Applications of blockchain in unmanned aerial vehicles: A review

Abstract The recent advancement in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in terms of manufacturing processes, and communication and networking technology has led to a rise in their usage in civilian and commercial applications. The regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US had earlier limited the usage of UAVs to military applications. However more recently, the FAA has outlined new enforcement that will also expand the usage of UAVs in civilian and commercial applications. Due to being deployed in open atmosphere, UAVs are vulnerable to being lost, destroyed or physically hijacked. With the UAV technology becoming ubiquitous, various issues in UAV networks such as intra-UAV communication, UAV security, air data security, data storage and management, etc. need to be addressed. Blockchain being a distributed ledger protects the shared data using cryptography techniques 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.