Satellite Payload Blockchain Protocol for Trustless Service Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies lack secure means for satellites across constellations to share services without a trusted transaction, primarily due to centralized security vulnerabilities and the inability to facilitate trustless exchanges.
Innovation Solution
A distributed architecture utilizing Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), such as blockchain or directed acyclic graph, to enable secure, trustless interactions between satellite payloads owned or operated by different service providers, ensuring resilient and zero-trust service sharing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If centralized security moderation is used to supervise service exchange between payloads, then service sharing between payloads can be enabled, but security is compromised because the centralized supervisor becomes a single point of failure and attack target
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized security supervision function into distributed segments across multiple nodes in a blockchain network. Each node independently validates service exchange transactions according to predefined policies, eliminating the single point of failure. The security moderation capability is segmented and replicated across the network, so no single node's compromise can undermine overall security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a blockchain-based intermediary layer that mediates service exchanges between payloads without requiring trust between them. Smart contracts act as automated intermediaries that enforce service level agreements and policies, replacing the vulnerable centralized supervisor while enabling trustless interaction between payloads from different providers.
2Reliability
If virtual machines are used to isolate payloads for security, then some security and software isolation are provided, but trustless exchange cannot be achieved and policy enforcement is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/isolation-based security approach of virtual machines with a cryptographic and consensus-based system. Instead of relying on hypervisor-enforced isolation, the system uses blockchain's cryptographic hashing, digital signatures, and consensus mechanisms to provide security and enable trustless exchange between payloads, regardless of their isolation status.
3Reliability
If homomorphic encryption is used for secure cross-payload communication, then privacy is protected, but the process is slow and compute-intensive making it non-viable on space vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial encryption approaches where only sensitive portions of data are encrypted using homomorphic encryption or secure multi-party computation, while non-sensitive data is exchanged in plaintext. This selective application of cryptographic techniques maintains necessary privacy protection while dramatically reducing computational overhead compared to full homomorphic encryption of all communications.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for communicating between a first satellite payload in an electronic distributed ledger network and a second satellite payload in the electronic distributed ledger network are presented. The techniques include: providing, by the first satellite payload and to the distributed ledger network, a request for a service; obtaining, by the first satellite payload, a service response from the second satellite payload and an indication of compliance with a policy concerning the service; determining, by the first satellite payload, and based on the indication of compliance, whether the service response conforms to the policy concerning the service; and acting on the service response, by the first satellite payload, based on the determining.