When Proof-of-Work (PoW) based blockchain meets VANET environments

Abstract

Smart vehicles, through dedicated sensors, can gather and announce information about road traffic events. This information can be exploited to improve the transportation system. However, with the ubiquity of cyber-attacks, it is challenging to safely store and share event messages collected through Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs). Therefore, in this work, we leverage blockchain technology capability to establish a decentralized, transparent and robust database to build, in turn, a robust and secure traffic event management protocol. We adapt the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to this context while testing network configurations via NS-3. The performance of the blockchain is evaluated and its reliability in the presence of attackers (malicious vehicles) is examined and discussed. The results highlight a trade-off between the events' trustworthiness and the blockchain's reliability and security.