A South Australian startup that is using Blockchain to securely track and identify drones will come to France next week to meet with major defence and aerospace companies.

Adelaide-based Wright Technologies aims to conduct field trials of its drone identification and tracking system before the end of the year, and has already been in talks with a defence company in Australia.

Last year, the fledgling company won the International Grand Prize at the ActInSpace innovation contest, which is initiated by the French Space Agency (CNES) with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the ESA Business Incubation Centres network.

“We’ve got some meetings scheduled with some big defence companies and we’re hoping to establish some networks in that Aerospace Valley in Toulouse,” Wright Technologies CEO and co-founder Kosta Canatselis said.

Proof of location

“We’re working on being able to understand what device is where with absolute certainty with something called proof-of-location,” he said.

Wright Technologies is based at the University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre.

The startup is also a finalist in next month’s $100,000 Blockchain Innovation Challenge, which will be held as part of the ADC Global Blockchain Summit in its home state of South Australia from March 18-20.

Using Blockchain

Canatselis said GPS on its own was not secure and could be “spoofed”. He said his tamper-proof Blockchain technology would be particularly valuable in applications dealing with the freight of high-value goods.

Canatselis said: “Basically, how Blockchain works is there is an immutable ledger (a record that cannot be changed) where all the actions are recorded and you can start seeing things like a drone delivering something to a house, proving it has been to the house and then releasing payment and things like that.

To read the full article in The Lead, click here.