Khawalid, Dan Acristinii, Hans van Toor, Eduardo Castelló Ferrer
Swarm Robotics (SR) faces a series of challenges impeding widespread adoption for real-world applications. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has shown it can solve a number of these challenges. An experiment was conducted to showcase the resolution of these challenges. A search and rescue mission was simulated using drones coupled with single board computers and several simulated agents. Inter-agent communications were facilitated through DLT in a completely decentralized network. A frontend interface was built to demonstrate the ease with which information can be extracted from the system. This paper shows the feasibility of the application of DLT to SR-related challenges in a practical experiment. For future work, it is proposed to focus on more complex tasks through federated learning or inter-swarm communications, possibly through Cosmos.