Secure Aircraft Maintenance Records Using Blockchain (SAMR)

We propose to enhance the security and transparency of aircraft maintenance records in the aviation industry through the use of blockchain technology. A physical aircraft maintenance logbook is susceptible to being lost or destroyed. A nonexistent aircraft maintenance logbook hurts the confidence in integrity and reputation of the aircraft. Furthermore, fraud can occur through forgery of FAA personnel signatures and the installation of non-official aircraft parts. The scope of this work is to develop a secure blockchain that can store aircraft service records and information in a digital distributed ledger. By keeping the maintenance logbook on a digital ledger, records can be stored indefinitely in a trusted environment with the integrity of records guaranteed. Additionally, to achieve being a distributed ledger, a consensus algorithm PoET is used to display the global state accurately to all users. The SAMR blockchain uses the Linux Foundations open sourced software "Hyperledger" to facilitate an environment that mimics a real-world implementation. The Python Programming Language was used for SAMR's implementation of the blockchain logic through creation of a permission-based blockchain for holding the maintenance records.