Blockchain based smart marketplace for secure internet bandwidth trading

Abstract

Internet broadband usage is increasing dramatically as the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart homes that rely on Internet connectivity for effective communication between them grows. As a result, many network and Internet communication issues arise, including network traffic congestion, insecurity, high connection rates, and excess bandwidth waste. This work aims to create a secure and decentralized smart marketplace (SMP) for a fair, transparent, robust, and less expensive way of trading excess or idle traffic from a smart home by directly paying the owner of the bandwidth. The internet bandwidths may initially come from a direct Tel-com product or from other users (smart homeowners) who decide to sell their excess Internet bandwidth. The research was carried out by integrating a given smart marketplace scenario with blockchain technology using proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus mechanism. The simulation results show that the model is more reliable and appears to be an efficient solution to dealing with excess bandwidth waste and offering safe excess bandwidth trading within a smart city. Besides, the excess bandwidth wastage is controlled at least by 75% by making it available in the SMP for buyers.