Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

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Vehicular Communications
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Applications of blockchain in unmanned aerial vehicles: A review

Tejasvi Alladi a , Vinay Chamola a,∗ , Nishad Sahu a , Mohsen Guizani b
a
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, BITS-Pilani, Pilani Campus, 333031, India
b
Department of Computer Science, Qatar University, Qatar

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The recent advancement in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in terms of manufacturing processes,
Received 4 December 2019 and communication and networking technology has led to a rise in their usage in civilian and
Received in revised form 22 January 2020 commercial applications. The regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US had
Accepted 13 February 2020
earlier limited the usage of UAVs to military applications. However more recently, the FAA has outlined
Available online 19 February 2020
new enforcement that will also expand the usage of UAVs in civilian and commercial applications.
Keywords: Due to being deployed in open atmosphere, UAVs are vulnerable to being lost, destroyed or physically
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) network hijacked. With the UAV technology becoming ubiquitous, various issues in UAV networks such as intra-
Security and privacy UAV communication, UAV security, air data security, data storage and management, etc. need to be
Blockchain technology addressed. Blockchain being a distributed ledger protects the shared data using cryptography techniques
Internet of Things (IoT) such as hash functions and public key encryption. It can also be used for assuring the truthfulness of
the information stored and for improving the security and transparency of the UAVs. In this paper,
we review various applications of blockchain in UAV networks such as network security, decentralized
storage, inventory management, surveillance, etc., and discuss some broader perspectives in this regard.
We also discuss various challenges to be addressed in the integration of blockchain and UAVs and suggest
some future research directions.
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction munication services where UAVs are being used. Thus they have a
huge scope for applications in a wide variety of fields in both civil
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a class of robotic vehi- and military domains. A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in
cles that can carry payloads and execute flying missions guided Japan employed UAVs to inspect unlicensed Japanese whaling that
either by remote control stations or in an autonomous way. UAVs was going on in the southern hemisphere [11]. Also, after the dev-
are very mobile, which enables them to function even in remote astating Japanese earthquake and tsunami which occurred in 2011,
areas where there is no physical or technological infrastructure. three different types of UAVs were deployed during the emergency
Originally UAVs were used only for military applications. However, operations to closely monitor the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
with their increasing popularity, technological advancements and The inputs received from these UAVs were crucial for carrying out
awareness among the people in industry and research, their ap- the emergency operations [12]. Such applications have encouraged
plications are no longer limited to military applications [1]. As the research and scientific communities to actively explore the do-
highlighted in Fig. 1, some of the different applications where main of UAVs and how to enhance their operational capabilities.
UAVs are used today are [2]- rescue operations [3], saving lives UAVs are associated with solving new problems and are in-
[4], agriculture and farming [5], building structures [6], pipeline volved in a variety of new activities in the technological domain
inspections [7], delivering goods and medical supplies [8], video leading to the growth of the UAV market. They are also being
capturing and filming [9] and surveying [10]. Apart from these, actively explored for acting as base stations in communication net-
there are many more applications such as inventory management, works [13–17]. A lot of agencies are involved in developing UAVs
surveillance monitoring activities and providing relayed telecom- to bring down the cost associated with the connected services.
There are also many studies which are coming up with improved
authentication protocols for UAV and vehicle to vehicle communi-
*
Corresponding author.
cations such as [18–21]. This will increase the efficiency of UAV
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T. Alladi),
[email protected] (V. Chamola), [email protected] communications in the future. UAVs also offer a lot of flexibility,
(N. Sahu), [email protected] (M. Guizani). are easy to deploy, can be customized to take high-resolution im-

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2214-2096/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
2 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

1.1. Paper organization

The organization of this paper is as follows. We give a brief

overview of the fundamentals of UAV and blockchain technologies,
and the scope of their integration which is the topic of this paper,
in Section 2. From section 3 to 8, we discuss various applications of
blockchain in UAV. In section 9, we give the broader perspectives
on the applicability of blockchain technology in UAVs and discuss
some of the other interesting applications. To provide the readers
with an overall picture of the research in blockchain-based UAV
networks and predict possible research opportunities, we discuss
the overall challenges involved and suggest future research direc-
tions in the implementation of blockchain-based UAV networks in
Section 10. We finally end the paper with Section 11 giving a con-
clusion of the study.

2. Fundamentals of UAVs and blockchain technology

Fig. 1. Application of UAVs in various fields as discussed in [2].

In this section, we briefly discuss various fundamentals of UAVs
and blockchain technology. Subsequently, we discuss how combin-
ing these technologies can open up a lot of exciting possibilities
ages even while performing difficult tasks. They can also operate for the future.
in remote locations that are otherwise physically inaccessible such
2.1. Unmanned aerial vehicles
as deep forest areas. Very few countries have enacted laws for the
protection of privacy and data in UAV. Since most of the UAVs are
UAVs have both electronic components and mechanical power
typically deployed in the security and military areas, the issues components, with their operations being quite complex. Gener-
that are generally faced are related to security, safety, privacy, and ally, there is an operating system on-board these devices on which
ethics [22]. the software for the UAV runs [26]. An overall picture of the UAV
This increase in the number of UAVs poses new challenges such technology in terms of their classifications based on different pa-
as rising air traffic, laying optimal paths, generating flight plans, rameters, regulations regarding their operations and different ap-
dealing with emergencies such as collisions and managing UAV plication scenarios is presented below.
swarms, and cyber-physical attacks on UAVs. Research has shown
that these challenges can be mitigated with the help of power- 2.1.1. UAV classifications
ful tools such as blockchain [23–25]. Blockchain is seen as a way UAVs can be classified based on various parameters such as fly-
to empower the UAVs and make them safer, more accurate and ing mechanism, weight, flying altitude, and wing type. Based on
easy to control. Most of the UAV applications involve coordination the flying mechanism, UAVs can be categorized as follows [27].
with other robots or UAVs for operational purposes. This makes
them suitable candidates for blockchain incorporation. A newer in- i. Multi-rotor or rotary-wing UAVs: Such UAVs are capable of tak-
frastructure to provide adaptability, scalability and the ability to ing off and landing vertically and can also hover over a par-
deliver efficient and fast services would be required to cater to ticular location. However, such UAVs have relatively lesser mo-
the upcoming needs. To deal with the above-mentioned issues, bility compared to other UAV types. Also, these UAVs consume
blockchain technology is being looked upon as a way to deliver more power since they have to act opposite to the gravita-
a framework that can be put to use in the commercial UAV indus- tional force.
try. ii. Fixed wing UAVs: Such UAV types can travel via gliding in
The major contributions of this work are summarized as fol- the atmosphere like commercial airplanes and can also carry
heavy payloads. Such a flying style enables them to travel
lows.
faster compared to other UAV types but at the same time, this
makes it mandatory for them to take-off and land on a run-
• To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study summariz-
way. Also, they are incapable of hovering over a particular area
ing the various applications of blockchain technology in UAV
like the multi-rotor UAVs and are generally costlier compared
systems.
to multi-rotor UAVs.
• We divide the study into different application scenarios where
iii. Hybrid fixed/rotary-wing UAVs: This type of UAV is a compro-
UAV systems are used and discuss how blockchain can en-
mise between the above two mechanisms and can switch be-
hance their utility in each scenario. We also discuss the chal-
tween the two. An example of this is the Parrot type which can
lenges pertaining to each scenario. do a vertical take-off, glide through its path and then again
• This survey provides an in-depth study of how certain block- switch to hovering using its rotors [28].
chain features can help overcome drawbacks of UAV systems
and discusses application-specific examples for each of them. Out of these, the UAV types which can hover over a particular
• The survey also gives a broader outlook to the readers, on how area operate easily in multi-UAV swarm systems for applications
the combination of blockchain and UAV technology can influ- such as surveillance. Such applications are suitable for incorpo-
ence many other emerging technologies and how those emerg- rating blockchain-based solutions to ensure secure communication
ing technologies can influence the development of blockchain- and trust among the member UAVs.
based UAV systems. Civil aviation authorities generally classify UAVs depending on
• Based on our comprehensive survey we provide potential re- their gross weight. Based on the overall weight, the Civil Aviation
search directions that can be beneficial for the development of Safety Authority (CASA), Australia classifies UAV systems in the fol-
blockchain-based UAV systems. lowing ways [27,29].
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 3

i. Micro: Weighting less than 100 gms. 2.2. Blockchain technology

ii. Very small: Weighting more than 100 gms and less than or
equal to 2 Kgs. Blockchain technology is a giant leap in the distributed ledger
iii. Small: Weighting more than 2 Kgs and less than or equal to 25 technology. Its popularity has been ever increasing since the re-
Kgs. lease of Bitcoin, a peer to peer electronic cash exchange system by
iv. Medium: Weighting more than 25 Kgs and less than or equal Satoshi Nakamoto [33]. The blockchain technology holds immense
to 150 Kgs. potential in other spheres where trust is required between mutu-
v. Large: Weighting more than 150 Kgs. ally dependent parties. Its utility is not only limited to electronic
cash exchange systems such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc. but also in-
Depending on the altitude at which the UAVs are designed to op- cludes making financial markets smart [34] and enabling secure
erate, they can be classified as follows [27,30]. communication between robotic swarm systems [23]. Compared to
centralized forms of record-keeping, blockchain offers a lot of ben-
i. Low-altitude platform (LAPs): LAP type UAVs are suitable for fast efits such as providing complete transparency of data and operates
and flexible deployment due to their high mobility and cost- without any failure. Blockchain provides anonymity, security and
effectiveness. They are capable of flying for several hours only. also eliminates the need for a middleman or a third party. If only
ii. High-altitude platform (HAPs): HAP type UAVs are like big gas one person owns the ledger, there exists a possibility of commit-
balloons that have a long endurance up to days and even ting mistakes, either accidentally or on purpose. While if everyone
months. Because of their large size and long endurance, they in the system holds the ledger, i.e., if the ledger is decentralized,
have the capacity to cover a wider range of areas in a single cheating becomes difficult. We present here an overview of the
flight. Their attitude is generally above 17 Kms and they oper- blockchain technology by discussing its architecture and types.
ate in a quasi-stationary nature.
2.3. Blockchain architecture
Classification based on altitude is crucial in deciding the type of
operation of UAVs in case they are used for network relaying. LAP Fundamentally a blockchain is made up of six major layers
UAVs are simpler and can be used to assist in cellular communi- which are data layer, network layer, consensus layer, incentive
cations, whereas HAP UAVs are very complex in nature and are layer, contract layer and application layer [35,125–129]. A picto-
used in relaying Internet connections. Companies such as Google rial representation of the layers is given in Fig. 2. A layer by layer
and Facebook have deployed HAP for such applications [31]. When description of the blockchain architecture is discussed below.
such network relaying happens in a very dense environment, to
ensure there is overcrowding of airspace and communication chan- 1) Data layer: The data layer is the bottom-most layer in the
nel, it is feasible to share one UAV that caters to the consumers of blockchain architecture which contains the timestamped blocks
all the network providers rather than each network provider hav- of data. Every data block consists of the block body and the
ing their own UAV. Thus, using only a few shared UAVs, catering block header. The current block’s header contains the previous
to all the consumers is a better option. In this case, the details block’s hash, and the next block’s header contains the hash of
the current block. In this way, the blocks are chained together
of services provided can be stored over the blockchain and as per
like a linked list. Fig. 3 shows the structure of a common block
the stored data, different network providers can be charged respec-
in a blockchain [35,125]. The timestamp marks the time at
tively. Blockchain ensures trust between the companies in such a
which the corresponding block was created. The Nonce is a
scenario as we discuss in Section 4.
random number added to the block by the miners to get the
desired pattern in the block-hash. Merkle root, as the name
2.1.2. UAV regulations suggests is the root of the Merkle tree. Merkle tree stores the
Regulatory directives regarding the use of UAVs in a particular transactions within a specific period via a hash binary tree
area is an important topic as it is one of the limiting factors in the mechanism.
deployment of UAV networks. There are a lot of issues related to 2) Network layer: The purpose of the network layer is to dis-
their operations such as collision avoidance, data security, privacy, tribute, forward and authenticate the blockchain transactions.
etc., which need to be addressed and various UAV factors such as Blockchains are commonly modeled as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) net-
type, spectrum, speed, etc., need to be looked into [30]. Broadly works, where the peers enjoy equal privileges. Once a trans-
five important categories must be looked into when working on action is created, it is broadcast to the neighboring nodes for
the UAV regulatory schemes [27,32]. verification. This is done based on pre-defined specifications.
Once the transaction is validated, it is sent to the other nodes
i. Applicability: It means the scope where the UAV regulations and in case of rejection, it is discarded. This ensures that only
have to be implemented. It may include UAV type, weight, and the valid transactions are allowed to be recorded at each node.
role of the UAVs. An asymmetric cryptography mechanism based on the digital
ii. Operational limitations: It refers to specifying the locations signature is generally used to authenticate transactions [35].
which are restricted for UAV operations. The digital signature scheme has two phases- the verification
iii. Administrative and legal requirements: This refers to the set of phase, and the signing phase. Transactions are generated by
rules and regulations put in place by the governing body of the each node and digitally signed via their private key and sub-
area to monitor the use of UAVs. These predefined procedures sequently, other nodes use the initiator node’s public key to
and regulations must be followed by the UAV operators in that verify the transaction’s authentication.
area. 3) Consensus layer: It is a very important layer and comprises of
iv. Technology specifications/requirements: It refers to the mechan- different consensus algorithms which are required to reach a
ical, communication and control capabilities of the UAV. For a consensus among the untrusted parties participating in the
particular application, some requirements are essential for the blockchain network. This is core to the principle of blockchain
safe operation of the UAVs. technology as the consensus among the participants is the key
v. Moral and ethical issues: This mainly refers to the privacy and to avoiding the need for a centralized entity. There is a need
security issues of the people at large. for some protocols to ensure consensus among the participants
4 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Fig. 2. Blockchain architecture comprising of the six layer model [35,125].

Table 1
Applications of blockchain in other emerging areas.

Technology References
Smart cities [35–38]
Smart grids and energy management [39–46]
Smart communities [41,47–51]
Edge computing [52–58]
Cloud computing [54,56,59–76]
Internet of Things (IoT) [58,59,77–109]
Machine learning [110–113]
Deep learning [114–120]
Fig. 3. Typical structure of a block in a blockchain [35,125].
Brain Computer Interface (BCI) [121,122]
Smart Healthcare [123]
Industry 4.0 [124]
of the blockchain [130]. The major consensus mechanisms [35]
are Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) [131], Practical Byzantine
Fault Tolerance (PBFT) [132], Proof of Work (PoW) [33] and
Proof of Stake (PoS) [133]. Apart from these, there are other tract, it is cryptographically signed and is broadcast to all other
consensus algorithms also such as Tendermint [134], Ripple nodes participating in the blockchain for verification [141].
[135], Stellar [136], Proof of Bandwidth (PoB) [137], Proof of 6) Application layer: This is the highest layer of the blockchain
Reliability (PoR) [138] and many more. For more details re- which comprises of its applications in various practical fields
garding different consensus protocols, readers are encouraged such as IoT, finance, AI, etc. We discuss the applications of
to go through [35,139,140]. blockchain in UAVs in this paper, which is also a part of the
4) Incentive layer: The incentive layer can be called one of the application layer. There have been various studies related to
foundation pillars of blockchain architecture as it the driving applications of blockchain in different fields such as smart
force behind blockchain’s usage and the which it has today. cities [35–38], smart grids and energy management [39–46],
It combines the blockchain technology with economic factors smart communities [41,47–50], edge computing [52–58], cloud
and creates a mutually beneficial scheme for the miners. The computing [54,56,59–76], Internet of Things (IoT) [58,59,77–
miners invest a lot of processing power to mine the blocks and 109], machine learning [110–113], deep learning [114–120],
in return get reward points in the form of incentives such as Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) [121,122], healthcare applica-
digital currency corresponding to the magnitude of their work. tions [123], Industry 4.0 [124] and many more. Apart from
5) Contract layer: The contract layer makes the blockchain pro- this there are other innovative applications also such as track-
grammable and enables the inclusion of different scripts, ing and registration of police FIR [142], mobile data offloading
smart contracts, and algorithms with the help of which com- [143] and many more. A more recent blockchain-based appli-
plex transactions can be carried out on the blockchain. A smart cation was implemented by authors in [144], where they de-
contract is a set of rules which when met triggers a transac- veloped a smart irrigation system using blockchain technology.
tion between the two parties involved in the contract. When Table 1 gives an overview of the applications of blockchain in
these parties agree with the terms specified within the con- other emerging areas.
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 5

2.4. Blockchain types a reliable communication channel in UAV networks is very cru-
cial because of their high mobility and sparse deployment [154].
Currently, blockchain systems have been broadly categorized As blockchain technology evolves, so does the UAV industry. Ap-
into three types based on the ownership and the audience allowed plication areas of blockchain are broad, from security robots to
to participate in the process of block verification and addition delivery UAVs logging their activities, thereby improving customer
[145,146]. contentment. Law enforcement can be improved by security robots
logging information on a blockchain by providing concise informa-
1) Public blockchain: In a public blockchain, all the records are tion. UAVs are here to stay and will change almost every aspect
visible to the public and everyone is allowed to take part in of our lives. The future of UAVs will contain everything ranging
the consensus process, i.e., a permissionless consensus process. from asteroid mining to very small inner-body autonomous ve-
Public blockchains have the highest immutability as compared hicles. Some of the applications of blockchain in UAV networks
to the other two types since the number of participants is very mentioned in this paper are shown in Fig. 4.
high [145]. However, public blockchains have lower efficiency There have been many studies in the past which explore appli-
as compared to private and consortium blockchains. cation of UAVs in fields such as telecommunications, medical sup-
2) Private blockchain: In a private blockchain, only those nodes ply delivery, military applications, surveillance and monitoring etc
which come from one specific organization are allowed to join [155–169]. To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive survey
the network and the consensus process, i.e., it has a permis-
of the combined application prospects of UAVs and blockchain has
sioned consensus process. It is also regarded as a centralized
not been discussed to date. In this paper, we try to present a com-
network since it is fully under the control of one organization.
prehensive survey of applications of UAVs using blockchain. The
Such networks have high efficiency but can be tampered with
breakup of each section is such that we highlight the motivation
relatively easily as compared to public blockchains because of
behind using blockchain and its role in enhancing the applicabil-
the lesser number of participants.
ity of UAVs for each application area. Also, where ever possible,
3) Consortium blockchain: A consortium blockchain also has a per-
we discuss the detailed working of the system in each area. In the
missioned consensus process, but unlike a private blockchain,
end, we discuss the challenges involved in each application.
only a few selected organizations can participate in it. There-
fore, it is a partially decentralized system. It also has high
efficiency but can be tampered with relatively easily as com- 3. Blockchain-based uav systems for automation of supply chain
pared to public blockchains [145].

In most cases, blockchain-based UAV applications require a pri- 3.1. Motivation

vate blockchain since they need to have secure communication be-
tween the participating members. For example, in Section 7 which Supply chain management requires many labor-intensive tasks
discusses UAV-based surveillance networks using blockchain, one right from the production of commodities in industries and facto-
of the case studies analyzed [25] is based on Hyperledger, a per- ries to marketing and sales. Automating these tasks with upcom-
missioned blockchain where every UAV that wants to join the ing Industry 4.0 technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things
surveillance fleet has to procure a certificate of enrollment from [170,171], fog computing [172], UAVs [173], etc. can help in reduc-
a certificate issuing authority. UAV networks also require to have ing time and increase profits for business enterprises. Application
some battery charging schemes to improve their flight time for of UAVs in such scenarios to perform tasks such as surveying the
operations. There have also been some studies in that direction stock, collecting data [174], dispatching products have been dis-
employing blockchain technology and smart contracts [147]. cussed before. Automating these tasks not only increases the ef-
ficiency of the work but also opens doors to cyber threats and
2.5. Motivation and relevance
attacks from untrusted third parties. Blockchain can be used to
create a transparent and immutable system that can help in miti-
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), com-
gating such threats. Blockchain technology can be used in these ap-
mercial drones registered in the US totaled about 412,000 in 2019
plications to enhance the trust and security of such systems and to
[148]. Combined with blockchain technology, drones carry a huge
store data in an accountable way, which can be used for inventory
potential to disrupt the way we live. Blockchain as a technology
management and monitoring the production trends. Such tasks re-
holds immense potential for furthering the utilities of UAV-based
quire a dynamic collection of data from multiple locations which is
applications. For example, according to UNICEF around 73,000
conventionally done by humans. Due to human intervention, this
deaths occurred in the disastrous earthquake that struck Pakistan
in October 2005. The government, armed forces, and civil avi- process of inventory stock control is prone to accounting errors
ation authorities displayed an excellent immediate response but and is not always carried out in real-time. This is where UAVs can
had their efforts been backed by advanced aerial networks us- be employed to assist industries in automating tedious tasks, such
ing drones, more advanced rescue missions could have been car- as the ones performed regularly for preserving the traceability of
ried out in remote villages [149]. Using blockchain, governments certain items and determining the inventory. As part of the Indus-
across the globe can track the identities of the UAVs flying in try 4.0 revolution, such applications of UAVs are discussed in [173].
their territories. With the increasing popularity of UAVs, their us- This can be combined with the blockchain technology to auto-
age in metropolitan areas has been increasing at a rapid rate. mate various tasks such as determining the validity of information
The next generation of UAVs must adapt to operate in such an coming from untrusted third parties and automating transactions
environment where there are a lot of obstacles and possibilities with the help of smart contracts. Also, blockchain-based UAVs sys-
of cyber-physical attacks. [150] discusses the obstacle shadowing tems can be used to carry out automated transactions between
approach for Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) in the urban consumers and UAVs, where UAVs function as autonomous agents,
environment. In [151], the authors designed a blockchain-based as discussed in [175]. In this case, blockchain helps the UAVs and
framework for drone-mounted base stations in a tactile Internet other robots participating in business activities to make decisions
environment. Also, with the upcoming 5G technology, UAVs have about their actions and plan activities by interacting with each
a big role to play in their efficient deployment [152,153]. Having other via a peer to peer network.
6 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Fig. 4. Applications of blockchain in various fields of UAV networks which are discussed in this study.

3.2. Role of blockchain the flow of stocks can be stored and monitored easily. The UAVs
can be programmed to charge themselves and conduct scans at
Blockchain provides a high level of transparency, security, trust, regular intervals, thereby fully automating the storage and verifi-
and efficiency in the supply chain and enables the use of smart cation process.
contracts. Depending on the rules set in the smart contract, the
parties involved in the contract will interact with each other. The 3.2.2. Automating transactions
agreement is automatically enforced as soon as predefined rules Smart contracts can help automate certain transactions and
are met. These smart contracts help in verifying, facilitating and processes which take place regularly, such as the ordering of sup-
enforcing the negotiation of a transaction. It provides a way of de- plies when the stock of a particular product has dropped below a
centralized automation. In [173] the authors present a UAV-based certain limit. As soon as some predetermined conditions are met,
system to automate the inventory and keep track of industrial the smart contracts are executed without any human intervention.
objects which are attached with RFID tags. This system uses a This process is explained in Fig. 5.
blockchain that receives and validates the inventory data collected
by the UAVs, ensures their trustworthiness and also makes them 3.2.3. Automating decision making
accessible to the interested parties. Some of the specific utilities of Via use of smart contracts, UAVs participating in multi-agent
blockchain are as follows. systems can be programmed to make decisions on their own. For
example, in the application of Ethereum blockchain-based UAVs
3.2.1. Automating data storage and verification discussed in [175], smart contracts are used for transferring com-
The data collected by UAVs performing tasks such as inventory mands between the UAV and other robotic agents which operate in
management can be directly transmitted to a cyber-physical sys- business processes among people. In such applications, only when
tem connected to a blockchain. Each block of the blockchain will one agent completes its task the other agent can start its task.
contain details of the inventory stock scanned by the UAVs and the After completion of the task, the UAV agent deposits a specific
timestamp at which the block was added, thus information about amount of token as specified in the smart contract to the next
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 7

3.3. System working

For supply chain applications discussed above, the structure of

the Ethereum blockchain is the most suited as it enables the use
of smart contracts. We cover two aspects of the supply chain here
- managing the stock in an inventory, and dispatching the prod-
ucts. For inventory management, each block in the blockchain can
contain - the timestamp at which the data was recorded, and
the transactions that the UAVs make for the products they have
scanned. Each product type has an account created for it in the
blockchain network. Depending on the number of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) tags they have scanned for a product, the
UAVs send information to these accounts. The product types are
stored in the cartons and each carton contains a pre-defined num-
ber of products (say Q) which is pre-loaded in the UAV’s memory.
So, the number of products is calculated as n times Q, where n is
the number of RFID tags scanned by the UAV in one run. The num-
ber of tags added over multiple runs gives N, the total number
of tags scanned (calculated as N = n1 + n2 + n3...). For exam-
ple, in Fig. 6 the total number of RFID tags scanned for product
type watch is 20 (7 + 9 + 4) and the corresponding calculated the
total number of products is 8000 (2800 + 3600 + 1600). So the bal-
ance in the account dedicated to the watch product type is 8000.
The balance of the amount denotes the number of products. Each
stock is stored in cartons and each carton has an RFID tag associ-
Fig. 5. Sequence of events in automating transactions with untrusted third parties
ated with it and the UAVs are equipped with RFID scanners [173].
using smart contracts.
When the UAVs scan the carton, their IDs automatically get stored
in the on-board memory. Due to the limited flying time of UAVs
UAV agent in the process. Here, tokens are the digital currency and huge areas of warehouses, the warehouse can be divided into
of the internal blockchain network through which the agents are multiple areas and a UAV can scan them in multiple runs as shown
connected. When the other agent receives this, the smart contract in Fig. 6.
is triggered. In this way the communication is automated. With The UAVs are guided by fixed way-points to follow a definite
the help of blockchain, fully automated communications can be route along which they can scan the products in the inventory
ensured between the UAV agents, by which they can execute com- storehouse. A similar concept of way-points is also used in [175]
mands and collectively take decisions that are otherwise difficult where various dispatcher services reserve air routes for UAVs via
for one UAV agent to do. way-points. Using topographic data, dispatchers trace a route and

Fig. 6. Representational blockchain for inventory management.

8 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

send it to the blockchain to be received by the UAVs through a number of UAVs that are capable of serving the users without any
transaction. The sequence of events starts with a request for deliv- overheads. However, multiple vendors may aim at providing the
ery based on which a smart contract is issued containing informa- same solution, therefore, there are good chances of channel block-
tion about the order, its purpose and the client data. This contract ing, interference, and overlapping coordinates. The network can fail
is accepted by any UAV agent which is available. The client and the because of the above-mentioned issues. There should be a platform
UAV agent conclude a smart contract for air tokens which contains that is capable of connecting UAVs from different vendors but it in-
the client’s location data. The UAV then commits the transaction volves issues related to authority, control, and trust. A small glitch
to request for air route to an agent dispatcher. As soon as the dis- in the security is enough to disclose the security protocol used
patcher agrees to this contract, a new contract takes place between by any specific vendor. Also, unreliable and untrustworthy aerial
them which has information about the registered route. After this, vehicles may get associated with the network leading to infor-
the UAV makes the scheduled flight and informs the dispatcher mation leakage and redirection of network traffic, causing losses
that the air route has been used. to the vendors. There is a need to handle such issues effectively
without completely relying on a central system which may induce
3.4. Challenges operational overheads and bottlenecks in rendering services. This
issue can be resolved using blockchain with very little overheads
Inventories usually have a huge stock of products, hence hav- and complexity. An aerial blockchain can be formed by UAVs from
ing RFID tags for all of them may be quite costly. Furthermore, the different vendors, creating a social circle of UAVs as described in
blockchain being used for these applications would require high [177].
processing power for mining the data and creation of blocks which
will also increase the installation cost of the system. It will con- 4.2. Role of blockchain
stantly consume electricity reducing the efficiency of the system
by increasing the operational cost. In many countries of the world, Blockchain technology can provide reliable peer-to-peer com-
the legal status of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies such as bit- munication channels to UAV networks (UAVNETs) and ways to
coin usage is not very well defined. Thus, automating economic overcome possible threats and attacks. We discuss below some of
processes with blockchain-based UAVs without a legal framework the utilities of blockchain specific to coordination in UAV networks.
in place can raise concerns in the future, leading to confusion and
a lack of trust among the participants. 4.2.1. Creating new business models
A combination of UAVNETs and blockchain can be used to de-
4. Coordinated uav services using blockchain velop new business models that incorporate the facility of ex-
changing data between a UAV and an end-user. Sensing-as-a-
4.1. Motivation Service (S2 aas) is a business model in the Internet of Things (IoT)
field which is gaining a lot of popularity [178–180]. It helps in
With the increasing popularity of UAVs, their application areas creating a market pattern in which multiple users can buy sensor
are becoming more diverse and in many cases, a group of UAVs data from multiple sensors. Having a blockchain incorporated in
performs the tasks rather than a single UAV. Some examples of this this network will make the process decentralized and autonomous.
are disaster relief, surveillance, network relaying, energy-efficient A possible model of such an implementation is discussed in [23].
device discovery [176] etc. Coordination between the UAVs is core
to these applications but most of the existing systems lack a global 4.2.2. Collision free movement of UAVs
knowledge-sharing platform between the member UAVs in the One of the most important requirements in UAV networks is
UAV network and instead just rely on local communication be- that the UAVs do not physically crash into each other and also that
tween adjacent member UAVs [23]. This is where blockchain can they do not interfere with each other’s signal. Blockchain can help
prove to be beneficial and it opens a new stream of research in achieve this feature by storing the coordinates of all the UAVs in
UAV networks emphasizing a global channel for communication. its database. By using algorithms such as discussed in [181] and
Furthermore, with its help, we can incorporate capabilities such as referring to these stored coordinates, UAVs can decide their opti-
distributed decision making and enhanced security into UAV net- mal route to move to a destination without any collision and with
works. Some basic requirements of coordination between UAVs are minimum interference.
to prevent mid-air collisions, to make decisions based on data col-
lected from more than one UAV and to securely communicate with 4.2.3. Uniform load sharing
each other. Blockchain can help to provide secure one to one as In inter-service operations, it is necessary to ensure uniform
well as broadcast communication facilities in such UAV networks distribution of services between different vendors who lack trust
with the help of public key and private key mechanism. It can also among each other. Blockchain can solve this problem owing to
empower the UAV network to make decisions based on the opin- its being a transparent electronic ledger. Based on the load in-
ion of other UAVs such as in a voting system discussed in [23]. [23] formation of different regions, UAVs can be assigned their regions
also discusses the application of blockchain to create new business of operation ensuring uniform distribution as far as possible. An-
models where UAVs can conduct money transactions with human other way to do this is to assign a set of randomly generated
users in exchange for the services they provide. non-overlapping coordinates which can be used in cases where the
Another important area where blockchain can be used is to load is dynamic. This technique can also be used for load balancing
coordinate activities between UAVs belonging to different service in UAV assisted communication for IoT [182].
providers in case of high demand which cannot be met by any
single party at a time. Such an application of the operability of 4.2.4. Data and entity authentication
UAVs is discussed in [177]. This is called inter-service operabil- Because of the facility of the public and private key, UAVs can
ity of UAVs i.e. sharing a UAV among multiple vendors to serve communicate with each other through a common channel and
users present in a very densely populated area. The coordinates avoid hacking of data by third parties who can get access to the
of the UAV should not overlap to maintain minimum interference. channel. Additionally, they can also uniquely sign the data col-
Taking into account the number of users present and the services lected using their private key and can broadcast it to the whole
demanded by each one of them, every vendor deploys a sufficient network. This way, blockchain also helps in enabling the feature
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 9

change from case to case. [23] discusses an example of distributed

decision making where a UAV network is deployed for search and
identification purposes. When a particular UAV faces confusion on
the identification of an object, it shares it in the network and other
UAV members can vote on the identity of the object. Based on the
majority of votes, the actual identity of the object is ascertained
and this data is stored in the blockchain for future reference. How-
ever, various other blockchain structures can be designed depend-
ing on the application. In most of the applications, each UAV acts
as a node in the blockchain, capable of adding the records with-
out overwriting. In the case where UAVs from multiple parties are
involved such as in inter-service operations, a concept of weights
Fig. 7. Digitally signing the data with the help of public key for broadcast commu- is also used as discussed in [177]. Depending on the load each
nication.
UAV caters to, a weight is assigned to it which acts as a criterion
for deciding who has more control over the blockchain in cases
like forks (forks are like software updates in an operating sys-
tem). A blockchain may also undergo a change of rules and policies
which is called a fork. Having a weighted system ensures who has
more control over the forks. On similar lines, there are many new
concepts that can enhance the utility of blockchain in practical sce-
narios. We discuss the working of some of the application-specific
cases below.

4.3.1. Distributed decision making mechanism

By having a common communication channel in the form of
a blockchain, UAVs can make distributed decisions. An elaborate
mechanism is presented in [23] where any UAV that is faced with
Fig. 8. Sending encoded data for one to one communication using the public-private
key feature of the blockchain to avoid data theft [23].
confusion between some choices creates new addresses in the
blockchain network. Each address represents one of the options
for the decision. The other UAVs in the network will make a trans-
of a digital signature as shown in Fig. 7. This provides data source
action of amount 1 or 0 to one of these newly created addresses
and entity authentication between the UAVs and third party agents
depending on the option they choose based on their discretion. In
as the origin of the data can be traced using this feature. This is
the end, the address which has the maximum balance in its wallet
very crucial for disaster relief operation and in health care applica-
is chosen. In this way, the entire UAV network participates in deci-
tions such as the I-ward project which uses robot teams to assist
sion making. The decision is also broadcast to the whole network
health workers [183]. Also, in applications such as exploration us-
so that each UAV knows what decision to take when a particular
ing robotic swarms, this can help in uniquely identifying the robot
situation arises again. This mechanism is also explained in Fig. 10.
which made the discovery and storing the timestamp at which it
was made.
4.3.2. Secure communication channel for swarms
4.2.5. Cooperation and fast synchronization Blockchain can provide reliable peer-to-peer communication
By having a common communication channel in the form of channels to swarm agents and ways to overcome possible threats
a blockchain, UAVs can make requests for assistance from other and attacks. In the blockchain encryption scheme, public-key cryp-
UAVs or other robots in the swarm in emergency cases such as a tography and digital signature schemes are used. A pair of comple-
low battery, system faults, sensor malfunction, etc. Also using dis- menting keys called public and private keys are created for each
tributed decision making, they can get the opinion of other UAVs agent to provide the required capabilities. Public keys are like ac-
and decide the case of confusion and such decisions can be stored count numbers which are publicly accessible information and pri-
in the blockchain for the new members who join the swarm. They vate keys are like passwords or secret information which will be
can directly download the ledger containing previous decision his- used to authenticate an agent’s identity and the functions that it
tories and synchronize with the swarm instead of being trained executes. In the context of UAV swarm systems, digital signature
specifically which saves a lot of time and processing power. This scheme and public-key cryptography are shown in Fig. 7 and 8 re-
can be very useful for military applications where the probability spectively. Any UAV can send data to any other UAV in the system
of casualties of swarm robots maybe can be high. Also, such ap- since the public keys of all the UAVs are known to all other UAVs.
plications may be conducted in a multi-terrain environment where But only the UAV whose public key is used to encrypt the data
robots may be of different kind and ground robots may request an will be able to decrypt it since private keys are private to the in-
UAV to make them cross a river. Such a case is discussed in [23]. dividual UAVs. Since the public key cannot be used for decryption,
Also, UAV systems Blockchain can also help in maintaining coop- it secures the message from third parties even when they use the
eration between different swarm systems from competitor parties same channel.
when they operate in the same environment. With the help of
blockchain, they can share a common communication channel as 4.3.3. Inter service operability of UAVs
shown in Fig. 8 and securely share their confidential data within For providing services to users present in an ultra-dense en-
the network. vironment it is more sensible to have fewer UAVs in the region
that cater to all the users instead of each service provider hav-
4.3. Working of blockchain application in UAVNETs ing its UAV catering to a few users. In the latter case, there will
be a high probability of signal interference, UAV collisions, chan-
UAV networks (UAVNETs) can be employed in a wide range of nel blocking, etc. In such cases, few UAVs from multiple vendors
applications depending on which the structure of blockchain can can unite to form a blockchain and provide coordinated services
10 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Fig. 9. Representational blockchain for coordinated services using UAV networks.

vendors together approve for delivering services in a particular re-

gion, they share private keys with each other which are required
by the UAVs to exchange the load information when multiple UAVs
are communicating. The vendors are also allowed to change the
private keys if there exists a situation of possible threats. For ac-
cessing the broadcast information the private keys are required for
knowing the access rights on that information. These policies are
driven by the service agreement between the service providers. For
the location-allocation to each UAV of different service providers,
there are two methods discussed below.

i. A UAV may serve at a stationary point where its sole purpose

is to serve as a High Altitude Platform System (HAPS). Here
the UAVs do not have to move over the region.
ii. A UAV may serve a set of coordinates where the UAV has to
maneuver around a particular allocated region.

The performance factors of such networks as discussed in [177]

show that blockchain-based solutions to such problems have low
operational overheads, low latency and are less costly as compared
to other traditional and centralized deployment techniques. Thus
Fig. 10. Working of a distributed decision making mechanism in a UAV network we can see that blockchain-based UAV networks are better com-
using blockchain [23]. pared to other methods used.

to the users. As the vendors might be competitors in the mar- 4.4. Challenges
ket, with the help of blockchain they can maintain the level of
trust among themselves. Another application is discussed in [177] Although the integration of UAV networks with blockchain
where the authors use the concept of a weighted blockchain for opens a lot of possibilities, there also exist many practical chal-
load balancing in UAVNETs. Load balancing can be implemented lenges [23]. In Bitcoin, a block takes almost 10 minutes to be
using consensus between different UAVs from different vendors processed. Although such a delay can be minimized in private
and the users are charged depending on how much services they blockchains, there will still be a significant time lag between the
utilize. Fig. 9 shows a representational blockchain where the data time when the transaction is carried out and when it is confirmed.
usage and the service time are stored in the blockchain in the form This can prove to be dangerous in carrying out cooperative tasks
of transactions that the UAVs make to the vendor’s account. Iden- between the UAVs such as swarm movement and can cause col-
tification of vendors is carried out and zones are allocated to each lisions. Also, if the number of UAVs in the swarm is very large
of the identified vendors for cooperative operation over a region. and can operate for a long period of time, the blockchain itself can
The UAVs use a public key for identifying each other without the grow very large for the UAVs to accommodate. This problem is also
need of any centralized authentication mechanism. When all of the faced by the Bitcoin community and is called bloat [184].
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 11

5. Decentralized storage in UAV networks using blockchain

5.1. Motivation

IoT technologies have advanced a lot in recent times with their

applications in many industries such as agriculture, environmen-
tal monitoring, security surveillance, logistics services, heath care
monitoring, diasater monitoring, production process etc. The num-
ber of devices connected to IoT is going to increase a lot in coming
times and technologies such as fog and edge computing will be
crucial for supporting it [185]. There have been also studies to im-
prove the security and efficiency of IIoT systems [186]. UAVs are an
integral part of such IoT applications and are used as active plat-
forms for deploying sensors in the air. Being vulnerable to security
attacks is a hindrance in their wide-scale adoption [187]. This is
where blockchain technology can be helpful since it provides a dis-
tributed storage mechanism which is secure due to usage of cryp-
tographic techniques such as hash functions. We discuss the model
presented by [187] where the authors propose to use blockchain
for creating a decentralized storage architecture for air to ground
industrial IoT networks where both the Air Sensors (ASs) and the Fig. 11. Ground sensor modules and air sensors (onboard UAVs) participating in
a blockchain empowered decentralized storage system. Various smart devices in-
Ground Sensor Modules (GSMs) can participate in a mutually ben-
stalled in offices, homes, buildings, vehicles, streetlights, etc., can be equipped with
eficial exchange of data. Blockchain’s peer-to-peer (P2P) approach sensors to act as ground sensor modules [187].
thus could play an important role in the development of IoT de-
centralized systems. Its objective is to design an air to ground P2P 5.3. System working
data transfer network in which UAVs mounted with ASs can send
the cached data from air to GSMs in an efficient, secure and de- Following is the sequence of operations which take place in
centralized way. such an air to ground industrial network:

5.2. Role of blockchain i. The first step of the system is the collection of data by ASs
present at different altitudes.
The role of blockchain here is to securely store and send data ii. An UAVs with AS requests for storage space from the GSMs by
from the UAV nodes (on which ASs are deployed) to the GSMs. issuing a broadcast command.
Blockchain also helps in distributing rewards (such as crypto- iii. The GSM having the closest physical proximity to the UAV of-
currencies) from UAVs to GSMs depending on the services they fers its storage space.
provide such as storage and processing power, and thus enables iv. Data is sent from the UAV to the GS.
the creation of a mutually beneficial model. Blockchain provides v. GS receives the data and verifies the completion of data recep-
the following utilities for this application: tion with an acknowledgment signal.
vi. The UAV issues reward points to the GS via the blockchain.
5.2.1. Increase air data security
The GSMs which are part of the network allocate caching space The transactions between the UAVs and the GSMs are carried
to the UAVs to collect and secure their data. The UAVs in return out using smart contracts and the consensus protocol used is the
pay the GSMs with reward points with the help of transactions in Proof of Space (PoS) as discussed in [189]. The blockchain struc-
the blockchain. The UAVs can instantly transfer the cached data to ture used is based on the IoT security blockchain-based framework
the GSMs. This reduces the vulnerability of the data collected by discussed in [77] which has a block header, block data and a policy
the UAVs since the adversaries will have a lesser window to carry header.
out physical or cyber attacks.
5.4. Challenges
5.2.2. Enable mutually beneficial transactions between heterogeneous
The proposed system of organizing air to ground industrial IoT
IoT agents
networks with the help of blockchain is a very innovative solution
The UAVs can pay the GSMs for their services of securing the
but its implementation still faces some challenges. As air sensors
data collected by ASs onboard. The GSMs provide additional stor-
are installed in the air, regulatory concerns come up with govern-
age space and processing power to the UAVs with ASs and in
ment and airspace rules of the region. The reward that is given out
return the UAV pays them with reward points, thus creating a mu-
in the form of cryptocurrency is again a concern with countries
tually beneficial network. The authors of [187] also point out that
such as India banning private cryptocurrencies completely. Also,
such a mutually beneficial network will create a healthy ecosystem
organizing a diverse set of ground sensors modules can be a big
in a heterogeneous IoT environment as shown in Fig. 11. Hetero-
challenge as various types of individual and commercial enterprise
geneous IoT systems is a growing area of research [188] and have
permissions will be required to install ground sensors modules on
the potential to transform the lifestyle of individuals.
their property.
5.2.3. Tackle problem of limited storage and processing power onboard
6. Securing uav networks with blockchain
UAVs
UAVs harbouring ASs have limited storage space and processing 6.1. Motivation
power. By sending the data collected by ASs to GSMs they can free
up their onboard memory to capture the next set of data and also The use of UAVs has been increasing at a huge rate across in-
save the data processing power. Saving on power can increase their dustries for both defense and civilian applications. With further
flying time. advancements in the technologies used for making them, such as
12 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Fig. 12. An overview of security applications of blockchain in UAV networks.

battery capacity, AI-based software solutions, physical design im- be fatal if the flying control and navigation systems are de-
provements, construction material, camera technologies, etc., their pendent on the commands from the GCS. It can be a single
demand is going to increase manifold [190]. This increases the point of failure for the whole system. Having a decentralized
risk of cyber-physical attacks on the UAVs in the coming years blockchain network removes this dependency and reduces the
especially once their usage is regularised by governments across vulnerability of UAV networks to signal jamming. Each UAV
the globe. Blockchain technology has the potential to secure data has a copy of the blockchain which contains the flying route
that is being dynamically updated, through its security capabili- details of other UAVs and can decide its path accordingly.
ties such as hashing, smart contracts, consensus protocols, public 2) Detecting UAV hijacks, poisoned data and ensuring data integrity:
and private keys, etc. Hence it is ideally suited for UAV applica- UAV networks are very vulnerable and dynamic in nature. An
tions which are very dynamic in nature. As the UAV traffic density adversary UAV may enter the network and start injecting false
in the air increases, there is an increasing need to integrate them information or alter the original information. Such altered in-
with the Air-Traffic-Control (ATC) network to regulate their move- formation called poisoned data can also be injected by UAVs
ment and usage. This can be achieved with the help of blockchain which were initially part of the network but were later hi-
as discussed in [190]. UAVs can decide their flight routes indepen- jacked by adversaries. To tackle such attacks, the consensus
dently with the help of their onboard blockchain copy containing mechanism of blockchain can be implemented. If any UAV de-
information about flight routes of the other UAVs and the input tects suspicious activity, it can report it in the blockchain and
data from ATC. In this section we discuss the security models pre- if the number of such entries against a UAV exceeds a certain
sented by [190–192] to analyze the applicability of blockchain in predetermined threshold, it can be concluded that it is a ma-
addressing the security challenges of UAV networks. Fig. 12 gives a licious UAV. Also, in commercial scenarios, blockchain can be
pictorial overview of different scenarios where blockchain can en- used to receive the feedback of end-users to enable the UAVs
hance the security of UAV networks. to reach a consensus on the source of internal attacks, if any.
3) Avoiding mid-air collisions of UAVs: UAV networks may comprise
6.2. Role of blockchain a large number of UAVs with a high probability of their routes
clashing with each other due to a slight delay in the com-
1) Mitigating jamming of UAV signals: Jamming of wireless signals mand signal received or a channel blockage in the path of
between the UAVs and the Ground Control Station (GCS) can the signals coming from GCSs. If each UAV has an onboard
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 13

blockchain copy containing the flying routes of its peer UAVs, UAVs already have a lot of onboard processing requirements
it can maintain a safe distance from others while moving to- for controlling their flight and other attached payloads such as
wards its destination. This removes the dependence of UAVs cameras, sensors, etc., simultaneously carrying out computa-
on manual signaling which is highly prone to delays and er- tions for blockchain will be a big challenge.
rors. 2) 51 percent attacks: Blockchain networks are also vulnerable to
4) Securing UAV communications: The communication infrastruc- attacks from mischievous groups who can gain control over
ture in UAV networks is prone to threats such as spoofing, the majority of the mining power of the blockchain (i.e. con-
Denial-of-Service (DoS), man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, trol over 51% of the participant nodes). This gives them free-
and data tampering attacks as discussed in [192]. Blockchain dom to create a fork in the chain and ability to revert trans-
empowers the UAV networks to encrypt the data and store actions which took place when they were in control of the
them in the blockchain thus making it inaccessible to anyone blockchain. They can also prevent certain transactions from
without the legitimate decryption key. In [192], the authors getting registered in the blockchain. In UAV networks, adver-
have proposed a mechanism where one of the UAVs is re- saries can prevent the UAV’s coordinates form getting regis-
sponsible for block creation (called the ‘forger node’) and all tered on the blockchain or even delete them with the help of
the other UAVs are used for block validation and verification a 51% attack. This can be fatal for vehicles in air such as com-
using the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus protocol. The selec- mercial airplanes and also harm people and property on the
tion of a forger node is done using a utility function based on ground.
game theory. The presented study shows that the blockchain 3) Rigorous mathematical testing: Implementing blockchain models
security model gives better performance compared to other in UAV networks is a very complex task. Rigorous simulations
state-of-the-art security systems in place for the UAV networks
have to be carried out keeping in mind various test cases that
in terms of communication latency and cost.
may be possible. The whole system design needs to be veri-
5) Securing UAV data types: In any UAV network there are four
fied from all angles before the technology moves into real-life
main data types namely, UAV identifier, flight route control,
implementation, since any error may lead to fatal accidents.
sensor data, and the flying schedule [190]. Blockchain pro-
Although simulations have been carried out by [191] with pos-
vides secure storage and protects the integrity of these data
itive results, more robust testing from the system engineering
parameters by writing and updating them inside a block of
point is required which is very challenging to carry out in such
the blockchain. The authors of [190] show us how the flying
complex UAV networks.
schedule and the flight route control of the UAV can be im-
plemented in the form of a smart contract. The fulfillment of
7. Blockchain-based uav surveillance applications
the conditions in the smart contract indicates the completion
of the UAV’s flight mission.
6) Securing data dissemination: Data dissemination refers to the 7.1. Motivation
distribution of data to the end-users. The forger node (as dis-
cussed in the previous section) sends the data to the end-users
UAVs are being actively explored for their usage in surveillance
to securely store it in the blockchain. The following sequence
applications because of their high mobility and dynamic nature
of steps is followed for the same [192].
which empowers them to operate in regions without any network
i. Forger node encrypts the packet data to be sent and for-
infrastructure such as borders, remote environmentally sensitive
wards it to a public distributed blockchain.
locations and regions affected by natural disasters [193,194]. How-
ii. The public distributed blockchain network accepts the re-
ever, because of their dynamic topology, UAV networks have many
quest and updates its ledger.
security challenges that make them vulnerable to a variety of at-
iii. Forger node computes the digital signature of the packet
tacks. Some of the main challenges faced by UAV networks are as
data with its private key.
follows [25].
iv. This digital signature is then broadcast to the public
blockchain network.
i. Trust and data authentication.
v. The distributed nodes verify and validate the broadcasting
node. ii. Upholding the security and reliability of channels.
vi. Post validation the packet is forwarded to the end-user. iii. Finding the optimal path.
vii. The end-user decrypts the packet with the public key of
the forger node and sends an acknowledgment (Ack) to the In areas without any Vehicle to Infrastructure network (V2I),
forger UAV, indicating the completion of the transaction. UAVs rely on their Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) networks. This commu-
In this way, blockchain can be employed to secure the com- nication needs to be secure as they are used in real-time mission
munication between UAVs and end-users. This is important for mode applications such as combat [195], border monitoring, and
future commercial applications of UAV networks in areas such rescue and relief operations. Thus, it is important to know what
as Sensing as a Service (SaaS) [178–180] and new business kind of attacks can penetrate their communication network to ap-
models such as UAV delivery. preciate the role of blockchain in solving them. The most frequent
and popular attacks made on such networks are listed below [25].
6.3. Challenges
i. Unauthorised access to the UAV ID and physical location of
1) Limited resources onboard UAVs: Like any other existing block- UAVs.
chain applications, the models discussed here also come with ii. DoS attack.
certain limitations of data storage, computation time and com- iii. Sybil Attack which creates confusion in the network by imitat-
putation cost. As the number of UAVs in the network increases, ing several UAVs with the same ID.
the computation cost also goes up. And as more data is gener- iv. Increasing the latency of system transmissions by spamming.
ated, the blockchain becomes bigger occupying a lot of disk v. MITM attack.
space. Also hashing for larger data requires more time and vi. Blackhole attack.
processing power which is limited onboard UAVs. Given that vii. Fake information of locations.
14 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Fig. 13. A blockchain-based surveillance system [25]. (Left) Raising of alarm in case of a real intruder and (Right) a malicious UAV generating a False alarm. The trust level of
true alarm increases with time whereas the trust level of false alarm remains stagnant.

Blockchain can very easily secure access to the IDs and physi- 7.2.1. Maintaining high trust of intruder detection alarm
cal coordinates of UAVs as is discussed in one of its applications One of the main purposes of deploying UAV systems for surveil-
of securing UAV data types in the previous section. It can easily lance is to create an alarm in case of intrusion of surveillance
avoid MITM attacks by encryption and decryption mechanism us- areas. Blockchain can facilitate the verification of such intrusion
ing public-key cryptography. Given the consensus mechanism of events and maintain high trust of the alarm. Every time an event
UAVs participating in the blockchain, it is also not difficult to de- occurs, UAVs detect them and pass on these messages to neighbor-
tect fake information. Thus, blockchain has the potential to solve ing UAVs by adding a block to blockchain containing details of the
most of these problems and can be used to securely and effi- intrusion and this continues recursively as shown in Fig. 13. Each
ciently implement these mechanisms. Surveillance is not limited UAV sends different encrypted messages conveying whether they
to only military applications but can be conducted in the civilian
detected the intruder directly or is it done by another one and If
environment also (e.g., traffic management in metropolitan areas,
several UAVs observes the same intruder event, it can be validated
imaging of a particular area, etc). Such applications do have a
and if the event is detected by only one UAV it is taken as true,
ground infrastructure but operate in a highly dense environment
but considered suspicious. Like in Fig. 13, in case of a real intru-
which means there is a lot of physical obstacles in the movement
sion the first UAV to observe it is UAV A and then subsequently
of UAVs and a lot of scope for high jacking of the data transmit-
ted between them. Thus, blockchain can be used to enhance the UAV B and UAV C will also observe it and hence the trust level
security of such UAV ad-hoc networks and avoiding paths where of the alarm increases. But in case of a false alarm, only one alert
the line of sight is blocked. Blockchain can also help in detecting is obtained and its trust level remains low. Also, if it is detected
wrong information when a UAV is hijacked physically using asym- that a UAV has sent false information, it is penalized and loses its
metric encryption and discriminate such compromised UAVs using trust. The neighbor UAVs can find out if an UAV is sending ma-
distributed trust management. We discuss the system models pre- licious data continuously as each UAV keeps updated track of IDs
sented in [25] and [24] to discuss this application of blockchain in of all the direct observers. A similar implementation based on the
UAV surveillance applications. principles of blockchain was simulated by [25]. The results of the
study show that in case of an actual intruder crossing surveillance
7.2. Role of blockchain area, the number of direct observer UAVs remains below 10 per-
cent throughout the time period of simulation and the number
of indirectly alerted UAVs reach 100 percent in about 50 minutes
Blockchain ensures the security of information sets by sharing
them and verifying the data by the distinctive suggested parties. and within an hour the trust level of the alarm reaches 90 per-
It can help in creating a robust data transmission network be- cent in the network. In the case of an intruder, UAV generating a
tween UAVs where data can be verified at various checkpoints to false Alarm of tress-passing the indirectly alerted UAVs reach 100
ensure the integrity of the data. Also, using the features of unique percent in an hour but the trust level of the alarm remains 0 as
fingerprint of every block (in the form of hashing) and the address- only one UAV reports it. So overall the performance of the system
ing mechanism (in the form of public keys and private keys), the if satisfactory and the distributed trust policy proves to be benefi-
robustness of the system can be increased against attacks by ad- cial in detecting false alarms. This is a very essential feature of a
versaries. Thus, on similar lines we discuss some of the utilities of surveillance network because if the alarm loses its trust then cases
blockchain in surveillance applications below. of real intrusion may go unnoticed.
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 15

Fig. 14. Double-block checking mechanism in a UAV network based on the model proposed in [24]. It makes it more immune to physical obstacles in line of sight and cyber
physical attacks.

7.2.2. Securing the surveillance data from adversaries height. Blockchain helps in the collection of the data from differ-
Securing the surveillance data captured by the UAVs using ent UAVs and their collective processing at ground data centers. In
Blockchain makes it immune to impersonator UAVs or hackers [24], the authors present such an application wherein a large UAV
who may try to modify or access the data. Hashing mechanism network, each UAV shares its local view in the form of the block
of blockchain protects the data from being manipulated. Hash is a on the blockchain as shown in Fig. 14. Finally, these blockchain
unique identity of each block which is generated by inputting the reach the ground station and data centers where the global view
data of the block to a complex mathematical function. So even if is made. Also as discussed in the previous section such a network
there is a slight change in the data of the block it will give an en- is robust against obstacles blocking line of sight and cyber-physical
tirely different hash. So if an intruder UAV wants to modify the attacks which makes it more reliable. This view can be shared with
data stored in the blockchain, then he will have to recalculate the Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities, UAV operators, etc., to imple-
hash of the majority of the blocks in the blockchain which requires ment Collision Avoidance Algorithms and plan their flight routes
huge processing power which is not possible on-board an UAV. accordingly.
Another possibility is that the malicious UAV may try to create a
false alarm, this is already discussed in the previous point where 7.2.5. Create an efficient and secure data transmission mechanism
it is mitigated with a distributed trust policy. Also to address the All the UAVs which are to participate in the surveillance can be
challenge of authentication of UAVs joining the surveillance fleet, registered in the network before the fleet starts the surveillance
the authors in [25] proposed to use the hyper-ledger permission activity. Hence the Public keys of all the UAVs will be available
blockchain where every UAV which wants to connect to the net- with everyone in the fleet and can be used for signing the message
work needs to obtain an enrollment certificate from an enrollment securely to everyone. This avoids the MiM attack as the message
Certificate Authority (CA) that is part of the membership services. encrypted by a public key can be decrypted by a corresponding
The CA gives the UAV permission to connect to the network and private key which are private to the individual UAVs.
a transaction certificate which allows it to submit transactions to
the blockchain. Thus it helps in increasing the authenticity of the 7.3. Challenges
surveillance data. This is important because adversaries may try
to tamper the surveillance data to delete their mischievous acts
7.3.1. Latency
which may have been captured by the surveillance network.
The distribution of information in such UAV networks is slow as
each UAV share the data with UAVs that are close enough to com-
7.2.3. Reduce system vulnerability to cyber-physical attacks and
municate when possible and the next UAV does the same thing
physical obstacles
and in this way the information is propagated in the whole net-
With the help of Blockchain, we can implement a double-
work. So although such medium of communication is reliable it
blocks checking mechanism which is discussed in [24]. The mech-
leads to a lot of latency which may be fatal as the intruder may
anism is shown in Fig. 14. Here different colors represent different
have caused considerable damage in that time.
blockchains and each node represents a UAV which adds its block
of collected data to the blockchain which is sent to it. We can see
7.3.2. Limited memory and power
that both UAV 2 and UAV 3 receive block from UAV 1 in the purple
Surveillance applications require a large amount of data collec-
and green blockchain respectively. Now both of these blockchains
reach UAV 5 at different time instants and contain the block added tion especially if the area to be monitored is large. So in these
by UAV 1. So UAV 5 can check whether the block added by UAV cases the size of the blockchain may be very large which can be
1 is same in the both the blockchains and hence in that way it difficult for UAVs with limited onboard resources to store and pro-
can check the validity and security of the routes 1-2-5 and 1-3-4- cess.
5 through which the blockchains have come to it. This reduces the
vulnerability of the blockchain to obstacles in line of sight which 8. Blockchain-based UAV networks for edge computing
may corrupt the data and makes it more immune to cyber-physical
attacks. 8.1. Motivation

7.2.4. Dynamic imaging of large areas Edge computing is a very happening technological domain in
With the help of blockchain, the UAVs system can be empow- the market today because of the latency and cost issues with big
ered to image large areas just like a satellite but from a lower cloud servers [196]. There have been also some studies to decrease
16 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Table 2
Role of blockchain in enhancing the utility of UAV systems.

Utility Role of blockchain Utility Role of blockchain

UAV systems for Automating data storage and verification Security of UAV networks Mitigating jamming of UAV signals
automation of supply Automating transactions Detecting UAV hijacks, poisoned data and ensuring
chain data integrity
Automating decision making Avoiding mid-air collisions of UAVs
Co-ordinated UAV Creating new business models Securing UAV communications
services Collision free movement of UAVs Securing UAV data types
Uniform load sharing Securing data dissemination
Data and entity authentication UAV surveillance Maintaining high trust of intruder alarm detection
Cooperation and fast synchronization applications Securing the surveillance data from adversaries
Decentralized storage Enable mutually beneficial transactions between Reduce system vulnerability to cyber physical
in UAV networks heterogeneous IoT agents attacks and physical obstacles
Dynamic imaging of large areas
Increasing air data security Create an efficient and secure data transmission
mechanism
Tackle the problem of limited storage and processing UAV networks for edge Increasing reliability of Mobile Edge Computing
power onboard UAVs computing (MEC) networks in terms of connectivity, availability
and survivability

the latency and optimize edge cloud-lets [197,198]. Physical prox- 8.3. Challenges
imity to the connected devices ensures low jitter, high bandwidth
and also empowers the owner of the device to enforce privacy Implementing blockchain for reducing the maintenance, cost,
policies via the edge server before the data is released to the and administration of MEC services and for the identification of
cloud. One of its interesting features is mobile edge computing appropriate servers requires several issues to be resolved. Some
(MEC) which offers services to users via near-site mobile devices of them identified by [200] are related to lower and upper bounds
like UAVs. UAV networks can play an important role in the imple- on memory for blockchain-enabled communication, survivability of
mentation of MEC especially during emergencies such as disasters UAVs with excessive computations, failure analysis, server dom-
when the stationary ground infrastructure is not available. Also, inance, and sharing and content identification. These challenges
MEC is seen as one of the key technologies towards 5G [199] and need to be addressed before such an application can be rolled out
hence considerable developments are required to make it ultra- in the market. Some solutions in this direction can be found in lit-
reliable in terms of survivability, availability ad connectivity. This erature. [201] discusses the importance of partitioning and offload-
is where blockchain can be used. Blockchain can enable the par- ing in smart mobile devices. Also, [202] discusses the method of
ticipant UAVs to maintain a high trust among themselves and help adaptive partitioning for distributed optimization of mobile appli-
achieve a flat architecture. Here, we discuss a model of a neural cations. So, such measures need to be adopted to make blockchain-
based UAV networks suitable for MEC applications.
blockchain for achieving an ultra-reliable caching scheme in Edge-
UAV networks [200].
9. Some broader perspectives

8.2. Role of blockchain As the number of UAVs grow over time, several challenges re-
garding their management and security will need to be addressed.
Blockchain as a tool can be useful in tackling these as discussed
Blockchain can be used for increasing the reliability of MEC
in the previous sections. But certain applications may require ad-
communications using UAV caching, in terms of connectivity, avail-
ditional tools that will enhance the application of blockchain in
ability, and survivability. In the model proposed by [200], the au-
UAV networks. Also, blockchain can enhance the role of other tech-
thors suggest using a neural network on a combination of three
nologies in UAV applications and has the potential to enhance the
blockchains to generate an optimal master blockchain-based on
applicability of UAV systems in a wide variety of practical scenar-
which the optimal path for the UAVs is decided. They also present
ios such as military and commercial establishments, environment
a detailed mathematical approach for calculating the reliability of
monitoring, traffic management, etc. Based on the detailed study
the system as a parameter. If the calculated reliability parameter done in the previous sections of this paper, we present a summary
is not in the theoretical optimal range, the iterations in the neu- of the role of blockchain in different application scenarios of UAV
ral network can be increased to arrive at the optimal blockchain. systems in Table 2. However, there are more possibilities to ex-
Also, blockchain facilitates content sharing and data delivery be- plore this exciting synergy of UAVs and blockchain. Thus, a broader
tween the user equipment connected to the edge servers and the perspective is required as to how blockchain-based UAV networks
caching servers with the help of its smart contracts and transac- can influence different application scenarios and how other tech-
tion models. One of its main utilities is to support caching based nologies can contribute to or benefit from it. We present here a
on page ranks, which is derived with the help of survivability of discussion on the same.
page requests coming from different user equipment. In the exper-
iments carried by [200] it was demonstrated that using blockchain 9.1. Artificial intelligence-driven blockchain solution for UAVs
the probability of connectivity reaches 0.99, survivability becomes
greater than 0.90, energy consumption is decreased by 60.34 per- An application of Artificial intelligence (AI) in blockchain-based
cent and the reliability reaches 1.0 even for a large number of UAV networks was already discussed in section 8 where a neu-
users. Thus blockchain as a technology can be used to make MEC ral network was applied on three different blockchains to create
communications ultra-reliable. an optimized blockchain which gives the optimal fly routes for
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 17

the UAVs [200]. Another state of the art application of AI is be- alarms in such cases which poses a big challenge for the fire fight-
ing done by the Deep Aero project [203] where it is used to build ing team as there are limited resources to be deployed and all the
a smart, autonomous self-governing system for UAVs with many alarms cannot be addressed. In such cases, XAI implemented using
blockchain-based practical applications. It is a blockchain-based blockchain can be a more reliable option which the common users
framework for air traffic management of UAVs. Whenever we talk can trust as compared to just using AI to predict the truthfulness
about UAVs, we usually talk about an aerial vehicle operating with- of a system. Blockchain can maintain a history of alarms transpar-
out any human. The absence of humans might decrease the oper- ently raised by UAVs. Based on this data the truthfulness of each
ational cost, but it also comes with several disadvantages such as UAV can be calculated using XAI algorithms, thus making the sys-
the risk of collision with other UAVs, destruction of public prop- tem explainable. The alarm raised by the most trustworthy UAV is
erty and much more. A framework is necessary which could guide considered a priority. The importance of maintaining a high trust
on-field UAVs by providing them a set of regulations and maps level of alarms is also discussed in [204].
so that mishaps can be avoided. The specific utilities which the
project highlights are as under. 9.3. IoT inspired blockchain-based UAV delivery systems

9.1.1. Air traffic management UAV systems possess the advantage of enjoying the shortest
Air traffic management for manned vehicles is a completely hu- route to destinations by following an almost straight path route
man, manual and comparatively easy process, but air traffic man- via low altitude air corridors as compared to road transportation
agement for unmanned vehicles is a highly complex system. UAVs which is constrained by traffic and the way roadways are con-
fly in low-altitude zone, so they need a complex set of data and structed. Hence, many delivery companies are looking towards de-
programs to help them monitor the environment around them as veloping UAV delivery systems for direct delivery to consumers in
well as to make communication with other manned/unmanned ve- a fast and secure manner. UAVs are also safer than conventional
hicles in immediate proximity to escape any potential collision. delivery systems as they will not act maliciously and tamper the
Deep Aero’s UTM (UAV traffic management) platform comes into ef- packages which may happen in case of manual delivery systems.
fect here. UTM is the infrastructure that allows a UAV to exchange
information such as its location coordinates with other aerial vehi-
9.3.1. Chronicled
cles (manned/unmanned), air space management services, airport
A new application area in this domain is the door-to-door pack-
personnel, and air traffic control. Ongoing research is exploring
age delivery system where the UAV can drop or handover the
various prototype technologies such as airspace design, dynamic
package via the consumer’s door or window. Chronicled, a company
geofencing, congestion management to make the UTM platform
working on blockchains is trying a similar implementation of UAV
highly effective and fool-proof.
delivery system using IoT [206]. The consumers’ houses may have
IoT enabled doors and windows and the UAVs can interact with
9.1.2. Deep chain UAV identity system
them via the Internet. A blockchain stores data regarding the iden-
UAVs do not carry a specific identity in the real environment,
tity of UAVs to ensure that only authentic UAVs are allowed entry
thus, it becomes very difficult to provide a specific set of instruc-
through the doors and windows. Whenever an order is placed, a
tions to a UAV. This necessitates an identity management system
UAV arrives near the house with the package and sends request
that is addressed by the Deep Aero Project. Deep chain UAV reg-
to the door or a window through which it is supposed to enter
istration is a blockchain-based registration system that provides a
the house, the chip on the IoT enabled door/window checks if the
unique identity to UAVs, and even pilots so that a specific set of
UAV is authentic by referring to the blockchain and if its identity
instructions can be sent to specific UAVs/pilots.
is verified, it opens to let the UAV enter the house.
9.2. Blockchain driven explainable AI (XAI) based UAV systems
9.3.2. Walmart
9.2.1. Brief introduction to XAI Walmart is aiming to utilize blockchains to develop a smarter
Explainable Artificial intelligence (XAI) aims at making AI sys- package delivery and tracking system [207]. The U.S. Patent and
tems more explainable. Present-day machine learning technology Trademark Office issued a new patent on Walmart’s name recently.
which is core to AI applications is very opaque, nonintuitive and is It explains a smart package delivered via UAVs which includes a
not comprehensible by common users [204]. Analysts find it diffi- device to store the information regarding a blockchain-related to
cult to find out the reasons behind failures, successes and prevent the environmental locations, the content of the package, manufac-
previously occurred errors and suggest corrective measures. XAI turer, location, model number, etc. The blockchain component is
addresses this problem by making more explainable models and planned to be encrypted into the device and will contain “key ad-
at the same time maintain a high learning performance. dresses along the chain of the packages custody, including hashing
with a seller private key address, a courier private key address,
9.2.2. Blockchain-based XAI UAV systems and a buyer private key address” [208]. Thus this is another major
Blockchain ensures a high level of trust by maintaining the data step in the application of blockchain in package delivery systems.
intact in a transparent ledger and can be used to make the decision There have been other efforts also by some other big players such
making process explainable for systems operating in a multi-agent as Amazon which is developing Amazon Sir prime since 2013 and
environment where trust on the decisions can enhance the speed Dorado, a blockchain company that launched an ICO in May 2018
of operations. In [205], the authors discuss a few scenarios where to develop a UAV delivery system [206].
this can be applied such as cloud computing, smart cities, and user
satisfaction management. The combination of these three state- 9.4. Blockchain inspired UAV systems for the security industry
of-the-art technologies, namely blockchain, XAI, and UAVs can be
used in applications where there are limited resources (e.g., UAV UAVs have a huge scope of application in the security industry.
systems can be deployed to detect fire in a particular locality). We had discussed its surveillance potential in section 7 which is
As soon as an alarm is raised by a particular UAV, a nearby fire relevant for monitoring purposes and can be used in securing sen-
station is informed and the rescue team reaches the location fol- sitive locations. Alternatively, UAVs also have the potential to act
lowing the coordinates of the UAV. There is a possibility of false as the next generation of robotic guards and can shield the target
18 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

Table 3
Summary of blockchain applications in UAV systems.

Application scenario Problem addressed Proposed solution Ref.

Supply chain automation The tedious task of inventory management done by A blockchain-based inventory management system where UAVs [173]
humans is prone to delays and errors. scan products with RFID tags and send information to a
blockchain which validates it and ensures transparency. Smart
contracts are used to carry out transactions with third parties.
Need for a secure communication channel between Blockchain used as a secure communication channel between [175]
UAVs participating in various steps in a multi-agent UAVs via its public and private key mechanism.
system designed for commercial purposes.
Providing coordinated UAV Need for a global channel for communication and Blockchain used as a global communication platform where UAVs [23]
services storage in UAV networks deployed in applications such can digitally sign and send encoded data. It also empowers the
as disaster relief, security, network relaying etc. UAVs in the network to take decisions in a democratic way by
accepting inputs from other UAV members.
Need to have inter-service operation capabilities Blockchain-based trust agreement between the vendors to [177]
between different network providers to cater to the provide inter-service operations where each UAV acts as a node
areas having ultra high density of users. Also ensuring in the blockchain. The record of services of each vendor is
trust between the service providers who may be maintained in the blockchain in a transparent way, ensuring trust
competitors in the market. mutual trust.
Providing decentralized Limited storage and processing power on-board the A blockchain empowered decentralized storage mechanism where [187]
storage in UAV networks UAVs operating as part of Industrial IoT networks which UAVs acting as air sensors transmit their data to ground sensors
require heavy data storage and processing capabilities. and in return pay the ground sensors with rewards via
blockchain for their storage and processing services.
Security of UAV networks Named data networking (NDN) is being actively An NDN based UAV Network with a permissioned blockchain to [191]
explored for UAV adhoc networks for better speed and securely verify and record data. An efficient consensus algorithm
security. However, features of NDN make them highly is employed to provide services in a decentralized manner to
vulnerable to content poisoning, i.e., injection of detect inside attackers.
fabricated or corrupted content into the cache.
Need to have autonomous UAV systems for mitigating A blockchain-based UAV network where each UAV has a copy of [190]
network jamming attacks, electromagnetic weapons and the on-board blockchain. UAVs can refer to blockchain data for
other possible adversaries. deciding their fly routes and action plan, in case of jamming of
command signals from control stations or from other UAVs in the
network.
In commercial applications, UAV networks face the Use Ethereum-based public blockchain for securing data [192]
challenge of securely sending data to end users and also collection and transmission in an Internet of drone environment.
maintaining confidentiality of the data. It ensures data integrity, accountability, authorization and
confidentiality.
UAV swarm based surveillance Operation of UAV networks in urban areas is challenging A blockchain-based UAV traffic information exchange network to [24]
network because of blocking of line of sight (LoS) due to securely transmit traffic data. Via blockchain a double block
obstacles in the urban environment. checking mechanism can be implemented which makes the
system immune to cyber threats and obstacles in LoS.
UAV networks used for surveillance applications face Use a security approach based on principles of blockchain which [25]
many security challenges because of their dynamic can detect suspicious events in the surveillance data and also
topology. detect malicious UAVs via a distributed trust management policy.
UAV networks for edge Lack of focus on ensuring ultra reliable communication A blockchain and neural network based approach which uses [200]
computing facilities in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) applications. UAVs as on-demand nodes for caching purposes to provide
ultra-reliability.

from both air and ground attacks. Using blockchain, such an appli- 9.5. Blockchain and UAV based solution for environment conservation
cation can be coordinated and managed transparently from remote
locations. Also, monitoring air space security is a major concern This is one of the most exciting areas where blockchain empow-
today. Last year an incident at Gatwick airport, London highlighted ered UAV systems can be deployed to track poaching activities and
animal movements. UAV systems can easily operate in dense forest
the need for this [206]. In December 2018, many flights were
environments and thus have the potential to make a difference in
grounded during busy hours due to the spotting of unidentified
this field. Across Africa, many national parks are employing UAVs
UAVs near the commercial runways. Due to this, over 1,000 flights to combat poaching activities [206]. Also, mapping of river surfaces
were grounded which affected the holiday plans of over 140,000 and oceans over a large area can help monitor algae count and
people leading to a huge monetary loss. One of the carriers, Easy check the health of water bodies. Soar, a company operating out of
jet lost around 19 million dollars [206]. This highlights the need Australia aims to work on aerial photography via UAV systems to
to register UAVs in a common platform such as blockchain to improve urban planning, smart agriculture, natural resource man-
trace and prevent the source of such attacks. Although this inci- agement, and disaster relief [206]. People interested in such data
dent did not result in any casualties, the authorities initially did have to conventionally depend on search engines such as Google
fear the possibility of terrorist attacks. Such uncertainties can be to provide them with mapping technology. But with the rise of
new companies such as Soar, static mapping is no longer the only
used by adversaries to exploit the system in the future. A pos-
option. The public can get hold of dynamic mapping capabilities
sible solution for this can come from IBM. The company filed a
by exchanging data over the blockchain. The contributors will be
patent in 2017 highlighting how a permissioned blockchain can be credited and compensated for the contributions leading to a com-
integrated with UAVs to provide airspace controllers with the in- petitive incentive based decentralized data exchange platform.
formation regarding UAVs and their operators and thus ensuring Based on the above discussion, we summarize the different
air-space security. application areas on integrating UAVs and blockchain in Table 3
 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249 19

Table 4
Implementation, effectiveness, and comparison of the solutions discussed in this study.

Application scenario Implementation details Effectiveness of the solution / comparison with other solutions
Supply chain automation A blockchain-based inventory management system was tested The implemented system was found to be faster compared
in [173] with a practical UAV implementation for scanning to conventional human-based inventory management
RFID tagged products in an inventory setup. systems, as discussed in [173].
Providing decentralized Authors in [187] carried out simulations using their proposed Simulation results in [187] show that the trading consensus
storage in UAV networks mathematical model for the decentralized storage system. process can be usefully adopted in the air-to-ground
industrial IoT system; the optimized active density could
maximize the QoS for AS (Air sensors) and increase the
transmission rate for the information exchange system.
Security of UAV networks Simulations were conducted in [191] for evaluating a Simulation results in [191] showed that the proposed
permissioned blockchain system with an efficient and scalable system has lower system overhead and achieves better
consensus algorithm for securing ICN based UAV adhoc latency performance than Internet Key binding (IKB).
networks.
In [192], authors conducted security evaluation of their work Results in [192] show that the proposed scheme is better
in terms of communication cost and time and compared it compared to other state-of-the-art schemes in terms of
with state-of-the-art works. cost and time.
UAV swarm based In [25], the proposed model for security of UAVs used for The experimental results showed that around 90% of UAVs
surveillance network surveillance was tested in a novel agent based simulator, were able to corroborate information about a person
ABS-SecurityUAV. walking in a controlled area, while none of the UAVs
corroborated fake information coming from a hijacked UAV.
In [24], the authors carried out Monte Carlo simulations to The results in [24] showed that the UAV-TIEN system
characterize the performance of the system proposed by them proposed by them can increase the traffic data broadcasting
in a highly dynamic traffic environment. range and reduce the fraction of missing UAVs in a city.
UAV networks for edge In [200], the authors carried out simulations for evaluating the The findings of the study demonstrated the utility of the
computing performance of their network model in terms of flyby time, proposed system for a large set of users in different
probability of connectivity, energy consumption, failure rate, altitudes and different number of drones.
survivability, reliability, and area spectral efficiency.

giving the application scenario, the problem addressed and the power. Incorporating this onboard the UAVs can be a chal-
proposed solution for each area. In Table 4, we summarize the im- lenging task. This is a common problem which all blockchain-
plementation details discussed in each application area based on based UAV systems may face in the future. UAVs already have
the available works in the literature and briefly compare them with complex payloads to carry in addition to their battery and fly-
standard available solutions which do not make use of blockchain. ing mechanism system. In addition to that, if they have to
play the role of nodes in a blockchain, considerable processing
10. Challenges and future research directions power and storage capabilities will also need to be incorpo-
rated into their hardware.
4) Quantum attacks: With the advent of quantum computing,
10.1. Challenges
blockchains need to be secured against quantum attacks since
quantum computers have very powerful processing capabili-
UAVs and blockchain as individual technologies have some chal- ties that may provide the adversaries sufficient resources to
lenges which limit their capabilities and also impact their com- execute 51 percent attacks in the future. There have been
bined applications. Based on our study we try to present some of some studies related to this issue such as [210–214]. This is-
the major issues which may be roadblocks to their practical appli- sue can prove to be a major challenge in the area of securing
cations. blockchain-based applications in the future.
5) Machine learning (ML) and algorithmic game-theory based at-
1) Privacy issues: UAVs can be used to monitor the personal prop- tacks: Blockchain-based applications are also vulnerable to
erty of the public against their wish and knowledge. Such majority attacks executed using ML and algorithmic game-
applications of UAVs are possible and there has to be strict theory approach. This is one of the current challenges that the
regulation to tackle these. Blockchain as a technology can fur- blockchain community needs to address to make it more se-
ther the efficiency of UAV applications, but if the total number cure [215,216].
of UAVs hovering in the sky goes up, people’s privacy may be
at a risk. A detailed discussion of the societal impact of UAVs 10.2. Future research directions
is also presented in [209].
Integration of both the technologies, UAVs and blockchain is an
2) Air traffic violation: With the increasing number of UAVs in
exciting field of research today. There has been some effort in this
the airspace, there is a need to have a proper civil air traf-
direction and much more can be done. We discuss a few possible
fic management system in place for coordination between the
research directions here which can have a great impact based on
UAVs. As discussed in section 9 an incident at Gatwick air-
our study.
port resulted in a lot of chaos and monetary loss because of
unknown UAVs being spotted near the airport airspace [206]. 1) Simulation software for blockchain-based UAV systems: Implemen-
Such incidents can become more frequent if the civil aviation tation of blockchain in UAV systems is a complex system inte-
authorities do not integrate robust air space management sys- gration problem and it requires rigorous testing before it can
tems for UAVs. Until such precautions are taken, expanding the be rolled out in the market. The same problem is also dis-
use of UAVs by incorporating technologies such as blockchain cussed in [190]. There have been few studies that have used
will be a questionable task. agent-based simulation software for similar applications such
3) Limited onboard resources for UAVs: To execute consensus algo- as in [25]. A more dedicated platform incorporating features of
rithms of blockchain, miners require considerable processing both blockchain technology and UAVs is required.
20 T. Alladi et al. / Vehicular Communications 23 (2020) 100249

2) Protecting private/permissioned blockchain systems against intelli- to save lives in out of hospital cardiac arrest due to drowning, Resuscitation
gent attacks: Most blockchain-based UAV applications and ap- 114 (2017) 152–156.
[5] M. Bacco, A. Berton, E. Ferro, C. Gennaro, A. Gotta, S. Matteoli, F. Paonessa, M.
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