Blockchain-Based Lightweight Authentication for Resilient UAV Communications: Architecture, Scheme, and Future Directions

Representing a new stage in the industrial value chain, Industry 4.0 paves the way to the future eco-systems of industrial innovation, where cyber-physical systems (e.g., smart machines) form its basis by bridging the physical and digital worlds. As one of the most popular groups in intelligent devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have shown great potential for facilitating various industrial sectors. With research on new applications flourishing, the accompanying communication security issue between UAVs is also of concern because of the vital role of communication in enabling the reliable performance of UAV networks. Authentication is recognized as the first defense line for guaranteeing communication security, but traditional authentication schemes are either highly dependent on the central authority or too costly for UAV networks, making them less feasible in practical applications. In this article, we propose a novel authentication scheme for UAV networks using blockchain technology, where blockchain edge nodes are introduced to maintain the ledger, while drones can just be clients to use the distributed blockchain services by calling smart contract APIs. Experimental results illustrate its efficiency, and future research directions are also summarized to guide explorations for realizing more general authentication systems for UAV-assisted industrial applications.