NASA considers Hyperledger Blockchain for air traffic management

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, now observes the blockchain for air traffic management. Ronald J. Reisman, aeronautical engineer at NASA Ames Research Center, suggested the use of blockchain to solve privacy and spoofing prevention, denial of service and other attacks.

Reisman states in a document that the new Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system will be implemented in 2020. However, the ADS-B does not provide for the protection of flight plans and locations and other status data. Reisman states that blockchain can be helped by an engineering prototype built using an authorized blockchain.

The use of an open source authorized blockchain structure to enable aircraft privacy and anonymity while providing a secure and efficient method for communication with air traffic services, operational support or other authorized entities .

The proposed framework will use "certification authorities, support for smart contracts and communication channels with higher bandwidth" to guarantee private communications between aircraft and authorized participants. The post gives further details on how the prototype could be "economically and rapidly distributed" on a large scale. The prototype proposed by Reisman uses Hyperledger Fabric, a blockchain that says it has been developed far from fintech and designed for business use.

Because Hyperledger Fabric

The document elaborated that Reisman also considered other chains. However, according to him, the other chains lacked cohesion and flexibility because of the platform design limits:

Ethereum claims a market share of more than 80%, followed by other platforms, including (in order of popularity of the market share): Waves, Bitcoin Fork, Stratis, Graphene, Hyperledger, Ethereum Classic, Maidsafe, Litecoin Fork , NEO and Rootstock.

Reisman also states:

Proposes to take advantage of an industrial open source enterprise blockchain framework called Hyperledger Fabric to demonstrate potential solutions to vicious technical problems that threaten the adoption of ADS-B by military, corporate and other aircraft that do not want their operations and movements distinguishable from the general public.

He agrees that his "not perfect" approach is "based on available technology". A feeling echoed by many, which implies that a wider use of blockchain globally is not very far.

Cryptocurrency is just a FAD

The virtual resources have their fair share of enthusiasts and opponents, supporting and lowering the portfolio respectively. Many non-believers, including the Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller, have called bitcoin a fleeting fashion in October 2017, when the token has reached its record of nearly $ 6,000.

Martin Walker of the Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa) also has a similar sentiment. So also JPMorgan's managing director, Jamie Dimon, although his expressions were a bit different, since he called bitcoin "a fraud".

While cryptocurrency is still exploited by some, Blockchain technology has been used by many. Now that NASA has shown its inclination towards technology and believes it can improve air traffic management, how acceptable would be the most common use of blockchain technology, or cryptocurrencies.

Further information: Amazon announces a Quantum Ledger Blockchain and Blockchain managed by AWS

Blockchain and Crypto Adoption

The blockchain is still in its early stages, as the technology grows, Cryptocurrencies is also expected to peak. Our future technologies could be based or interact with blockchain. An example of this is the continued increase in blockchain adoption by banks, governments, businesses and even space agencies such as NASA is laying the groundwork for the use of cryptocurrency to become mainstream

If the blockchain becomes a fundamental technology, money will also be based on the blockchain. Which implies that cryptocurrency is not just a passing fad, since whenever the blockchain reaches its full potential, the cryptocurrencies will surely follow.

Read more: BitTorrent Tokens (BTT) Will Spark Blockchain Mass Adoption, says TRON CEO Justin Sun