Blockchain-Based Adaptive and Accountable Incentives for Data Sharing in UAV Networks

Space-aerial-ground collaborative UAV network (SAGUN) is a promising emerging network, and our research focuses on enabling secure and efficient data sharing in SAGUN by utilizing blockchain technology. Given that UAVs and other agencies are concerned about the economic rewards and privacy risks of data sharing, reasonable incentives are essential. However, existing works lack adaptivity to dynamic network environments and accountability for data services. In this paper, we propose an adaptive and accountable incentive scheme for data sharing for SAGUN. First, we design a blockchain-enabled novel architecture for SAGUN, where blockchain serves as a secure base for trusted accountability of SAGUN data sharing. Second, according to the different capabilities of the network to provide information for the formulation of sharing incentive strategies, simultaneously motivating both data buyers and sellers to participate in the sharing, we implement two types of ‘tailor-made’ auction protocols based on smart contracts. 1) The network supports effective synchronization of relevant information for strategy formulation: we implement a sealed-bid reverse auction protocol, which maximizes the buyers’ interests while protecting the sellers’ interests through optimal bidding; 2) The network fails to support effective synchronization of relevant information: we implement an auction protocol based on distributed reinforcement learning, which largely mitigates the information dependency. Finally, compared to existing representative works, the experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme securely and effectively improves the quality of data sharing with low computational and communication overheads.