A certificateless identity authentication scheme for UAVs via blockchain sharding

Zhi-Peng Zhong; Xiao Chen; Mu-Hong Huang; Hao-Zhe Wang; Sheng Cao; Xiao-Song Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100346

Journal of Electronic Science and Technology ›› 2026, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (1) :100346 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100346

research-article

A certificateless identity authentication scheme for UAVs via blockchain sharding

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^a School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cyber Security), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China

^b Southwest China Institute of Electronic Technology, Chengdu, 610036, China

^c College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK

^* E-mail addresses: 202312081719@std.uestc.edu.cn (Z.-P. Zhong),

chenxiao_hey@std.uestc.edu.cn (X. Chen),

202311081703@std.uestc.edu.cn (M.-H. Huang),

h.wang3@exeter.ac.uk (H.-Z. Wang),

caosheng@uestc.edu.cn (S. Cao),

johnsonzxs@uestc.edu.cn (X.-S. Zhang).

Zhi-Peng Zhong was born in Chengdu, China in 1993. He received the M.E. degree in communication and information systems from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China in 2019. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of Computer Science and Engineering (Cyberspace Security), UESTC. His research interests include blockchain technology and network security.

Chen Xiao was born in Ziyang, China in 1998. He received the M.E. degree in computer science and technology from Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing, China in 2023. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of Computer Science and Engineering (Cyberspace Security), UESTC. His research interests include blockchain technology and network security.

Mu-Hong Huang was born in Nanchuan, Chongqing, China in 1997. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cyberspace Security), UESTC. His research interests include blockchain, distributed computing, and network security.

Hao-Zhe Wang received the B. S. and M. S. degrees from Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China in 2005 and 2012, respectively, and the Ph. D. degree from the University of Exeter (UoE), Exeter, UK in 2017. He is currently a Research Associate with the Computer Science Department, UoE. His research interests include AI-empowered network automation, future internet architecture, information-centric networking, and network analytical modeling.

Sheng Cao received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Chinese Academy Sciences, Beijing, in 2008. He is currently a professor with UESTC. His research interests include network security, blockchain, service computing, and intelligent education.

Xiao-Song Zhang received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in information security from UESTC in 1999 and 2011, respectively. He is currently a professor with the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Institute for Cyber Security, UESTC. His research interests include software vulnerability analysis, program analysis, network security, and data security.

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Abstract

With the growing deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) swarms in national defense, military operations, and emergency response, secure and reliable intra-swarm identity authentication has become critical for ensuring coordinated action and mission reliability. To address the drawbacks of public key infrastructure (PKI) based authentication in UAV swarms, namely, complex certificate management, strong dependence on centralized authorities, and authentication latency, we propose a certificateless identity authentication scheme for UAV swarms built on blockchain sharding. The scheme leverages sharding to execute authentication in parallel across multiple shards, significantly improving efficiency. Each UAV locally generates its public/private key pair and then adopts a registration-based encryption (RBE) mechanism: A registration algorithm binds the device identity to its key on the blockchain, ensuring public verifiability and immutability of identity mapping. On this basis, an authentication algorithm runs in which the initiator produces an authentication signature using a common reference string (CRS), on-chain public-key registration information, and its local private key, and the verifier rapidly validates the authentication message using the on-chain registration data and the identity of the initiator. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves low-latency and high-throughput identity authentication in large-scale UAV swarm environments, providing a solid technical foundation and broad application prospects for trustworthy UAV swarm identity authentication.

Keywords

Blockchain / Certificateless / Identity authentication / Registration-based encryption / UAV swarms

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Zhi-Peng Zhong, Xiao Chen, Mu-Hong Huang, Hao-Zhe Wang, Sheng Cao, Xiao-Song Zhang. A certificateless identity authentication scheme for UAVs via blockchain sharding. Journal of Electronic Science and Technology, 2026, 24(1): 100346 DOI:10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100346

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CRediT authorship contribution statement

Zhi-Peng Zhong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Writing−original draft, Reviewers comments respond. Xiao Chen: Fabrication, Testing and measurement, Writing−original draft. Mu-Hong Huang: Fabrication, Testing and measurement. Hao-Zhe Wang: Data curation, Overall review. Sheng Cao: Writing−review and editing, Overall review. Xiao-Song Zhang: Overall review.

Declaration of competing interest

Xiao-Song Zhang and Sheng Cao are a special section committee members for Journal of Electronic Science and Technology and were not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. Other authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.62472075 and the Innovation Theory and Technology Group Fund of the Southwest China Institute of Electronic Technology under Grant No.2024jsq0207.

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