LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks
With the continuous development of communication technology, drones are playing an important role in many fields, such as power transmission line inspection and agricultural pesticide spraying. In order to protect the data privacy and communication security of drones, many experts are considering bl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Drones |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/2/76 |
| _version_ | 1797621472220413952 |
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| author | Haoxiang Luo Shiyuan Liu Shizhong Xu Jian Luo |
| author_facet | Haoxiang Luo Shiyuan Liu Shizhong Xu Jian Luo |
| author_sort | Haoxiang Luo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | With the continuous development of communication technology, drones are playing an important role in many fields, such as power transmission line inspection and agricultural pesticide spraying. In order to protect the data privacy and communication security of drones, many experts are considering blockchain as its enabling technology. However, due to their small size and limited power storage, drones cannot support energy-intensive blockchain applications. In addition, the future 6G communications need to implement an important key performance indicator, namely extremely low-power communications (ELPCs). As a consequence, research into green blockchain is becoming more and more popular. The broadcast of the blockchain is one of the most energy-intensive parts because it entails flooding and there are a lot of unnecessary communication processes. Therefore, in order to make blockchain more suitable for ELPC requirements in 6G communications and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks, we took the blockchain broadcast as an improvement candidate and designed LECast, a low-energy-consumption protocol. LECast first analyzes the energy consumption model of the communication between two drones and constructs the shortest-path broadcast tree (SPB Tree) for the UAV networks to minimize energy consumption. Meanwhile, to make the sending drone address the receiving drone in a more convenient way, we proposed an extended Huffman coding (EHC) scheme to name the drones. Furthermore, the other issues with the broadcast tree are reliability and security. When a channel fails, subsequent drones cannot smoothly receive the transaction or block data. As a result, we introduced multichannel transmission with splitting data (MTSD); that is, the transaction or block data are divided into segments and transmitted in parallel multiple times over multiple channels. Finally, through the analysis and simulation of LECast in terms of energy consumption, latency, throughput, reliability, security, and coverage rate, the advantages of LECast were confirmed, which could meet the requirements of ELPCs and be well applied to UAV networks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5533167dafc4f4eb341ee0db28e3594 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-446X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:56:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Drones |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5533167dafc4f4eb341ee0db28e35942023-11-16T20:06:13ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2023-01-01727610.3390/drones7020076LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain NetworksHaoxiang Luo0Shiyuan Liu1Shizhong Xu2Jian Luo3Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications (Ministry of Education), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, ChinaDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USAKey Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications (Ministry of Education), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, ChinaMeishan Branch, State Grid Corporation of China, Meishan 620010, ChinaWith the continuous development of communication technology, drones are playing an important role in many fields, such as power transmission line inspection and agricultural pesticide spraying. In order to protect the data privacy and communication security of drones, many experts are considering blockchain as its enabling technology. However, due to their small size and limited power storage, drones cannot support energy-intensive blockchain applications. In addition, the future 6G communications need to implement an important key performance indicator, namely extremely low-power communications (ELPCs). As a consequence, research into green blockchain is becoming more and more popular. The broadcast of the blockchain is one of the most energy-intensive parts because it entails flooding and there are a lot of unnecessary communication processes. Therefore, in order to make blockchain more suitable for ELPC requirements in 6G communications and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks, we took the blockchain broadcast as an improvement candidate and designed LECast, a low-energy-consumption protocol. LECast first analyzes the energy consumption model of the communication between two drones and constructs the shortest-path broadcast tree (SPB Tree) for the UAV networks to minimize energy consumption. Meanwhile, to make the sending drone address the receiving drone in a more convenient way, we proposed an extended Huffman coding (EHC) scheme to name the drones. Furthermore, the other issues with the broadcast tree are reliability and security. When a channel fails, subsequent drones cannot smoothly receive the transaction or block data. As a result, we introduced multichannel transmission with splitting data (MTSD); that is, the transaction or block data are divided into segments and transmitted in parallel multiple times over multiple channels. Finally, through the analysis and simulation of LECast in terms of energy consumption, latency, throughput, reliability, security, and coverage rate, the advantages of LECast were confirmed, which could meet the requirements of ELPCs and be well applied to UAV networks.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/2/76unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networksblockchainbroadcast treegreen communicationenergy consumption |
| spellingShingle | Haoxiang Luo Shiyuan Liu Shizhong Xu Jian Luo LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks Drones unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks blockchain broadcast tree green communication energy consumption |
| title | LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks |
| title_full | LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks |
| title_fullStr | LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks |
| title_short | LECast: A Low-Energy-Consumption Broadcast Protocol for UAV Blockchain Networks |
| title_sort | lecast a low energy consumption broadcast protocol for uav blockchain networks |
| topic | unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks blockchain broadcast tree green communication energy consumption |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/2/76 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT haoxiangluo lecastalowenergyconsumptionbroadcastprotocolforuavblockchainnetworks AT shiyuanliu lecastalowenergyconsumptionbroadcastprotocolforuavblockchainnetworks AT shizhongxu lecastalowenergyconsumptionbroadcastprotocolforuavblockchainnetworks AT jianluo lecastalowenergyconsumptionbroadcastprotocolforuavblockchainnetworks |