Self-enforcing regulation with Blockchain

Airspace regulators need to ensure safety and security of flight operations and prevent collateral damage of flying objects throughout the public airspace. The ever increasing number of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, commonly know as drones, put new challenges in front of airspace regulators.

Recently evolving technologies, like Blockchain, in combination with established ones like geo-fencing, can help address many of the regulatory challenges. Here is a proposal how this could be achieved. 

Preventing drones to inflict harm is currently the foremost concern of regulators in keeping the public safe:

• Entering airspace restricted to use for commercial air traffic, or for use by the military or by emergency responders, or by
• Flying over populated areas where they could harm people when handled improperly or out of power.

Most privately used UAVs are equipped with cameras. The invasion of peoples’ privacy (and their reaction to prying drones with shotguns) becomes a secondary concern of regulators.

With their limited resources regulators today lack the ability to effectively monitor or control UAVs.

Currently, in the US, the federal authority in charge of airspace regulation, FAA, regulates the use of UAVs in essence in two ways, one, by restricting their use to airspace below 400 feet and away from airports or people, while maintaining a line of sight between pilot and UAV, and two, by requiring UAV pilots to prove their understanding of the regulation, and by registering drones and licensing their pilots. Waivers may be granted as exceptions from the rule and when the applicant proves qualified. Nevertheless, given that the law allows for exceptions from registration for "hobbyists", UAVs are not systematically monitored like commercial airplanes, and optically detecting rogue drones and their operators is just hard. Enforcing the law and keeping the airspace safe remains difficult.

Another aspect of regulation is freedom of enterprise and innovation: Regulation shall protect people and property, but it must not be overly restrictive and still allowing for enterprises to do business and keep innovating.

What if technology could help address some of the regulatory challenges and create new business and spark further innovation with UAVs?

The Blockchain is already being used by innovative governments to register citizens and issue permits electronically.

Geofencing is a technology allowing to define virtual boundaries for a geographical area. This technology is currently being used to define areas where the functional scope of smart phone and other mobile devices may be restricted. For example, research and development organizations can restrict the ability of corporate mobile phones to take pictures in their labs. What if airports could use geofencing to effectively and automatically prevent commercial drones from flying into the restricted airspace around them?

Public Blockchain technology is already being used by innovative governments to register patents and issue permits electronically. Public Blockchains are virtual ledgers with immutable records.

Geofencing is a method of defining virtual boundaries for a geographical area via GPS and the mobile network. This technology is currently being used to define areas where the functional scope of smart phones and other mobile devices may be restricted. For example, research and development organizations can restrict the ability of corporate mobile phones to take pictures in their labs. The technology is adaptable, so authorities could use geofencing to define permanent no-fly zones around airports. Geofencing could also be used to dynamically establish local and temporary no-fly zones, e.g. during emergencies to safely allow for rescue helicopters to operate.

Drones are by design flying mobile devices. They are remote-controlled, typically by mobile devices. Regulators could force UAV manufacturers to register the drones they build into a Blockchain and build into their UAVs the capability to receive information about geo-fenced restricted airspace, be it permanent like airports and military areas, or ad hoc, like in emergency response scenarios. Regulators could impose specific mandatory functions, like preventing drones from entering geo-fenced airspace, landing safely before battery power is depleted, or disabling drones altogether that had been tampered with. Manufacturers, as they are enhancing drones’ capabilities, often open up parts of their software to be enhanced via open APIs, and drones and their features to be controlled programmatically. Regulators, while allowing for ample innovation and new business, could mandate for certain enhanced flight and functional capabilities to be made available only after pilots have proven their enhanced skills via simulators and obtained the necessary upgraded permits. Access to simulators, and passing flight tests for pilots and for autonomously flying drones could be completely automated: Pilots are registered into a Blockchain. As they get certified and permitted with additional skills, the electronic permits unlock those respective capabilities in their UAV. Drone manufacturers as well as independent developers of autonomous UAV operating code could certify respective drone capabilities against simulators as well, all automatically, and with respective control parameters added to the drone’s licensed capability Blockchain. 

Feel free to comment or to contact me for implementation considerations.

See for some more details in the slides: Regulating Drones with Blockchain