Toward Next Generation of Blockchain Using Improvized Bitcoin-NG
21 Jan 2021-IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE))-Vol. 8, Iss: 2, pp 512-521
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a new leader election scheme in the blockchain to reduce the consensus delay, reduce energy consumption, and increase the throughput of Bitcoin-NG, a Byzantine fault-tolerant blockchain protocol robust to extreme churn.
Abstract: The Bitcoin-Next Generation (NG) is a new blockchain protocol that is designed to scale the efficiency in terms of throughput and delay. Bitcoin-NG is a Byzantine fault-tolerant blockchain protocol robust to extreme churn and shares the same trust model as Bitcoin. Researchers are trying to extend their applications by integrating them with existing technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). However, due to high computational power and high consensus delay, current blockchain protocols, such as Bitcoin, are not suitable for working with lightweight IoT devices. Moreover, they are not energy-efficient as the mining of blocks requires dedicated mining machines that consume electricity. However, protocols, such as Bitcoin-NG, are designed to reduce the consensus delay, but they still need high computational power and high energy. This article proposes a new mechanism for blockchain to reduce the consensus delay, reduce energy consumption, and increase the throughput by introducing a new leader election scheme in the blockchain.
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TL;DR: This study aims to trace and pinpoint all the different methods that affect the interoperability of blockchains, gather all the obtainable evidence and recognize gaps in between the applicable approaches mentioned across the contemporary academic literature.
Abstract: PurposeThis work focuses on the interoperability of the blockchain from the viewpoint of its technological evolution in the wider context of supply chain systems. Interoperability concerns the most since it is among the most persevering problems in the process of blockchain adaptation. The study aims to trace and pinpoint all the different methods that affect the interoperability of blockchains, gather all the obtainable evidence and recognize gaps in between the applicable approaches mentioned across the contemporary academic literature.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis is done of seven interoperability approaches based on their relevance, practical usefulness and adoption processes concerning the blockchain. Mainly, this work examines interoperability from several different perspectives. An interoperability modular decomposition via a layered model has been defined through the level of conceptual interoperability (LCIM) and level of information system interoperability (LISI), which represent the most popular metrics with regard to assessing the level of interoperability from a qualitative level.FindingsGenerally, the findings of this work are directed in two major aspects: Firstly, it expands the research around blockchain technology interoperability by providing crucial background information and pinpointing important connotations for both industrial and academic environments. It also defines and analyzes several different approaches toward the blockchain platform's interoperability. Secondly, it also identifies and proposes several scenarios that take advantage of multiple blockchain application approaches, highlights various issues and challenges to the evolution of interoperability standards and solutions and indicates the desired areas of further research.Originality/valueAn essential aspect of the originality of this paper is that, contrary to other work contributions, this work summarized the different interoperability approaches for blockchain in supply chain systems. Mainly, seven approaches were discussed for practitioners and researchers, and the open issues and future research direction were considered.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors summarize the existing research to provide theoretical foundations for applying blockchain technology to smart manufacturing, thus creating a more reliable and authentic smart manufacturing system, and a reference framework for blockchain technology-enabled smart manufacturing systems is put forward.
Abstract: As a new generation of information technology, blockchain plays an important role in business and industrial innovation. The employment of blockchain technologies in industry has increased transparency, security and traceability, improved efficiency, and reduced costs of production activities. Many studies on blockchain technology-enabled system construction and performance optimization in Industry 4.0 have been carried out. However, blockchain technology and smart manufacturing have been individually researched in academia and industry, according to the literature. This survey aims to summarize the existing research to provide theoretical foundations for applying blockchain technology to smart manufacturing, thus creating a more reliable and authentic smart manufacturing system. In this regard, the literature related to four types of critical issues in smart manufacturing is introduced: data security, data sharing, trust mechanisms and system coordination issues. The corresponding blockchain solutions were reviewed and analyzed. Based on the insights obtained from the above analysis, a reference framework for blockchain technology-enabled smart manufacturing systems is put forward. The challenges and future research directions are also discussed to provide potential guides for achieving better utilization of this technology in smart manufacturing.
4 citations
04 Jan 2022
TL;DR: A permissioned blockchain framework for the IoV (i.e., SIoVChain) to overcome insecure data communication and inefficient data storage and directly benefits the drivers and passengers by providing traffic information through secure communication and data integrity.
Abstract: As the backbone of smart cities, the IoV can greatly enhance transportation effectiveness, passenger and driver safety, energy use reduction, traffic management, and pollution control. Although, the storage and communication between ubiquitous devices such as the vehicle and Road-Side-Unit (RSU) lead to multiple potential challenges, such as data tampering, data integrity, cyber attacks, and risk of leaking or falsifying information. In this work, we have proposed a permissioned blockchain framework for the IoV (i.e., SIoVChain) to overcome insecure data communication and inefficient data storage. SIoVChain registers ubiquitous devices with a node such as a blockchain node and works with transaction verification and ordering node selection processes. SIoVChain directly benefits the drivers and passengers by providing traffic information through secure communication and data integrity. We have implemented SIoVChain on the Raspberry Pi 4 platform. The experimental results demonstrate that SIoVChain surpasses conventional solutions by 50% verification delay, 50% cryptography latency, and 49% communication overhead.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors conduct a systematic literature review on Sybil attack resistance in permissionless blockchain systems and find that only a few fundamental paradigms exist that can resist Sybil attacks in a permissionless setting but discover numerous innovative mechanisms that can deliver weaker protection in system scenarios with smaller attack surfaces.
Abstract: Consensus algorithms are applied in the context of distributed computer systems to improve their fault tolerance. The explosive development of distributed ledger technology following the proposal of “Bitcoin” led to a sharp increase in research activity in this area. Specifically, public and permissionless networks require robust leader selection strategies resistant to Sybil attacks in which malicious attackers present bogus identities to induce byzantine faults. Our goal is to analyse the entire breadth of works in this area systematically, thereby uncovering trends and research directions regarding Sybil attack resistance in today’s blockchain systems to benefit the designs of the future. Through a systematic literature review, we condense an immense set of research records (N = 21,799) to a relevant subset (N = 483). We categorise these mechanisms by their Sybil attack resistance characteristics, leader selection methodology, and incentive scheme. Mechanisms with strong Sybil attack resistance commonly adopt the principles underlying “Proof-of-Work” or “Proof-of-Stake” while mechanisms with limited resistance often use reputation systems or physical world linking. We find that only a few fundamental paradigms exist that can resist Sybil attacks in a permissionless setting but discover numerous innovative mechanisms that can deliver weaker protection in system scenarios with smaller attack surfaces.
2 citations
01 Aug 2022
TL;DR: In this paper , a hybrid model based on the PSO-based optimization algorithm and fuzzy logic is proposed to improve blockchain performance, where a smart contract is implemented to automate the transaction flow as per real-time data of network conditions.
Abstract: Blockchain technology has revolutionized the ways of processing and storing data in terms of reliability and security. Blockchain plays a pivotal role in transferring the processing hurdle from the client–server to a decentralized and secured platform. Blockchain is deemed to be an efficient technology in a forthcoming era that would beneficiate multifarious industries. An issue that becomes a bottleneck for blockchain-based applications is their restricted ability to process in comparison to distributed database systems. In this paper, we present intelligent traffic control using a hybrid model based on the PSO-based optimization algorithm and fuzzy logic in order to improve blockchain performance. The real-time network feedback model is designed and used as an input to control the transaction traffic across the entire network in a robust way without human intervention. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the designed model, a clinical trial service framework as a test network is implemented on top of Hyperledger Fabric. The case study is further compared with baseline network, network with fuzzy approach, and network with optimized parameter. The experiments show that the proposed model not only enhanced the network by maximizing the network throughput and minimizing the network latency. A smart contract is implemented to automate the transaction flow as per real-time data of network conditions. An open-source blockchain framework, Hyperledger Fabric, is harnessed for implementation of the experiment environment in order to signify the potential of the proposed model. The outcome of this study indicated a remarkable increase in transaction throughput (i.e., 38.5%) and a decrease in transaction latency of 40.5%. Moreover, the proposed model can easily be integrated with other existing blockchain-based performance-enhancing tools.
1 citations
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
25 Jun 2017
TL;DR: An overview of blockchain architechture is provided and some typical consensus algorithms used in different blockchains are compared and possible future trends for blockchain are laid out.
Abstract: Blockchain, the foundation of Bitcoin, has received extensive attentions recently. Blockchain serves as an immutable ledger which allows transactions take place in a decentralized manner. Blockchain-based applications are springing up, covering numerous fields including financial services, reputation system and Internet of Things (IoT), and so on. However, there are still many challenges of blockchain technology such as scalability and security problems waiting to be overcome. This paper presents a comprehensive overview on blockchain technology. We provide an overview of blockchain architechture firstly and compare some typical consensus algorithms used in different blockchains. Furthermore, technical challenges and recent advances are briefly listed. We also lay out possible future trends for blockchain.
2,642 citations
TL;DR: A new replication algorithm, BFT, is described that can be used to build highly available systems that tolerate Byzantine faults and is used to implement the first Byzantine-fault-tolerant NFS file system, BFS.
Abstract: Our growing reliance on online services accessible on the Internet demands highly available systems that provide correct service without interruptions. Software bugs, operator mistakes, and malicious attacks are a major cause of service interruptions and they can cause arbitrary behavior, that is, Byzantine faults. This article describes a new replication algorithm, BFT, that can be used to build highly available systems that tolerate Byzantine faults. BFT can be used in practice to implement real services: it performs well, it is safe in asynchronous environments such as the Internet, it incorporates mechanisms to defend against Byzantine-faulty clients, and it recovers replicas proactively. The recovery mechanism allows the algorithm to tolerate any number of faults over the lifetime of the system provided fewer than 1/3 of the replicas become faulty within a small window of vulnerability. BFT has been implemented as a generic program library with a simple interface. We used the library to implement the first Byzantine-fault-tolerant NFS file system, BFS. The BFT library and BFS perform well because the library incorporates several important optimizations, the most important of which is the use of symmetric cryptography to authenticate messages. The performance results show that BFS performs 2p faster to 24p slower than production implementations of the NFS protocol that are not replicated. This supports our claim that the BFT library can be used to build practical systems that tolerate Byzantine faults.
2,190 citations
16 Aug 1987
TL;DR: A new digital signature based only on a conventional encryption function (such as DES) is described which is as secure as the underlying encryption function -- the security does not depend on the difficulty of factoring and the high computational costs of modular arithmetic are avoided.
Abstract: A new digital signature based only on a conventional encryption function (such as DES) is described which is as secure as the underlying encryption function -- the security does not depend on the difficulty of factoring and the high computational costs of modular arithmetic are avoided. The signature system can sign an unlimited number of messages, and the signature size increases logarithmically as a function of the number of messages signed. Signature size in a 'typical' system might range from a few hundred bytes to a few kilobytes, and generation of a signature might require a few hundred to a few thousand computations of the underlying conventional encryption function.
1,509 citations
24 Oct 2016
TL;DR: This paper introduces a novel quantitative framework to analyse the security and performance implications of various consensus and network parameters of PoW blockchains and devise optimal adversarial strategies for double-spending and selfish mining while taking into account real world constraints.
Abstract: Proof of Work (PoW) powered blockchains currently account for more than 90% of the total market capitalization of existing digital cryptocurrencies. Although the security provisions of Bitcoin have been thoroughly analysed, the security guarantees of variant (forked) PoW blockchains (which were instantiated with different parameters) have not received much attention in the literature. This opens the question whether existing security analysis of Bitcoin's PoW applies to other implementations which have been instantiated with different consensus and/or network parameters. In this paper, we introduce a novel quantitative framework to analyse the security and performance implications of various consensus and network parameters of PoW blockchains. Based on our framework, we devise optimal adversarial strategies for double-spending and selfish mining while taking into account real world constraints such as network propagation, different block sizes, block generation intervals, information propagation mechanism, and the impact of eclipse attacks. Our framework therefore allows us to capture existing PoW-based deployments as well as PoW blockchain variants that are instantiated with different parameters, and to objectively compare the tradeoffs between their performance and security provisions.
1,258 citations