Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An IoT and blockchain based logistics application of UAV

  • Published:
Multimedia Tools and Applications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With the increasing number of online consumers, the relationship between the Internet of things and the Internet is becoming closer. Logistics transportation plays an important role in the whole online shopping. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) transportation in air transportation has led traditional logistics to the era of intelligent logistics. The application of UAV in the business logistics industry has become a formal issue. However, there are some security issues in today's UAV logistics, such as transaction disputes between sender and receiver about lost packages or wrong delivery. This paper focuses on the application of blockchain and smart contract mechanism to solve the shortcomings of the current UAV application in the e-commerce field and propose solutions. The proposed scheme achieves the following e-commerce requirements: mutual authentication of identity, non-repudiation of delivery and arrival, and other major blockchain-based security requirements. Once the dispute occurs, we also proposed an arbitrative mechanism to classify the responsibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Algorithm 1
Fig. 4
Algorithm 2
Algorithm 3
Fig. 5
Algorithm 4
Algorithm 5
Fig. 6
Algorithm 6
Algorithm 7
Fig. 7
Algorithm 8
Algorithm 9
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

References

  1. Agatz N, Bouman P, Schmidt M (2018) Optimization approaches for the traveling salesman problem with drone. Transp Sci 52(4):965–981

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Air AP. Revising the airspace model for the safe integration of small unmanned aircraft systems. Amazon Prime Air, Access available: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/amazon_revising_the_airspace_model_for_the_safe_integration_of_suas6_0.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2023

  3. Amukele T, Ness PM, Tobian AA, Boyd J, Street J (2017) Drone transportation of blood products. Transfusion 57(3):582–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Burrows M, Abadi M, Needham RM (1989) A logic of authentication. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Math Phys Sci 426(1871):233–271

    Google Scholar 

  5. Chen CL, Liao JJ (2011) A fair online payment system for digital content via subliminal channel. Electron Commer Res Appl 10(3):279–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen CL, Liu MH (2009) A traceable E-cash system against blackmail via subliminal channel. Electron Commer Res Appl 8(6):327–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Chen CL, Lu MS, Li JW, Gong C, Zhao L (2015) A secure public transport multimedia on demand system for VANET. J Int Technol 16(7):1177–1188

    Google Scholar 

  8. Chen CL, Chen CC, Li D (2015) K, Chen PY, A verifiable and secret buyer-seller watermarking protocol. IETE Tech Rev 32(2):104–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chen CL, Lin DP, Chen HC, Deng YY, Le CF, Design of a logistics system with privacy and lightweight verification, Energies, 12, 16, 2019, Article ID:3061, https://doi.org/10.3390/en12163061

  10. Chen CL, Deng YY, Weng W, Chen CH, Chiu YJ, Wu CM. A traceable and privacy-preserving authentication for UAV communication control system, Electronics, 9, 1, 2020, Article ID 62, https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9010062

  11. Chen CL, Deng YY, Weng W, Zhou M, Sun H (2021) J Supercomput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-020-03558-7

  12. A Das, et al. UCFL: User Categorization using Fuzzy Logic towards PUF based Two-Phase Authentication of Fog assisted IoT devices, Comput Sec, Volume 97, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101938

  13. Datta S, Kumar S, Sinha D. et al (2021) BSSFFS: blockchain-based sybil-secured smart forest fire surveillance. J Ambient Intell Human Comput, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-021-03591-1

  14. Dorling K, Heinrichs J, Messier GG, Magierowski S (2016) Vehicle routing problems for drone delivery. IEEE Trans Syst, Man, Cyber: Syst 47(1):70–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Euchi J (2020) Do drones have a realistic place in a pandemic fight for delivering medical supplies in healthcare systems problems, Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, In press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2020.06.006

  16. Ferrandez SM, Harbison T, Weber T, Sturges R, Rich R (2016) Optimization of a truck-drone in tandem delivery network using k-means and genetic algorithm. J Indust Eng Manage 9(2):374–388

    Google Scholar 

  17. Gonzalez-R PL, Canca D, Andrade-Pineda JL, Calle M, Leon-Blanco JM (2020) Truck-drone team logistics: A heuristic approach to multi-drop route planning. Trans Res Part C: Emer Technol 114:657–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ha QM, Deville Y, Pham QD, Ha MH (2018) On the min-cost traveling salesman problem with drone. Trans Res Part C: Emer Technol 86:597–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jithish J, Sankaran S (2020) A game theoretic approach for ensuring trustworthiness in cyber physical systems with applications to multiloop UAV control. Trans Emerg Telecommun Technol e4042. https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.4042

  20. Johnson D, Menezes A, Vanstone S (2001) The elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA). Int J Inf Secur 1(1):36–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kapitonov A, Lonshakov S, Krupenkin A, Berman I (2017) Blockchain-based protocol of autonomous business activity for multi-agent systems consisting of UAVs, IEEE 2017 Workshop on Research, Education and Development of Unmanned Aerial Systems (RED-UAS), pp. 84–89.

  22. Kitjacharoenchai P, Ventresca M, Moshref-Javadi M, Lee S, Tanchoco JM, Brunese PA (2019) Multiple traveling salesman problem with drones: mathematical model and heuristic approach. Comput Ind Eng 129:14–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kornatowski PM, Bhaskaran A, Heitz GM, Mintchev S (2018) Floreano D Last-centimeter personal drone delivery: Field deployment and user interaction. IEEE Robot Auto Lett 3(4):3813–3820

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kumar A, et al (2019) Authentication and Privacy Preservation in IoT Based Forest Fire Detection by Using Blockchain - A Review. In ICIoTCT, vol 1122, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39875-0_14

  25. Kunze O (2016) Replicators, ground drones and crowd logistics a vision of urban logistics in the year 2030. Trans Res Proc 19:286–299

    Google Scholar 

  26. Mckinnon AC (2016) The possible impact of 3D printing and drones on last-mile logistics: An exploratory study. Built Environ 42(4):617–629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Mehta P, Gupta R, Tanwar S (2020) Blockchain envisioned UAV networks: Challenges, solutions, and comparisons. Comput Commun 151:518–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Moormann D. DHL parcelcopter research flight campaign 2014 for emergency delivery of medication. In Proceedings of the ICAO RPAS Symposium, Access available: https://www.icao.int/Meetings/RPAS/RPASSymposiumPresentation/Day%202%20Workshop%205%20Technology%20Dieter%20Moormann.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2023

  29. Murray CC, Chu AG (2015) The flying sidekick traveling salesman problem: optimization of drone-assisted parcel delivery. Trans Res Part C: Emer Technol 54:86–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Ponza A (2016) Optimization of drone-assisted parcel delivery. Univ Padova:2–10

  31. Schermer D, Moeini M, Wendt O (2019) A hybrid VNS/Tabu search algorithm for solving the vehicle routing problem with drones and en route operations. Comput Oper Res 109:134–158

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  32. Troudi A, Addouche SA, Dellagi S, El Mhamedi A (2017) Logistics support approach for drone delivery fleet, In: Smart Cities: Proceedings of Second International Conference, Smart-CT 2017, Málaga, Spain, pp. 10268, 86-96

  33. Wang Z, Sheu J (2019) Vehicle routing problem with drones. Transp Res B Methodol 122:350–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Code availability

Not applicable.

Funding

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Engineering, Changchun Sci-Tech University, Jilin Province, Changchun City, 130600, China

    Chin-Ling Chen

  2. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, 41349, Taiwan, ROC

    Chin-Ling Chen & Yong-Yuan Deng

  3. School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China

    Shunzhi Zhu & Wei Weng

  4. Computer Center, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, 23741, Taiwan, ROC

    Woei-Jiunn Tsaur

Authors
  1. Chin-Ling Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong-Yuan Deng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shunzhi Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Woei-Jiunn Tsaur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Wei Weng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The authors’ contributions are summarized below. Chin-Ling Chen, and Yong-Yuan Deng made substantial contributions to the conception and design and were involved in drafting the manuscript. Shunzhi Zhu, and Woei-Jiunn Tsaur acquired data and analysis and conducted the interpretation of the data. The critically important intellectual contents of this manuscript were revised by Wei Weng. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yong-Yuan Deng or Shunzhi Zhu.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest/Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Ethical approval

Hereby, Chin-Ling Chen / Yong-Yuan Deng / Shunzhi Zhu / Woei-Jiunn Tsaur / Wei Weng consciously assure that for the manuscript / An IoT and Blockchain based Logistics Application of UAV / the following is fulfilled:

1) This material is the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere.

2) The paper is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

3) The paper reflects the authors' own research and analysis in a truthful and complete manner.

4) The paper properly credits the meaningful contributions of co-authors and co-researchers.

5) The results are appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research.

6) All sources used are properly disclosed (correct citation). Literally copying of text must be indicated as such by using quotation marks and giving proper reference.

7) All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantial work leading to the paper, and will take public responsibility for its content.

Consent to participate

This study only base on the theoretical basic research. It is not involving humans.

Consent for publication

All authors give consent for the publication of identifiable details, which can include photograph(s) and/or videos and/or case history and/or details within the text (“Material”) to be published in the Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, CL., Deng, YY., Zhu, S. et al. An IoT and blockchain based logistics application of UAV. Multimed Tools Appl 83, 655–684 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-15517-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-15517-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation