On the Design of Secure Communication Framework for Blockchain-Based Internet of Intelligent Battlefield Things Environment

On the basis of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, several variants such as Internet of Energy (IoE), Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Internet of Drones (IoD), Internet of Medical Things (Internet of Health, IoMT) and Internet of Intelligent Battlefield Things (IoIBT) are developed. The smart devices involved in IoT can also utilize artificial intelligence algorithm (i.e., machine learning) to make the communication environment more effective and efficient. Intelligent Battlefield Things (IBT) communication environment is an example of that kind. It consists of smart and intelligent devices (i.e., drones), which monitor the activities of the enemies and retaliate accordingly. Hence, we need very less or negligible human involvement. IBT communication environment is very suitable for the purpose of battlefield communication (i.e., war zone, target tracking and hitting, border area surveillance and retaliation). However, IBT has certain drawbacks, because it may be vulnerable to different types of attacks, such as replay, man-in-the-middle, impersonation, data modification, data leakage attacks, etc. Therefore, it becomes essential to provide a security mechanism to secure the communication that happens in IBT environment. To achieve this purpose, we propose a secure communication framework for the blockchain of IBT environment. In addition, the benefits of applications of blockchain of IBT are discussed. The issues and challenges of blockchain of IBT environment are also highlighted. Finally, a security analysis of the proposed framework is conducted to depict its resilience against possible attacks.