A recent publication on the United States Patent & Trademark Office, (U.S.P.T.O), reveals that American multinational retail corporation, Walmart, has filed an application for a blockchain based drone communication system.
According to the application, the drone to drone communication system would figure out one drone’s “operational parameters” and have these encrypted and stored. The system would also be able to detect the presence of a second drone and then use the operational parameters from the first to configure the second, after decryption.
This would significantly improve unmanned communication between drones, allowing them to easily exchange configurations, messages, location and more. The filing also contains benefits of creating this system using blockchain technology.
“The advantages of using blockchain may include providing integrity of the information being delivered…highly sensitive information (e.g., order detail) is allowed to be stored in a blockchain, to assure that the critical information is not tampered with. Provisioning authentication and authorization credentials may also be allowed to be saved in the blockchain.”
Walmart and Blockchain
This is not the first time the retail corporation would be venturing into the world of blockchain technology. In May 2017, Walmart filed a USPTO application for a system it described as “Unmanned Aerial Delivery to Secure Location.” Walmart has also done some work with the American Food and Drug Administration, along with IBM, to use blockchain technology for tracking movement of related products. Recently, Walmart also filed for with the USPTO to create its own cryptocurrency.
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