Walmart files patent for blockchain-powered drone comms
Retailer Walmart has reaffirmed its interest in blockchain technology, with the filing of a patent covering drone communications that use blockchain.
Published in early August by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the “Cloning drones using blockchain” patent application describes a blockchain-based system that encrypts and stores a drone’s operational parameters, such as flight heights, flight speeds, and flight routes.
This information is then passed to another drone, which decrypts, reads and configures to these parameters.
“As unmanned vehicles, such as drones, continue to evolve, communications between them continue to evolve. For example, unmanned vehicles may be designed to use mesh networks for communications between them, such that every vehicle is aware of the speed, direction, braking, etc, of the other vehicles, allowing unprecedented coordination,” said Walmart’s application.
Walmart added that, in some embodiments, drones may fly in areas affected by a natural or man-made disaster and act as temporary cell or other communication towers.
“The various flying towers (drones) may communicate among themselves using blockchain for encryption and verification. The system may also provide unused drone communications capacity to customers in the area,” the application explained.
The retailer goes further, stating that the system may act as a wireless data provider on a limited basis, which may work for Internet of Things (IoT) devices to communicate with the outside world.
It added: “The IoT system may store its data until a drone is in the area and then send a burst communication to the outside world.”
Walmart is no stranger to the blockchain space—the retailer partnered with IBM last year to track food globally through its supply chain and improve food safety.
Earlier this month, WIPR reported that the retailer had moved into cryptocurrency with the filing of a patent application for a Walmart currency.
The currency, which will be built on the blockchain, can provide a “fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth” that can be spent at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash.
In June this year, sister-site LSIPR reported that the Food and Drug Administration had selected Walmart, along with Merck & Co, IBM, and KPMG, to form a pilot project aimed at evaluating the use of blockchain to protect pharmaceutical product integrity.
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