Resumo

nnThe Internet of Drones (IoD) is a novel mobile network paradigm with particular aspects, demanding security and privacy requirements. Mix Zones (MZ) is a location privacy protection mechanism in traditional mobile networks focusing on anonymizing a node’s identity. In this regard, Mix Zone Placement (MZP) is a current challenge related to the design of MZ in IoD. As occur in terrestrial mobile environments, analyzing the vehicles’ traffic flow can lead to enhanced strategies to solve MZP. This study conducts the first technical analysis of the MZP in this paradigm. We investigate three MZP strategies: an empirical MZP, a strategy based on visitation frequency, and an Ant-Colony Optimization (ACO) method. Our results reveal a deep relation between the drone’s traffic flow and the MZP. Moreover, the ACO method is suitable for deployment in a location privacy protection mechanism, overcoming other strategies regarding location privacy, diversity, and efficiency.n