Amazon recently received a patent for a new ‘Mesh Network’ to protect the digital integrity of its planned fleet of delivery drones.
With plans to spread its drone deliver services, one big concern Amazon has is the ability of third parties to interfere with the delivery drones using jamming devices or hacking techniques.
In response to this threat, Amazon developed a special ‘Mesh Network’ so drones could receive and transmit operating data securely. The network uses several drones to distribute information to one another. According to Amazon the shared data will allow the drones to “confirm or cross-check data such as location, heading, altitude, and so forth.”
If the data the ‘distributing drone’ sends is not observed in the ‘receiving drone’ then it is considered to be compromised and Amazon can take actions to correct this.
Amazon plans to have many drones airborne and these drones will not just be delivering packages, they will also be relaying data to other drones and observing to see if they follow this data. Amazon is betting this encrypted web of communication will make their drone operations safer.
