Blockchain serves as an immutable ledger which allows transactions to take place in a decentralized manner. The proposed solution incorporates the use of Blockchain for Supply Chain Management of Relief Materials after a Disaster. The proposed solution also provides many additional features when compared to the current system like being tamper-proof, providing anonymity and accountability to the users. Our solution incorporates a box-in-box approach whilst keeping tabs via tamper-proof barcodes. Barcodes will be frequently scanned at designated locations. Users also have the facility to track the donated items online through a dedicated website. For blockchain infrastructure, we have used Hyperledger Fabric.
The articles in this special section focuses on blockchain for scalable Internet of Things (IoT) management, access, and accountability. The articles highlight new blockchain architectures and techniques that can be leveraged to enable scalable management, access and accountability of massive numbers of IoT devices to effectively support various IoT applications.
Saleh Albahli, Rehan Ullah Khan, Ali Mustafa Qamar
eHealth is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance health quality access. Health care innovations are an essential element of Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 operational plan that will lead to an improvement in the quality of health care in Saudi Arabia. The objective of this paper is to address the healthcare system limitations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in general and the Qassim region in particular to global standards. In practice, the creation of an infrastructure for storing and seamless sharing of health data between different entities is studied. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of current practices w.r.t. the health data, as well as finding similarities between NTP 2020 and Health 2020 (European Union) has been performed. A multi-level blockchain eHealth system is proposed to provide seamless electronic health records to the patients. Moreover, the current practices being employed in Qassim province, KSA has been analyzed. It was found that private hospitals give access to medical reports to their patients besides allowing them to manage their appointments. On the other hand, access to the government hospitals' medical records is minimal.
Blockchain system is affected by many factors with the rapid development of technology. In order to study the blockchain system more realistically, the processes of transaction consensus and transaction storage are simulated in this paper, and factors such as interference factors, impatience phenomena of transactions and fault repairable conditions of the system during the service process are considered. Vacation queueing model with negative customers, impatient customers, repairable fault and two-phase service that customers can select sever in the first service is established. Using the matrix-geometric solution method, the expressions of the average confirmation time of transactions and other performance measures are given. The parameters of the system are obtained based on the statistics of the blockchain transaction data. The influence of each parameter on the performance measures of blockchain system is analyzed by using MATLAB software. The equilibrium reception rate is discussed by constructing the revenue function of the system, and equilibrium numerical results are obtained.
Existing implanted medical devices often do not use any form of authentication due to resource constraints, resulting in unauthorized access or programming of devices. In this paper, we introduce Medical Implant Consent (MedIC), a non-embedded, blockchain-based solution that provides authentication and authorization according to patient consent. We design protocols for doctors to obtain digital medical licenses and for patients to obtain and verify digital patient consent. We evaluate the performance and cost of our solution, using time measurements and memory footprint of relevant operations. We also enumerate our cryptographic operations and compute the energy with benchmarked measurements. Our results demonstrate a memory footprint of 4436 MB and timing delay of 200 ms to authenticate according to our patient’s consent.
For the automotive industry, promoting more value-adding services in usage stage is a long-standing challenge for global manufacturers. As many cars have an unknown history, it is proven difficult, if not impossible, to prevent scams and frauds when offering car services. As an emerging technology, blockchain is characterized by high immutability, transparency, security, and traceability. Such characteristics make blockchain a highly promising empowering technology to maintain mutual trust among stakeholders in vehicle product-service system (PSS). This paper presents a blockchain-based PSS framework, which is intended to address the trust issue vehicle PSS.
Rustam Pirmagomedov, Aleksandr Ometov, Dmitri Moltchanov, Xi Lu · 9 authors
Wireless traffic produced by modern mobile devices displays high temporal and spatial dynamics as users spontaneously engage in collective applications where a significant portion of generated data remains localized. As a result, conventional service provisioning approaches may no longer be sufficient in beyond fifth generation (B5G) systems. The challenge of increased dynamics on the access networks can be mitigated with moving cells. However, the deployment time of these temporary serving entities may lag behind the service demand lifetime. Another viable solution to offload excessive cellular traffic is to rely upon locally available radio resources offered by user devices via direct mmWave-based mesh interworking. An important challenge in such systems is related to the incentivization of users to partake in collaborative resource sharing. To leverage multi-hop mesh capabilities, we propose the use of emerging blockchain technology that offers cryptographically-strong accounting while maintaining the anonymity of the participants. With system-level evaluations, we demonstrate that the utilization of mobile blockchain methods allows for a non-incremental improvement in the offloading gains. This demonstrates the potential of the outlined proposal for becoming a successful mechanism in the emerging B5G systems.
Increasing list of records is with blockchain where each record is linked with the help of cryptography. Every block in the chain contains timestamp, transaction details and hash of a previous block, hash is cryptographic hash. This is a secured system, which we plan to replace the current online payment system. A current online payment gateway is prone to hackers where the attacker can tamper into the network, thus creating money loss. And not only this but also the transaction has to go through multiple payment systems which consumes time, also creating a risk of transaction getting failed. So, our system would be using blockchain that allows online transactions which would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution and in a secured way. This system allows online transactions between two parties based on cryptographic proof without relying and trusting for a third party. To record transactions, we use proof of work algorithm which makes computationally impractical for an attacker to change. Digital signatures provide part of the solution for ensuring the security and integrity of the data that is recorded onto a blockchain.
Blockchain, a type of a decentralized network system that allows mutually distrustful parties to transact securely without involving third parties, has recently been attracting increasing attention. Hence, there must be a consensus mechanism to ensure a distributed consensus among all participants. Such a consensus mechanism may also be used to guarantee fairness, correctness and security of such decentralized systems. Thus, in this paper we propose a novel consensus mechanism named GSCS that is an improved version of PoW. Compared with existing consensus mechanisms (such as PoW, PoS and so on), GSCS provides strong resistance to resource centralization, the quantum attack and other malicious attacks. In this work, we first present the serial mining puzzle to resist collusive mining and the quantum attack. It guarantees that participants can only obtain a negligible advantage by solving the relevant problem in parallel. Second, GSCS considers the influence of participant credibility. The credibility is reflected by the mining behavior of each participant and directly influence to the mining difficulty of participant. Thus, credible participants enjoy a higher probability of winning the mining competition than do participants who are not credible. Finally, performance of GSCS is analyzed in terms of the common prefix, chain quality, chain growth, and power cost. The results indicate that GSCS is security- and incentive-compatible with suitable security parameter settings. In brief, GSCS has the potential to ensure a more secure and robust environment for decentralized blockchain systems.
Internet of Things (IoT) technology is rapidly evolving, but there is no trusted platform to protect user privacy, protect information between different IoT domains, and promote edge processing. Therefore, we integrate th... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Tech Science Press
Abstract The popularity of smart cars is increasing around the world as they offer a wide range of services and conveniences. These smart cars are equipped with a variety of sensors generating a large amount of data, many of which are critical. Besides, there are multiple parties involved in the lifespan of a smart car, such as manufacturers, car owners, government agencies, and third-party service providers who also generate data about the vehicle. In addition to managing and sharing data among these entities in a secure and privacy-friendly way which is a great challenge itself, there exists a trust deficit about some types of data as they remain under the custody of the car owner (e.g. satellite navigation and mileage data) and can easily be manipulated. In this article, we propose a blockchain-assisted architecture enabling the owner of a smart car to create an immutable record of every data, called the autobiography of a car, generated within its lifespan. We also explain how the trust about this record is guaranteed by the immutability characteristic of the blockchain. Furthermore, the article describes how the proposed architecture enables a secure and privacy-preserving mechanism for sharing of smart car data among different parties.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) plays an important role in the development of smart factories. However, the existing IIoT systems are prone to suffering from single points of failure and unable to provide stable service. Meanwhile, with the increase of node scale and network quantity, the maintenance cost presents to be higher. Such a disadvantage can be effectively compensated by the features such as security, privacy, non-tamperability and distributed deployment supported by the blockchain. In this paper, first, an intelligent manufacturing security model based on blockchain was proposed. Due to the high power consumption and low throughput of the traditional blockchain, IoT devices with limited power consumption can not work independently. Therefore, in this paper, a new Merkle Patricia tree (MPT) was adopted to extend the blockchain structure and provide fast query of node status. Second, since the MPT does not support concurrent operation and the data operation performance deteriorates with high data volume, a lock-free concurrent and cache-based Merkle Patricia tree was proposed (CMPT) to support lock-free concurrent data operation, which can improve the data operation efficiency in multi-core system. The experimental results indicate that, compared with the original MPT, the CMPT proposed in this paper effectively reduced the time complexity of data insertion and data query and improved the speed of block construction and data query.
Tiago Guimarães, Hugo Silva, Hugo Peixoto, Manuel Filipe Santos
Blockchain has its focus around sharing, distribution and encryption. Particularly, the newer blockchain implementations revolve around the implementation of smart-contracts, second-layer systems and permissioned blockchains. This type of potential has generated a lot of attention towards blockchain, thus making it a great candidate technology within healthcare. In this paper, the role of permissioned and permissionless blockchain and its possible implementations will be discussed and compared as well as the process in which a blockchain network agrees whether a transaction is valid or not, maintaining consistency in ledger synchronization, or in other words, Consensus Algorithms. Several should be considered as viable and many can be used by both permissioned and permissionless blockchain frameworks. As chosen as part of this implementation Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (Pbft) is presented and described. This paper presents a solution, as part of the Intelligence Decision Support Systems for Intensive Medicine (ICDS4IM) project, which objective is to increase veracity and value to data from vital sensors and monitors by assuring its immutability and oversee; and also privacy and accountability for inadequate data management.
With the advent and proliferation of the internet, the fourth industrial revolution is in full swing. As a result, different technologies have the potential to impact the course of human development. In other words, worldwide populations are moving towards growing urban centers and as a result, smart cities are emerging as the integration of human activities and technologies. These smart cities are built on top of different technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). Consequently, the applications of these technologies in current and future smart cities will not only change the nature of human interaction and governance but also how business is conducted. This paper proposes an experimental study (qualitative and quantitative) that will determine the impact of blockchain and IoT technologies on the development of smart cities. It aims to derive insight from questions such as how current business models are preparing themselves for this disruption, the challenges they will face, and the potential contributions the two technologies will have on business development. The study’s outcomes will provide the rationale for why businesses should start paying attention to these technologies and start on an early adoption plan that will slowly transform their business models as smart cities mature.
The Solid (Social Linked Data) project focuses on data sharing and privacy security and aims to build a decentralized ecosystem that radically changes the way web applications work today. Our goal is to introduce a “trust access authentication system” to achieve secure authentication and fine-grained access control, thereby promoting the implementation of Solid. Blockchain, equipped with multiple security properties and authentication functions, is a crucial technology. In this paper, we present a blockchain-assisted system for secure authentication in Solid and for implementation of fine-grained access control policies. Specifically, we explore to integrate threshold RSA signatures in a permissioned blockchain system to enable a fault-tolerant distributed signature scheme, thereby enhancing the resilience and robustness of authentication system. Moreover, we utilize smart contract to control transaction flows and manage access control policies automatically. Experimental results show that our proposed trust access authentication system enhances security, scales well, and is efficient and economically feasible.
Big data sharing in Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSSs) relies on wireless transmission between numerous devices, causing a serious scarcity of radio spectrum resources. Although license-free spectrum access has great potential to alleviate the growing scarcity of spectrum resources, spectrum competition is more intense due to lower access requirements. A blockchain technology may solve this competition problem by introducing a dynamic cycle of “competition-verification-synchronization-competition”. In this paper, we propose a general framework for license-free spectrum resource management in CPSSs based on blockchain technologies and smart contracts. The management framework is mainly used for edge computing of non-real-time data. In particular, we divide spectrum of a local cell into multiple channels and each channel corresponds to a blockchain. Then, we propose a blockchain-KM protocol that may improve transaction processing speed without losing typical attributes of a general blockchain. For the proposed Blockchain-KM protocol, the entire private chain becomes a multi-ring blockchain and users rely on mining or leasing to access wireless spectrum. Different from the traditional mining process, the reward in our mining process is not only virtual currency but also a spectrum access license. Once a miner obtain a spectrum access license, it will exploit the license to transmit its messages over wireless links. Also, the miner may sell its license by an auction when it does not want to transmit messages. In the auction, we introduce a virtual currency, called as Xcoin, for spectrums or other trading (e.g., paid edge computing services).
The massive scale, heterogeneity and distributed nature of Internet-of-Things (IoT) presents challenges in realizing a practical and effective security solution. Blockchain empowered platforms and technologies have been proposed to address aspects of this challenge. In order to realize a practical Blockchain deployment for IoT, there is a need for a testing and evaluation platform to evaluate performance and security of Blockchain applications and systems. In this paper, we present a Blockchain simulator that evaluates the consensus algorithms in a realistic and configurable network environment. Though, there are several Blockchain evaluation platforms, they are either wedded to a specific consensus protocol and do not allow evaluation in a configurable and realistic network environment. In our proposed simulator, we provide the ability to evaluate the impact of the consensus and network layer that will inform practitioners on the appropriate choice of consensus algorithms and the impact of network layer events in congested or contested scenarios in IoT. To accomplish this a generalized representation for consensus methods is proposed. The Blockchain simulator uses a discrete event simulation engine for fidelity and increased scalability. We evaluate the performance of the simulator by varying the number of peer nodes and number of messages required to find consensus.
Su Buda, Celimuge Wu, Wugedele Bao, Siri Guleng · 7 authors
In order to enable emerging vehicular Internet of Things (IoT) applications, including fully autonomous driving, more efforts should be done in collecting driving experiences in different road situations. This requires the exchange of information between vehicles as each vehicle has very limited experience. Due to the decentralized feature of vehicular environment, an efficient management of collaborative behaviors among the vehicles becomes particularly important. Blockchain has been attracting great interest recently because it provides a way to reach consensus in decentralized systems. However, existing blockchain systems assume high communication capabilities for vehicles, which is difficult to achieve in a decentralized vehicular environment. Existing studies also assume the existence of networking infrastructure, such as roadside units (RSU). In this paper, we propose a scheme to empower blockchain in vehicular environments without depending on the existing networking infrastructure. The proposed scheme uses a distributed clustering approach to select some vehicles as edge nodes, and the edge nodes maintain the blockchain used to record transactions in a decentralized way. The proposed scheme employs a distributed approach that guides vehicle clustering with the consideration of multiple metrics based on a fuzzy logic algorithm. By using the edge nodes, the proposed scheme solves the communication problem of maintaining a blockchain in a totally decentralized vehicular environment. We use computer simulations to clarify the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of communication performance by comparing it with existing baselines.
The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from centralized models toward decentralized architectures has fundamentally reshaped the paradigms of data management, ownership, and governance. In traditional AI ecosystems, data is consolidated within centralized repositories for model training and analytics, resulting in challenges related to privacy, latency, and compliance with regulatory frameworks. Decentralized AI architectures encompassing federated learning, edge AI, swarm intelligence, and blockchain-based frameworks offer a transformative alternative that aligns technological innovation with distributed data governance principles. These architectures enable AI systems to learn collaboratively across multiple nodes or organizations without transferring raw data, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance with global data protection mandates such as GDPR and CCPA. This review examines how decentralized AI architectures influence distributed data governance by promoting transparency, trust, and accountability in multi-party data ecosystems. The integration of AI with blockchain and distributed ledger technologies provides immutable audit trails and decentralized identity management, enabling verifiable governance across federated networks. Moreover, privacy-preserving techniques such as differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, and secure multiparty computation empower organizations to perform analytics on encrypted datasets while maintaining compliance with ethical and legal data-handling standards. Through a synthesis of academic research and real-world applications, the review highlights the significant advantages of decentralized AI, including enhanced privacy assurance, reduced systemic risks, and improved collaboration among data stakeholders. However, the transition toward decentralized intelligence introduces new challenges related to interoperability, communication overhead, and model convergence in distributed environments. Ensuring fairness, accountability, and explainability within federated systems remains a critical governance issue, as decentralized decision-making increases complexity in auditing and oversight. Furthermore, the governance of AI models themselves rather than just data poses emerging regulatory and ethical questions in globally interconnected ecosystems.