Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-17-2025

Department

Department of Applied Computing

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks are widely adopted for diverse applications in modern Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems, ranging from last-mile deliveries to infrastructure inspections. The growing reliance on UAVs makes a secure and trustworthy network environment essential. However, deploying a practical reputation framework in resource-constrained UAV networks necessitates a lightweight, high-throughput, and scalable solution. This paper introduces a Lightweight Microchained ARchitecture (LiMAR) for UAV network reputation systems. LiMAR presents a novel lightweight microchained blockchain model optimized for UAV networks, addressing key blockchain overheads such as storage bloat, high validation costs, and consensus delays. By separating operational data from on-chain transactions, LiMAR reduces computational complexity while maintaining security through reputation-driven consensus. LiMAR is designed to minimize overhead while maintaining key blockchain properties such as immutability and auditability. By incorporating a streamlined consensus mechanism and modular block structure, LiMAR significantly reduces computational and communication costs. This enables UAV nodes to efficiently store and validate reputation scores, even under dynamic flight conditions and limited resource availability. We demonstrate the effectiveness of LiMAR through extensive simulations, evaluating parameters such as latency, throughput, and energy consumption. The results show that LiMAR outperforms conventional blockchain-based solutions in UAV network environments, supporting real-time, decentralized reputation management with minimal resource overhead. This work paves the way for more secure, resilient, and scalable UAV service delivery, underscoring the potential of lightweight blockchain solutions in next-generation IoT deployments.

Publisher's Statement

© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1145/3760550.3760553

Publication Title

Biotc 2025 7th Blockchain and Internet of Things Conference

ISBN

9798400719998

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Version

Publisher's PDF

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.