Blockchain-Based Controller Recovery and SDN Forwarding Device Rule Migration for UAVs
Afifa Islam Ananna, Mahedul Hasan Rifat, Towshick Intesir Ahmed Rain, Shanjida Akter, Nafees Mansoor
Conference Paper. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol. 1256 LNNS, pp. 268–277 (2025).
Abstract
Software-defined Networking can revolutionize Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s network management for its programmability, flexibility, and agility. In Software-Defined Networking, the separation of the control plane from the data plane and programmability allows controllers to be independent from forwarding devices, enabling easier policy modification and network troubleshooting without system shutdowns. But, Software-defined Network’s controllers are centralized entities and vulnerable to Single Points of Failure. This risks the whole network collapse by controller failure. To lessen the aforementioned issue, this article proposes a Blockchain-based controller recovery mechanism and a flow rule migration system for forwarding devices in Software-defined Networking. Also, performance of the proposed system has been evaluated. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the controller recovery mechanism in mitigating the impact of controller failures, reducing downtime, and enhancing network resilience, while the flow rule migration system significantly improves forwarding device responsiveness to dynamic network conditions. Combining controller recovery scheme and migration mechanism of flow rules for forwarding devices will provide a secure and uninterrupted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle communication. Overall, the proposed system will be able to provide fault tolerance and security to guarantee quality of service. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
Keywords
Blockchain technology., Single Point of Failure, Software-defined Networking, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle