Blockchains and Smart Contracts for the Internet of Things
TL;DR: The conclusion is that the blockchain-IoT combination is powerful and can cause significant transformations across several industries, paving the way for new business models and novel, distributed applications.
Abstract: Motivated by the recent explosion of interest around blockchains, we examine whether they make a good fit for the Internet of Things (IoT) sector. Blockchains allow us to have a distributed peer-to-peer network where non-trusting members can interact with each other without a trusted intermediary, in a verifiable manner. We review how this mechanism works and also look into smart contracts—scripts that reside on the blockchain that allow for the automation of multi-step processes. We then move into the IoT domain, and describe how a blockchain-IoT combination: 1) facilitates the sharing of services and resources leading to the creation of a marketplace of services between devices and 2) allows us to automate in a cryptographically verifiable manner several existing, time-consuming workflows. We also point out certain issues that should be considered before the deployment of a blockchain network in an IoT setting: from transactional privacy to the expected value of the digitized assets traded on the network. Wherever applicable, we identify solutions and workarounds. Our conclusion is that the blockchain-IoT combination is powerful and can cause significant transformations across several industries, paving the way for new business models and novel, distributed applications.
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11 Jun 2020
TL;DR: This work proposes an application of Elliptic Curve Qu Vanstone (ECQV) certificates, which are lightweight in size for the resource restricted IoT devices and incorporates the blockchain based smart contracts to handle the certificate related operations.
Abstract: The 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Dublin, Ireland, 7-11 June 2020
18 citations
Cites background from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...The public blockchain application to the PKI context is presented in [12]–[16]....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed framework for the possible use of blockchain (a distributed ledger based technology) for credit decisions, timely generation of red-flags and tightening the regulatory framework is presented.
Abstract: There has been a substantial build-up of non-performing assets in the Indian banking sector. Despite multiple initiatives and regulatory changes, there is a need to revisit the reporting and regulatory frameworks and redefine the focus areas. Banks credit problem has often been explored under the lens of asymmetric information. Spreads are generally directly proportional to probability of default and an inverse function of collateral and security. However, in India, there is a noticeable gap in academic literature to suggest robust institutional reforms to address the twin curse of adverse selection and moral hazard. Regulatory frameworks, particularly with respect to risk management function of banks, also grapple with predicting forthcoming disruptions. As banks redesign their corporate customer experience on a digitalized scale, leveraging large-scale available data, there is a bigger challenge to the regulator to ensure risk regulations are effective and save costs as well. The authors suggest that if information asymmetry exists, the blockchain protocols may mitigate uncertainty. Though blockchain technology has been leveraged to increase effectiveness of certain corporate banking products, the originality of the paper lies in coming out with a detailed framework for the possible use of blockchain (a distributed ledger based technology) for credit decisions, timely generation of red-flags and tightening the regulatory framework. The paper also lists down suggestions to improve the enabling regulatory and reporting architecture using regulatory technology (RegTech) to support unification of data already available in the banking system. This will improve the quality of information available to the lenders and enable them to take more informed credit decisions (data-driven finance), while granting and monitoring loans. Ultimately, it will lead to an optimization of credit risk capital.
18 citations
10 Oct 2019
TL;DR: How the concept of SDN and network virtualization has been pivotal in enabling the idea of “true multi-tenancy”, through the use of programmability, flexible architecture and resource isolation, is examined.
Abstract: This paper details the evolution of access network sharing models from legacy DSL to the most recent fibre-based technology and the main challenges faced from technical and business perspectives. We first give an overview of existing access sharing models, that span physical local loop unbundling and virtual unbundled local access. We then describe different types of optical access technologies and highlight how they support network sharing. Next, we examine how the concept of SDN and network virtualization has been pivotal in enabling the idea of “true multi-tenancy”, through the use of programmability, flexible architecture and resource isolation. We give examples of recent developments of cloud central office and OLT virtualization. Finally, we provide an insight into the role that novel business models, such as blockchain and smart contract technology, could play in 5G networks. We discuss how these might evolve, to provide flexibility and dynamic operations that are needed in the data and control planes.
18 citations
Cites background or methods from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...The application of Blockchain in the creation of machine to machine service and resource marketplaces has also been addressed in [75]....
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...In [75], the authors describe how smart contracts can facilitate the automation of complex multi-step processes in an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem....
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TL;DR: A road traffic event detection and source reputation assessment system for unreliable data sources that can accurately detect a range of manipulative and misreporting behaviors, and quickly converges to the final trust score even in a resource-constrained environment of a blockchain platform virtual machine.
Abstract: Real-time data about various traffic events and conditions—offences, accidents, dangerous driving, or dangerous road conditions—is crucial for safe and efficient transportation. Unlike roadside infrastructure data which are often limited in scope and quantity, crowdsensing approaches promise much broader and comprehensive coverage of traffic events. However, to ensure safe and efficient traffic operation, assessing trustworthiness of crowdsourced data is of crucial importance; this also includes detection of intentional or unintentional manipulation, deception, and spamming. In this paper, we design and demonstrate a road traffic event detection and source reputation assessment system for unreliable data sources. Special care is taken to adapt the system for operation in decentralized mode, using smart contracts on a Turing-complete blockchain platform, eliminating single authority over such systems and increasing resilience to institutional data manipulation. The proposed solution was evaluated using both a synthetic traffic event dataset and a dataset gathered from real users, using a traffic event reporting mobile application in a professional driving simulator used for driver training. The results show the proposed system can accurately detect a range of manipulative and misreporting behaviors, and quickly converges to the final trust score even in a resource-constrained environment of a blockchain platform virtual machine.
17 citations
Cites background from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...Implementation-wise, we developed the SCs in the Solidity language....
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...As transactions are public, everyone can observe traffic between end users (data sources) and SCs in a way that reveals only pairs of nodes that communicate with each other....
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...For example, solidity, the de-facto programming language for SCs on the Ethereum platform, only supports deterministic functions....
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...The first, and probably the most important one, is the required determinism of algorithms used, if implementing the whole event detection system using SCs....
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...Compiled and deployed SCs are assigned unique public addresses that act as an interface for interaction with other entities on the network (Figure 5)....
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01 Dec 2018
TL;DR: It is identified that the Blockchain technology provide solutions that enhance trust, transparency and auditability in SB activities, however, there are also challenges related to creating a native cryptocurrency for SB, and barriers to infrastructure and technology adoption by the different stakeholders in SB.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing research attention and practitioner interest in exploring the suitability of Blockchain technology for decentralised applications in multiple domains. This paper investigates the application of Blockchain technology to address some of the key challenges faced by the domain of Social Business (SB). SB is a business model for investments in social causes for the socio-economic development of under-privileged communities. We have modelled a small example of micro-credit use-case from microfinance activities of SB using a semi-formal modelling approach using Blockchain technology. We identified that the Blockchain technology provide solutions that enhance trust, transparency and auditability in SB activities. However, we have also identified challenges related to creating a native cryptocurrency for SB, and barriers to infrastructure and technology adoption by the different stakeholders in SB.
17 citations
Cites background from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...bitcoin cryptocurrency), where as in case of private blockchains (or permissioned network), access is restricted to few users only [1]....
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...Blockchain technologies continue to attract significant interest both from academic communities and industries [1]–[3]....
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...trusted intermediary can now operate in a decentralised manner with the need of having central authority [1]....
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...keys (public and private) using asymmetric cryptography [29], where the private key will be used to sign their own transactions and the corresponding public key is normally used as an address on the network [1]....
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References
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TL;DR: The Albanian Generals Problem as mentioned in this paper is a generalization of Dijkstra's dining philosophers problem, where two generals have to come to a common agreement on whether to attack or retreat, but can communicate only by sending messengers who might never arrive.
Abstract: I have long felt that, because it was posed as a cute problem about philosophers seated around a table, Dijkstra’s dining philosopher’s problem received much more attention than it deserves. (For example, it has probably received more attention in the theory community than the readers/writers problem, which illustrates the same principles and has much more practical importance.) I believed that the problem introduced in [41] was very important and deserved the attention of computer scientists. The popularity of the dining philosophers problem taught me that the best way to attract attention to a problem is to present it in terms of a story. There is a problem in distributed computing that is sometimes called the Chinese Generals Problem, in which two generals have to come to a common agreement on whether to attack or retreat, but can communicate only by sending messengers who might never arrive. I stole the idea of the generals and posed the problem in terms of a group of generals, some of whom may be traitors, who have to reach a common decision. I wanted to assign the generals a nationality that would not offend any readers. At the time, Albania was a completely closed society, and I felt it unlikely that there would be any Albanians around to object, so the original title of this paper was The Albanian Generals Problem. Jack Goldberg was smart enough to realize that there were Albanians in the world outside Albania, and Albania might not always be a black hole, so he suggested that I find another name. The obviously more appropriate Byzantine generals then occurred to me. The main reason for writing this paper was to assign the new name to the problem. But a new paper needed new results as well. I came up with a simpler way to describe the general 3n+1-processor algorithm. (Shostak’s 4-processor algorithm was subtle but easy to understand; Pease’s generalization was a remarkable tour de force.) We also added a generalization to networks that were not completely connected. (I don’t remember whose work that was.) I also added some discussion of practical implementation details.
5,208 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a group of generals of the Byzantine army camped with their troops around an enemy city are shown to agree upon a common battle plan using only oral messages, if and only if more than two-thirds of the generals are loyal; so a single traitor can confound two loyal generals.
Abstract: Reliable computer systems must handle malfunctioning components that give conflicting information to different parts of the system. This situation can be expressed abstractly in terms of a group of generals of the Byzantine army camped with their troops around an enemy city. Communicating only by messenger, the generals must agree upon a common battle plan. However, one or more of them may be traitors who will try to confuse the others. The problem is to find an algorithm to ensure that the loyal generals will reach agreement. It is shown that, using only oral messages, this problem is solvable if and only if more than two-thirds of the generals are loyal; so a single traitor can confound two loyal generals. With unforgeable written messages, the problem is solvable for any number of generals and possible traitors. Applications of the solutions to reliable computer systems are then discussed.
4,901 citations
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TL;DR: It is shown that, without a logically centralized authority, Sybil attacks are always possible except under extreme and unrealistic assumptions of resource parity and coordination among entities.
Abstract: Large-scale peer-to-peer systems face security threats from faulty or hostile remote computing elements. To resist these threats, many such systems employ redundancy. However, if a single faulty entity can present multiple identities, it can control a substantial fraction of the system, thereby undermining this redundancy. One approach to preventing these "Sybil attacks" is to have a trusted agency certify identities. This paper shows that, without a logically centralized authority, Sybil attacks are always possible except under extreme and unrealistic assumptions of resource parity and coordination among entities.
4,816 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers background in this paper
...Because of the Sybil attack [15], consensus in public networks is costly...
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...anyone can join though, this would be catastrophic because of the Sybil attack [15]: a single entity could join with multiple identities, get multiple votes, and thus influence the network to favor this entity’s interests....
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22 Feb 1999
TL;DR: A new replication algorithm that is able to tolerate Byzantine faults that works in asynchronous environments like the Internet and incorporates several important optimizations that improve the response time of previous algorithms by more than an order of magnitude.
Abstract: This paper describes a new replication algorithm that is able to tolerate Byzantine faults. We believe that Byzantinefault-tolerant algorithms will be increasingly important in the future because malicious attacks and software errors are increasingly common and can cause faulty nodes to exhibit arbitrary behavior. Whereas previous algorithms assumed a synchronous system or were too slow to be used in practice, the algorithm described in this paper is practical: it works in asynchronous environments like the Internet and incorporates several important optimizations that improve the response time of previous algorithms by more than an order of magnitude. We implemented a Byzantine-fault-tolerant NFS service using our algorithm and measured its performance. The results show that our service is only 3% slower than a standard unreplicated NFS.
3,562 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers background or methods in this paper
...5If more than 3f + 1 nodes are used, then the quorum thresholds listed in [26] may lead to forks....
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...Tendermint vs PBFT—Tendermint....
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...Sieve [38], a mechanism used in the HyperLedger Fabric project, augments the PBFT algorithm [26] by adding speculative execution and verification phases, inspired by the execute-verify architecture presented in [39]....
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...Tendermint [32] provides BFT tolerance and is similar to the PBFT algorithm; however it provides a tighter guarantee with regards to the results returned to the client when more than one third of the nodes are faulty, and allows for a dynamically changing set of set of validators, and leaders that can be rotated in a round-robin manner, among other optimizations [33]....
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...PBFT works on the assumption that less than one third of the nodes are faulty (f ), which is why say that it requires at least5 3f + 1 nodes....
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Proceedings Article•
19 Jun 2014TL;DR: Raft is a consensus algorithm for managing a replicated log that separates the key elements of consensus, such as leader election, log replication, and safety, and it enforces a stronger degree of coherency to reduce the number of states that must be considered.
Abstract: Raft is a consensus algorithm for managing a replicated log. It produces a result equivalent to (multi-)Paxos, and it is as efficient as Paxos, but its structure is different from Paxos; this makes Raft more understandable than Paxos and also provides a better foundation for building practical systems. In order to enhance understandability, Raft separates the key elements of consensus, such as leader election, log replication, and safety, and it enforces a stronger degree of coherency to reduce the number of states that must be considered. Results from a user study demonstrate that Raft is easier for students to learn than Paxos. Raft also includes a new mechanism for changing the cluster membership, which uses overlapping majorities to guarantee safety.
1,811 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers methods in this paper
...popular Raft algorithm [30], is used as a consensus mechanism in Juno [31]....
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