scholarly journals Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Traffic Management Solution Using Crowd-sensing and Blockchain

Author(s):  
Ruba Alkadi ◽  
Abdulhadi Shoufan

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining immense attention due to their potential to revolutionize various businesses and industries. However, the adoption of UAV-assisted applications will strongly rely on the provision of reliable systems that allow managing UAV operations at high levels of safety and security. Recently, the concept of UAV traffic management (UTM) has been introduced to support safe, efficient, and fair access to low-altitude airspace for commercial UAVs. A UTM system identifies multiple cooperating parties with different roles and levels of authority to provide real-time services to airspace users. However, current UTM systems are centralized and lack a clear definition of protocols that govern a secure interaction between authorities, service providers, and end-users. The lack of such protocols renders the UTM system unscalable and prone to various cyber attacks. Another limitation of the currently proposed UTM architecture is the absence of an efficient mechanism to enforce airspace rules and regulations. To address this issue, we propose a decentralized UTM protocol that controls access to airspace while ensuring high levels of integrity, availability, and confidentiality of airspace operations. To achieve this, we exploit key features of the blockchain and smart contract technologies. In addition, we employ a mobile crowdsensing (MCS) mechanism to seamlessly enforce airspace rules and regulations that govern the UAV operations. The solution is implemented on top of the Etheruem platform and verified using four different smart contract verification tools. We also provided a security and cost analysis of our solution. For reproducibility, we made our implementation publicly available on Github

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruba Alkadi ◽  
Abdulhadi Shoufan

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining immense attention due to their potential to revolutionize various businesses and industries. However, the adoption of UAV-assisted applications will strongly rely on the provision of reliable systems that allow managing UAV operations at high levels of safety and security. Recently, the concept of UAV traffic management (UTM) has been introduced to support safe, efficient, and fair access to low-altitude airspace for commercial UAVs. A UTM system identifies multiple cooperating parties with different roles and levels of authority to provide real-time services to airspace users. However, current UTM systems are centralized and lack a clear definition of protocols that govern a secure interaction between authorities, service providers, and end-users. The lack of such protocols renders the UTM system unscalable and prone to various cyber attacks. Another limitation of the currently proposed UTM architecture is the absence of an efficient mechanism to enforce airspace rules and regulations. To address this issue, we propose a decentralized UTM protocol that controls access to airspace while ensuring high levels of integrity, availability, and confidentiality of airspace operations. To achieve this, we exploit key features of the blockchain and smart contract technologies. In addition, we employ a mobile crowdsensing (MCS) mechanism to seamlessly enforce airspace rules and regulations that govern the UAV operations. The solution is implemented on top of the Etheruem platform and verified using four different smart contract verification tools. We also provided a security and cost analysis of our solution. For reproducibility, we made our implementation publicly available on Github


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (21) ◽  
pp. 4779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nader S. Labib ◽  
Grégoire Danoy ◽  
Jedrzej Musial ◽  
Matthias R. Brust ◽  
Pascal Bouvry

The rapid adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) has encouraged the integration of new connected devices such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the ubiquitous network. UAVs promise a pragmatic solution to the limitations of existing terrestrial IoT infrastructure as well as bring new means of delivering IoT services through a wide range of applications. Owning to their potential, UAVs are expected to soon dominate the low-altitude airspace over populated cities. This introduces new research challenges such as the safe management of UAVs operation under high traffic demands. This paper proposes a novel way of structuring the uncontrolled, low-altitude airspace, with the aim of addressing the complex problem of UAV traffic management at an abstract level. The work, hence, introduces a model of the airspace as a weighted multilayer network of nodes and airways and presents a set of experimental simulation results using three UAV traffic management heuristics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 286-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Shvetsova ◽  
A. V. Shvetsov

Modern transport companies around the world actively study the possibility of intra-urban transportation of goods using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).The objective of the study is to reveal the existing problems preventing full-scale introducing of UAVs into the operations of logistics centers that accomplish cargo delivery in modern megacities as well as to propose a possible option for their solution.The study conducted applying the methods of comparative analysis and generalization showed that the main obstacle to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for cargo delivery is currently unsettled problem of safety when UAVs operate in the urban environment.The study has analyzed the worldwide UAV traffic safety management programs. Among the programs reviewed were U-Space (the program is implemented by the European Commission and other participants); NASA Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (the program is implemented by NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration); European Aviation Safety Agency drone categories (the program is implemented by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)); Urban Traffic Management of Unmanned Aircraft System (the program is implemented by Air Traffic Management Research Institute (ATMRI) and other participants). The analysis showed that these programs paid a lot of attention to preventing the UAVs collisions with other air vehicles. But almost no attention was paid to the fact that the flight routes of unmanned aerial vehicles would intersect with the ground highways.The analysis carried out in the article allows us to conclude that one of the solutions to the problem of UAV implementation in the field of cargo delivery is the development of a new concept of UAV traffic safety in the urban conditions, which will take into account the threat of collision of cargo UAV not only with air vehicles but also with ground ones. The concept should determine the requirements for thetechnology for safe traffic of drones over the main surface transport routes including highways,  highspeed railways, etc. The development of such a concept will be a turning point for starting the fullscale use of UAVs as a new and effective means of cargo delivery in the city, which, in its turn, willcreate the next-generation transport infrastructure in the cities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-92
Author(s):  
E. A. Vinogradov

Not less than one hundred thousand Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to perform flights simultaneously in Russia by 2035. The UAV fleet capacity triggers the development of the systems for informational support, operating control and management of UAV flights (Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) systems) similar to that one already operating in manned aviation. The challenges arising in the sphere of civil aviation cannot be solved without wireless communication. The goals of this article are as follows: 1) familiarization of communication experts with the latest scientific developments of unmanned aerial technologies 2) description of the telecommunication-related problems of extensive systems of UAV control encountered by development engineers. In this article a schematic architecture and main functions of UTM systems are described as well as the examples of their implementation. Special emphasis is put on enhancing flight safety by means of a rational choice of communication technologies to manage conflicts (Conflict Management) known as "collision avoidance". The article analyzes the application of a wide range of wireless technologies ranging from Wi-Fi and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) to 5G cellular networks as well as cell-free networks contributing to the development of 6G communication networks. As a result of the analysis, a list of promising research trends at the intersection of the fields of wireless communication and UAVs for civil application is made.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibi Chakkaravarthy Sethuraman ◽  
Vaidehi Vijayakumar ◽  
Steven Walczak

Author(s):  
Mohammad Sarim ◽  
Mohammadreza Radmanesh ◽  
Matthew Dechering ◽  
Manish Kumar ◽  
Ravikumar Pragada ◽  
...  

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to revolutionize various applications in civilian domain such as disaster management, search and rescue operations, law enforcement, precision agriculture, and package delivery. As the number of such UAVs rise, a robust and reliable traffic management is needed for their integration in national airspace system (NAS) to enable real-time, reliable, and safe operation. Management of UAVs traffic in NAS becomes quite challenging due to issues such as real-time path planning of large number of UAVs, communication delays, operational uncertainties, failures, and noncooperating agents. In this work, we present a novel UAV traffic management (UTM) architecture that enables the integration of such UAVs in NAS. A combined A*–mixed integer linear programming (MILP)-based solution is presented for initial path planning of multiple UAVs with individual mission requirements and dynamic constraints. We also present a distributed detect-and-avoid (DAA) algorithm based on the concept of resource allocation using a market-based approach. The results demonstrate the scalability, optimality, and ability of the proposed approach to provide feasible solutions that are versatile in dynamic environments.


Author(s):  
Vitalii Larin ◽  
Nina Chichikalo ◽  
Georgii Rozorinov ◽  
Ekaterina Larina

This chapter describes two practical examples of sensors application on an unmanned aerial vehicle. The first device is a proximity sensor allowing users to measure the rotating angle of UAV's elevator. The second example discovers a measuring unit established on the UAV and processed measuring information for landing the UAV. To perform exactness control of unmanned aerial vehicles actuating mechanisms, the control system must be supplied by devices providing precision definition of values of current operation factors of those mechanisms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (514) ◽  
pp. 152-157
Author(s):  
Y. V. Bielashov ◽  

The article explores the issue of institutional provision for the employment of unmanned passenger aerial vehicles with electric propulsion (urban electric aerial vehicles) in Ukraine. The use of such vehicles is considered a promising direction in the development of urban air transport, able to unload traffic bottlenecks of the transport system in megacities. Among the main factors that favorably distinguish urban electric aerial vehicles from traditional air transport are: safety, economic efficiency, quietness, environmental friendliness and low requirements for related infrastructure. Preparations for large-scale use of urban electric aerial vehicles are currently being carried out in Germany, the USA, South Korea and the city of Dubai. The analysis of the advantages and possibilities of using urban electric aerial vehicles is provided; the history of development and the current status of this transport type is carried out. Despite the fact that the first samples of urban electric aerial vehicles are only being tested, there is already a significant competition in this market. Among the main developers of this class of aircraft one can single out the companies EHang (PRC) and Lilium GmbH (Germany). The article reviewes legislative requirements for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles with electric propulsion in certain countries of the world. Borrowing this experience can be useful for Ukraine due to the lack of terminological definition of such a class of vehicle in the natonal legislation; uncertainty of the conditions of their operation and safety measures; lacunas in the existing classification of unmanned aerial vehicles, which does not provide for the existence of programmable aerial vehicle, the control of which does not require a special control station located outside the vehicle, or vehicles that carry out programmable flight. In order to eliminate existing lacunas in Ukrainian legislation, measures have been developed, the implementation of which will allow the use of unmanned passenger aerial vehicles with electric propulsion and will contribute to the further development of air transport in Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Larisa A. Golovina ◽  
Antonina S. Gordienko ◽  
Igor M. Lamkov

The article presents the problems of conducting search and rescue operations in wetlands and forest areas. The relevance of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles of the helicopter type for the search for victims was substantiated. The main parameters affecting the quality of image formation are considered. A method for calculating the information recognized from unmanned aerial vehicles is presented, and their flight characteristics are substantiated. The minimum size of objects that can be confidently recognized in images was calculated.


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