ToAM: a task-oriented authentication model for UAVs based on blockchain

Abstract

The pervasive cooperation of a group of UAVs has attracted increasing attention due to the reduced cost and widespread availability. When working in an untrusted or adversarial environment, the mutual authentication of UAVs in the cooperative process is imperative. However, there are some major challenges, including changes in the network environment before and during task performing, and the weak connection network state faced by UAVs. Therefore, a novel task-oriented authentication model for UAVs based on blockchain (ToAM) is proposed, which divides UAVs authentication into group building authentication and intra-group authentication with a two-stage authentication framework. And two lightweight authentication protocols are presented, respectively, corresponding to two stages. Finally, analyses demonstrate that our model realizes secure and lightweight authentication function for the whole process of UAVs requisition and task performing.