Trust-Based Proof-of-Authority Consensus for Secure and Scalable Blockchain in Industry 5.0 IoT Networks

Abstract

This work proposes the Trust Based Proof of Authority as a potential solution for achieving security, scalability, and efficiency in blockchain enabled Industry 5.0 IoT networks. Trust levels are assigned to validators in accordance to their trust, their contribution in the past, and their system reliability metrics. Only nodes with high trust level perform block validation which greatly enhances security. In addition, this approach is more efficient and energy conserving than existing consensus mechanisms such as Proof of Stake or standard PoA. The proposed method is implemented using IoT integrated healthcare system and tested using iFogSim simulator and the Ethereum blockchain environment. Several key performance metrics such as block validation time, accuracy of validation, throughput of the system, processing time, and scalability have been used to evaluate the performance of the proposed system. Experimental results proved that the validation of block due to the Trust-Based PoA mechanism, leading to reduced computational overhead and improving reliability of the system. The proposed TB-PoA is appropriate for secure and scalable IoT applications within the Industry 5.0.