Performance analysis of consensus protocols in distributed systems

Abstract

Consensus algorithms play the significant role in any blockchain system since it has to prove its performance and security. Hence, there is a need to identify the curbs of various consensus algorithms. The features of several kinds of blockchain systems rely on the consensus techniques. A detailed analysis of the algorithms has been done which might throw the limelight to researchers to devise a novel consensus algorithm. Issues due to the adoption of the consensus and solutions to overcome have been discussed. The main contribution of this work is to provide a deep insight into the consensus algorithms and its properties. There are several metrics considerations for evaluating the performance of consensus protocols. Additionally, the energy consumption of Bitcoin and Ethereum of several countries has also been presented in this work. Finally, the most commonly used consensus algorithm has been analysed along with its variant information.