A Topological Dummy-based Location Privacy Protection Mechanism for the Internet of Drones

Abstract

The recent advancement of drone technologies and communication protocols allows us to envision a robust and dynamic mobile vehicular network paradigm called the Internet of Drones (IoD). In this environment, drones will perform several location-based services (LBSs) for users, awakening the interest of malicious entities whose intention is to hamper the service. Hence, drones need high protection regarding their localization in LBSs. However, there is a lack of Location Privacy Protection Mechanisms (LPPMs) for an IoD scenario. Dummy-based LPPMs provide proper location privacy in traditional mobile networks, mainly for sparse configurations. The design of this mechanism for IoD can overcome this deficiency. This study proposes a novel dummy-based LPPM for the IoD, called TDG, that focuses on the IoD topology characteristics regardless of near drones being the first approach presented in this context. Through extensive experiments, we show that TDG can provide proper location privacy for drones in sparse configurations, reducing the use of the wireless communication channel. TDG can protect the real drone’s trajectory up to more than 90% of the time, leaking less than 25% of the drone’s real coordinates.