ADS-Bchain: A Blockchain-Based Trusted Service Scheme for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system uses air-to-air and air-to-ground data link broadcast modes to transmit aviation aircraft position information at specific time intervals. Because the ADS-B channel is open, the access to the broadcast channel lacks a security authentication mechanism, and no information integrity protection measures are provided in the transmission protocol. Therefore, the aircraft position information broadcast by ADS-B can be easily and illegally tampered with to form a counterfeit signal, which can cause an aircraft to suffer cyberattacks. To ensure the authenticity and the integrity of the information, this article adopts the concept of a trusted service and proposes a trusted service plan for anticounterfeiting information in the ADS-B system based on blockchain technology. According to the structural characteristics and business service process of the ADS-B system, a suitable blockchain model is designed, an ADS-B message is recorded through the blockchain, and the immutable and traceable features of the blockchain are used to ensure the authenticity and reliability of data. After a user receives an ADS-B message, the data recorded in the blockchain are used as a reference in the form of a trusted service for the user to determine the counterfeit of the received data. A simulation verification shows that the proposed scheme can protect ADS-B information from being tampered with, can trace malicious nodes, can prevent data leakage, can provide systematic security protection, and has lower computational costs.