Blockchain Technology for Secure Communication and Formation Control in Smart Drone Swarms

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

- Section 2. At the end of section 2, it would be useful to summarize the key contributions of this paper against the reviewed literature.
- Figure 5. I wonder if the Figure 5 is really needed in this paper as I do not see very pertinent to the problem.
I have the same opinion for Section 3.3 (not very useful), while Section 3.2. is very important and it should be expanded.
- Section 3.2 could explore more in detail the role of the Blockchain for distributed systems in particular when the drones belongs to different parties like
defense and public safety officers. The interaction between different government agencies in common scenarios like crisis management, could be particularly interesting
for the application of blockchain to drones. The authors could also elaborate on the potential use of blockchain to enforce rules on drones by the aviation
aurhorities including geo-fencing both vertical and horizontal.
- Typo in Listing 2 caption
- Section 5.2 is very useful, but there is no sub-section related to the computing efforts requested by the proposed approach.
This is important considering the computing needs of the blockchain.
- Listing 3. Typo in the caption.
- The authors should elaborate a bit more on the need and capability to upgrade the smart contracts deployed in the drones swarm.
Are they defined strictly for a specific mission in the military way ? But even in the military domain, there has to be the possibility to
upgrade the smart contracts to address unplanned situations. How the proposed model can implement this aspect ?

The paper is well written, but there are some minor errors (typos, lower case, upper case), which should be corrected. Another proof-reading run is recommended

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The article objectives are clear and well presented. It presents a blockchain-based reliable and secure UAV swarm communication system. 

The proposed methodology is well presented. The preliminary information and related work are presented.  Smart contract is written with Solidity.The ethical considarations and limitations of the simulation are presented. However, the focus of the text is on writing process of smart contract. But there are no screenshots from blocks in Ethereum, where is the smart contract implementation.

The work is well structured and English language is good. The article is written intelligibly in a very good scientific style and is easy to read. The title and abstract reflect very well to the content. The conclusion summarized the proposed work.

Тhe references are correct.

The figures are with good quality and readable. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The article discusses the rapid expansion of intelligent drone technology, particularly in the defense industry, highlighting the capabilities of drone swarms to communicate, share data, and make autonomous decisions. These drone swarms are noted for their effectiveness in missions like surveillance, reconnaissance, and rescue operations, all while reducing the exposure of military personnel to hostile conditions.

However, the article also acknowledges that there are significant challenges in securing communications within these drone systems, particularly from potential threats. To address this issue, the paper proposes the use of blockchain technology as a defense mechanism. Discusses blockchain-based solution that enables drones to communicate securely without relying on a centralized authorities and introduces smart contracts for swarm formation and leader selection. The paper also aims to assess the effectiveness of this proposed model through simulations using DApp and Gazebo software, with the ultimate goal of developing a reliable and secure UAV communication system.

Paper is well-structured, presenting technologies and advance work. Figures are explanatory, presents code parts and flowcharts to support the research, as well as an organized discussion in terms of limitations, ethics and future work.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf