Blockchain for securing aerial communications: Potentials, solutions, and research directions

Abstract Most natural disasters are consequences of hurricanes, floods, volcano eruptions, and earthquakes, and can severely disturb traditional communications networks and interrupt infrastructure of physical interconnection. After a disaster, communication failures are one of the essential causes of sufferers. To deal with this problem, offering “connectivity from the sky” is a novel and creative development. Aerial communications have been examined through the assessment and the design of the stratospheric platform capable of providing numerous types of wireless services. Drones, low and high-altitude platforms, airships, aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are regarded as applicants for organizing aerial communications supplementing the infrastructure of global interaction. Aerial communication devices are vulnerable to being physically hijacked, destroyed, or lost. Therefore, security is a crucial issue in aerial communication networks. The blockchain technology is a potential solution candidate to tackle this issue. Blockchain is a decentralized and disseminated ledger, guards the distributed information using methods of cryptography, for example, public-key encryption and hash functions. It can use for guaranteeing the reliability of the data stored and for enhancing the transparency and security of aerial communication networks. This paper presents a survey on the integration of Blockchain with Aerial Communications (BAC). First, we study aerial communication networks and their current security issues, blockchain and its advantages, the feasibility and opportunity of applying the blockchain to resolve the current security issue in aerial communication networks. Next, we discuss current related solutions for applying the blockchain to resolve the current security issue in aerial communication networks in detail. We classify the solutions, compare and analyze their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we recommend some research directions for future investigations.