Ikram Ud Din, Kamran Ahmad Awan, Ahmad Almogren, Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues
Summary This manuscript provides an inâdepth exploration of metaverses, charting their historical development, technological foundations, and potential multifarious applications. It critically assesses the prevailing challenges and explores potential pathways for the evolution of these expansive, virtual environments. In shedding light on the wideâranging implications of metaverses, it navigates societal, cultural, regulatory, and economic landscapes. It further elucidates the symbiosis between the Internet of Things (IoT) and metaverses, presenting empirical evidence derived from purposeâbuilt IoT frameworks for metaverse applications. A series of experiments were conducted to affirm the hypothesis that the integration of IoT into metaverse utilities, including advanced concepts such as smart buildings, the intricate task of power grid management, and the precisionâcentric domain of agriculture, can drive significant progress. Quantitative findings provide compelling evidence of marked improvements in energy conservation, costâefficiency, and operational effectiveness arising from the incorporation of IoT into metaverse use cases. With observed mean improvements of 25% in energy conservation, 17% in cost reduction, and an impressive 22% increase in operational efficiency, specifically in the realms of smart building applications and power grid management, this study underscores the pressing need for sustained research and development initiatives in this emerging.
Abstract A rising number of educational solutions based on blockchain technology have been designed. Students and other authorities responsible for verifying certificates are very concerned about the authenticity of academic credentials, either because the institutions that issue them no longer exist or because they do not keep adequate records. Blockchain technology has much to offer in education, including its high level of security, improved data access control, low cost, improved accountability, identity authentication, transparency, increased trust, and improved efficiency in managing student records. We proposed a decentralized blockchainâbased secure platform for the storage of academic certificates and student assessments with double encryption. Apart from speeding up the verification process, it will increase the safety of personal education data and assessments of all kinds of misuse. The data would only be accessed using a stakeholder's private key, and storing documents on a blockchain would increase security. We proposed a framework to offer a secure channel for educational resources. We are storing documents over blockchain utilizing an IPFS distributed data server. We give a thorough explanation of the system development, design, and evaluation of the suggested solution in terms of security and cost. Finally, we put the proposed framework to the test by deploying a smart contract prototype on the Ethereum TESTNET network in a Windows environment. The study's findings revealed that the proposed method is effective and feasible.
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of interconnected devices that can communicate and share data over the Internet. The widespread adoption of smart devices within Internet of Things (IoT) networks poses considerable security challenges for their communication. To address these issues, blockchain technology, known for its decentralized and distributed nature, offers potential solutions within consensus-based authentication in IoT networks. This paper presents a novel approach called the local and global layer blockchain model, which aims to enhance security while simplifying implementation. The model leverages the concept of clustering to establish a local-global architecture, with cluster heads assuming responsibility for local authentication and authorization. Implementing a local private blockchain facilitates seamless communication between cluster heads and relevant base stations. This blockchain implementation enhances credibility assurance, strengthens security, and provides an effective network authentication mechanism. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms previously reported methods. The proposed model achieved an average coverage per node of 0.9, which is superior to baseline models. Additionally, the lightweight blockchain model proposed in this paper demonstrates superior capabilities in achieving balanced network latency and throughput compared to traditional global blockchain approaches.
Giampaolo Bovenzi, Giuseppe Aceto, Valerio Persico, Antonio Pescapè
Solutions based on Blockchain (BC) technologies are gaining more and more attention in the context of Industry 4.0 (I4.0). While the research community has provided significant effort in either BC or I4.0 research domains, the complex implications of the adoption of BC technologies in this specific context are not analyzed in depth. This is a serious drawback because of the multiple and heterogeneous interactions between participants in the production network. In fact, researchers and practitioners involved in planning and deployment of I4.0 solutions may still face questions related to the needs solved by BC, the I4.0-related adoption scenarios explored, and the Key Performance Indicators to assess the effectiveness of these technologies. In this paper, we survey the existing literature to identify shared definitions and drivers that lead to the adoption of BC technologies in I4.0. Then, we analyze several practical use casesâunder the umbrella (smart) contexts of Factory, Healthcare, and Energyâhighlighting the need for comprehensive analysis including not only functional and architectural characteristics but also performance. We collect a number of Key Performance Indicators and organize the dozen aliases and variants, explaining their relationships and pointing at the relevant studies. Finally, we discuss limitations, challenges and future directions related to BC application to I4.0, and the role of performance analysis in this research.
Abstract In this letter, we propose the use of a blockchainâbased solution for interâprovider agreements in 6G networks, utilizing smart contracts and Chainlink for monitoring and assessing Service Level Agreements (SLAs), including penalty calculations. We evaluate the proposed solution by deploying it on two public blockchains, Ethereum and Polygon, and find that Polygon provides a costâeffective option for creating interâprovider agreements. This is particularly important for use cases involving numerous transactions. Additionally, Chainlink enables secure and transparent access to offâchain SLA data, and we observe lower transaction latency in Polygon. This suggests that utilizing blockchainâbased solutions such as smart contracts can aid the process of creating interâprovider agreements for leasing and selling resources in 6G networks, with Chainlink oracle providing support for their SLA management. However, factors such as transaction cost and latency need to be considered.
Blockchain technology serves as a cornerstone for various cryptocurrencies, with current research primarily focusing on its security aspects due to its inherent qualities such as stability, immutability, security, and decentralization. Similar to other distributed systems, Blockchain relies on consensus algorithms to achieve agreement and safeguard its network. In recent years, diverse consensus algorithms have emerged within the Blockchain ecosystem, playing a pivotal role in upholding the security and integrity of distributed networks in blockchain technology. These algorithms are fundamental in maintaining trust within the blockchain technology realm. They can be categorized into two types: proof-based and voting-based. This paper presents some of the prominent consensus algorithms from these two categories while scrutinizing their respective strengths, weaknesses, and the specific types of blockchains to which these algorithms are applicable. KeywordsâBlockchain, consensus algorithm, PoS, Pow, DPoS, PBFT
Utilizing blockchain technology for different applications has seen a growing interest in recent years. Academic institutions can consider implementing a student information system (SIS) based on blockchain technology as a promising area. This research paper explores in detail the design and execution aspects of an SIS powered by blockchain technology implemented through ASP.net, C#, Ethereum, Solidity, Ganache and IPFS. The main goal of the proposed system is to tackle important problems concerning data security and accessibility in conventional paper-based or centralized systems. In the proposed SIS system based on blockchain technology there are five distinct user categories: students, stage managers, department managers, college managers, and super administrators. Every user possesses specific functionalities like accessing grades, attendance, subjects, schedules, and profiles. Data integrity and privacy are ensured by the system's design using cryptographic techniques and smart contracts implemented in Solidity. The paper also addresses the technical implementation aspects, involving using ASP.net and C# to develop both the user interface and backend logic. To store decentralized data, the Ethereum blockchain is utilized. The proposed system is evaluated through a series of experiments and performance tests. The assessment of the blockchain-based SIS includes evaluating its efficiency, security, and usability through these tests. The paper highlights the effectiveness of the system in enhancing data security, accessibility, and transparency by providing detailed results and findings.
Vinay Gugueoth, Sunitha Safavat, Sachin Shetty, Danda B. Rawat
IoT security is one of the prominent issues that has gained significant attention among the researchers in recent times. The recent advancements in IoT introduces various critical security issues and increases the risk of privacy leakage of IoT data. Implementation of Blockchain can be a potential solution for the security issues in IoT. This review deeply investigates the security threats and issues in IoT which deteriorates the effectiveness of IoT systems. This paper presents a perceptible description of the security threats, Blockchain based solutions, security characteristics and challenges introduced during the integration of Blockchain with IoT. An analysis of different consensus protocols, existing security techniques and evaluation parameters are discussed in brief. In addition, the paper also outlines the open issues and highlights possible research opportunities which can be beneficial for future research.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
This paper addresses the issue of blockchain protocol risks, a foundational category of risks affecting Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) which underpins digital assets, smart contracts, and decentralised applications. It presents a comprehensive risk management framework developed in collaboration with financial institutions, blockchain development teams and regulators that applies a traditional risk management taxonomy to address certain overlooked blockchain protocol risks. The approach offers a structured way to identify, measure, monitor and report blockchain protocol risks. The paper provides real-world use cases to demonstrate the practicality and implementation of the proposed framework. The findings of this work contribute to the evolving understanding of blockchain protocol risks and provide valuable insights on how these risks affect the adoption of DLT by financial institutions.
Abstract A blockchain based platform can be decentralized, meaning that it is not controlled by a single entity or organization. This can help to cut down the risk of data manipulation or fraud, and can also make the platform more resilient to cyber-attacks or other security threats. By automating many of the processes involved in data collection and analysis, blockchain technology can assist farmers to decrease their costs and increase profitability. Architecture for blockchain powered IoT platform for autonomous drone operations in smart farming is proposed. It has three layers which include data acquistion and encryption in IoT layer and creation and management of ledger in the blockchain layer and service provider layer that include user interaction and farming software. Agriculture integrates many of the new automation technologies already in their routine. The proposed architecture enriches the functioning of farming without affecting the current framework. Overall, the blockchain powered IoT platform for autonomous drone operations in smart farming can help farmers improve their efficiency, increase transparency and security, reduce costs, and ultimately achieve more environment sustainability and profitable farming practices.
The Blockchain Organized Framework for Unified Systems (BOFUS) and the Comprehensive Ledger Assessment for Robust Interoperability and Trustworthiness (CLARITY) initiatives address the challenges of understanding, standardizing, and enabling interoperability between diverse blockchain systems. BOFUS is a comprehensive 5-layer model that systematically organizes core blockchain components, while the CLARITY assessment provides a standardized method for evaluating and comparing blockchains using the CONFIGURE acronym. Together, these initiatives aim to facilitate a deeper understanding of blockchain technology, promote effective communication and collaboration between stakeholders, and ultimately advance the development and adoption of distributed ledger technologies. This paper presents an in-depth discussion of the BOFUS architecture and the CLARITY assessment, exploring their utility in various blockchain scenarios and their potential implications for the future of blockchain technology.
Patikiri Arachchige Don Shehan Nilmantha Wijesekara, Subodha Gunawardena
Knowledge-Defined Networking (KDN) necessarily consists of a knowledge plane for the generation of knowledge, typically using machine learning techniques, and the dissemination of knowledge, in order to make knowledge-driven intelligent network decisions. In one way, KDN can be recognized as knowledge-driven Software-Defined Networking (SDN), having additional management and knowledge planes. On the other hand, KDN encapsulates all knowledge-/intelligence-/ cognition-/machine learning-driven networks, emphasizing knowledge generation (KG) and dissemination for making intelligent network decisions, unlike SDN, which emphasizes logical decoupling of the control plane. Blockchain is a technology created for secure and trustworthy decentralized transaction storage and management using a sequence of immutable and linked transactions. The decision-making trustworthiness of a KDN system is reliant on the trustworthiness of the data, knowledge, and AI model sharing. To this point, a KDN may make use of the capabilities of the blockchain system for trustworthy data, knowledge, and machine learning model sharing, as blockchain transactions prevent repudiation and are immutable, pseudo-anonymous, optionally encrypted, reliable, access-controlled, and untampered, to protect the sensitivity, integrity, and legitimacy of sharing entities. Furthermore, blockchain has been integrated with knowledge-based networks for traffic optimization, resource sharing, network administration, access control, protecting privacy, traffic filtering, anomaly or intrusion detection, network virtualization, massive data analysis, edge and cloud computing, and data center networking. Despite the fact that many academics have employed the concept of blockchain in cognitive networks to achieve various objectives, we can also identify challenges such as high energy consumption, scalability issues, difficulty processing big data, etc. that act as barriers for integrating the two concepts together. Academicians have not yet reviewed blockchain-based network solutions in diverse application categories for diverse knowledge-defined networks in general, which consider knowledge generation and dissemination using various techniques such as machine learning, fuzzy logic, and meta-heuristics. Therefore, this article fills a void in the content of the literature by first reviewing the diverse existing blockchain-based applications in diverse knowledge-based networks, analyzing and comparing the existing works, describing the advantages and difficulties of using blockchain systems in KDN, and, finally, providing propositions based on identified challenges and then presenting prospects for the future.
A tracking system capable of storing high volume data, such as mobility indicators, agent and cargo statuses, is of interest to both companies and consumers. Such a system enables the checking of information, such as the locations visited in a shopping center, the duration of employees' stays in certain parts of an office building or factory, whether a bus stopped at each bus stop on a route, the route of a delivery driver, or whether a security team is performing the specified patrol in a neighborhood. This dissertation aims to investigate the efficiency of identifying the current position of a mobile entity and propose a solution for transmitting, adding, and retrieving information like this. The proposed solution is a framework called ARTIIMoR, which stores data securely, immutably, and transparently using a multilayer Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) system. Three layers of DLT are used to store location information at different levels of abstraction and aggregation. The system aims to allow companies and consumers to record position and movement information with reliability, scalability, and traceability.
The privacy-preserving data aggregation is a critical problem for many applications where multiple parties need to collaborate with each other privately to arrive at certain results. Blockchain, as a database shared across the network, provides an underlying platform on which such aggregations can be carried out with a decentralized manner. Therefore, in this paper, we have proposed a scalable privacy-preserving data aggregation protocol for summation on the Ethereum blockchain by integrating several cryptographic primitives including commitment scheme, asymmetric encryption and zero-knowledge proof along with the hypercube network topology. The protocol consists of four stages as contract deployment, user registration, private submission and proof verification. The analysis of the protocol is made with respect to two main perspectives as security and scalability including computational, communicational and storage overheads. In the paper, the zero-knowledge proof, smart contract and web user interface models for the protocol are provided. We have performed an experimental study in order to identify the required gas costs per individual and per system. The general formulation is provided to characterize the changes in gas costs for the increasing number of users. The zero-knowledge proof generation and verification times are also measured.
E. Suresh Babu, Mekala Srinivasa Rao, Gandharba Swain, A. Kousar Nikhath ¡ 5 authors
Abstract The technological integration of the Internet of Things (IoT)âCloud paradigm has enabled intelligent linkages of things, data, processes, and people for efficient decision making without human intervention. However, it poses various challenges for IoT networks that cannot handle large amounts of operation technology (OT) data due to physical storage shortages, excessive latency, higher transfer costs, a lack of context awareness, impractical resiliency, and so on. As a result, the fog network emerged as a new computing model for providing computing capacity closer to IoT edge devices. The IoTâFogâCloud network, on the other hand, is more vulnerable to multiple security flaws, such as missing key management problems, inappropriate access control, inadequate software update mechanism, insecure configuration files and default passwords, missing communication security, and secure key exchange algorithms over unsecured channels. Therefore, these networks cannot make good security decisions, which are significantly easier to hack than to defend the fogâenabled IoT environment. This paper proposes the cooperative flow for securing edge devices in fogâenabled IoT networks using a permissioned blockchain system (pBCS). The proposed fogâenabled IoT network provides efficient security solutions for key management issues, communication security, and secure key exchange mechanism using a blockchain system. To secure the fogâbased IoT network, we proposed a mechanism for identification and authentication among fog, gateway, and edge nodes that should register with the blockchain network. The fog nodes maintain the blockchain system and hold a shared smart contract for validating edge devices. The participating fog nodes serve as validators and maintain a distributed ledger/blockchain to authenticate and validate the request of the edge nodes. The network services can only be accessed by nodes that have been authenticated against the blockchain system. We implemented the proposed pBCS network using the private Ethereum 2.0 that enables secure deviceâtoâdevice communication and demonstrated performance metrics such as throughput, transaction delay, block creation response time, communication, and computation overhead using stateâofâtheâart techniques. Finally, we conducted a security analysis of the communication network to protect the IoT edge devices from unauthorized malicious nodes without data loss.
Blockchain represents a decentralized and distributed ledger technology, ensuring transparent and secure transaction recording across networks. This innovative technology offers several benefits, including increased security, trust, and transparency, making it suitable for a wide range of applications. In the last few years, there has been a growing interest in investigating the potential of Blockchain technology to enhance diverse fields, such as e-learning. In this research, we undertook a systematic literature review to explore the potential of Blockchain technology in enhancing the e-learning domain. Our research focused on four main questions: (1) What potential characteristics of Blockchain can contribute to enhancing e-learning? (2) What are the existing Blockchain projects dedicated to e-learning? (3) What are the limitations of existing projects? (4) What are the future trends in Blockchain-related research that will impact e-learning? The results showed that Blockchain technology has several characteristics that could benefit e-learning. We also discussed immutability, transparency, decentralization, security, and traceability. We also identified several existing Blockchain projects dedicated to e-learning and discussed their potential to revolutionize learning by providing more transparency, security, and effectiveness. However, our research also revealed many limitations and challenges that could be addressed to achieve Blockchain technologyâs potential in e-learning.
Ahmad K. Al Hwaitat, Mohammed Amin Almaiah, Aitizaz Ali, Shaha AlâOtaibi ¡ 7 authors
Most current research on decentralized IoT applications focuses on a specific vulnerability. However, for IoT applications, only a limited number of techniques are dedicated to handling privacy and trust concerns. To address that, blockchain-based solutions that improve the quality of IoT networks are becoming increasingly used. In the context of IoT security, a blockchain-based authentication framework could be used to store and verify the identities of devices in a decentralized manner, allowing them to communicate with each other and with external systems in a secure and trust-less manner. The main issues in the existing blockchain-based IoT system are the complexity and storage overhead. To solve these research issues, we have proposed a unique approach for a massive IoT system based on a permissions-based blockchain that provides data storage optimization and a lightweight authentication mechanism to the users. The proposed method can provide a solution to most of the applications which rely on blockchain technology, especially in assisting with scalability and optimized storage. Additionally, for the first time, we have integrated homomorphic encryption to encrypt the IoT data at the userâs end and upload it to the cloud. The proposed method is compared with other benchmark frameworks based on extensive simulation results. Our research contributes by designing a novel IoT approach based on a trust-aware security approach that increases security and privacy while connecting outstanding IoT services.
Smart health care will be a major application in future smart cities. Timely and precise delivery of patientsâ data to their medical consultant, to allow the necessary actions, is one of the basic needs in health care systems. Blockchain technology, with the provisioning of recording and tracking of data blocks, guarantees secure and error-free data delivery. The vital sign data from patientsâ sensors are placed in different data blocks. To become a part of the blockchain, the block must contain a valid key, based on a hash function. Mining nodes with high processing capabilities generate the required key using a 32-bit number, known as a nonce, which is changed for every new block. Finding a nonce that meets the hash function requirements is a time-intensive process in blockchain technology and is performed by several fog mining nodes. However, an efficient resource allocation that results in the fair placement of data in these fog mining nodes, while maintaining the priority and sensitivity of patientsâ data, is a challenge. This work proposes two algorithms for the resource allocation of mining nodes. The first algorithm uses a load balancing technique to distribute the load of nonce computing tasks. The second algorithm utilizes the knapsack algorithm to allocate the caching space of the mining nodes. The simulation results highlighted that the proposed resource allocation techniques outperformed the existing techniques, in terms of quick mining of the most sensitive patient data blocks.
A large number of raw data collected by satellites are processed by the production chain to obtain a large number of product data, of which the secure exchange and storage is of interest to researchers in the field of remote sensing information science. Authentic, secure data provide a critical foundation for data analysis and decision-making. Traditional centralized cloud computing systems are vulnerable to attack and, once the central server is successfully attacked, all data will be lost. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is an innovative computer technology that can ensure information security and traceability, is tamper-proof, and can be applied to the field of remote sensing. Although there are many advantages to using DLT in remote sensing applications, there are some obstacles and limitations to its application. Remote sensing data have the characteristics of a large data volume, a spatiotemporal nature, global scale, and so on, and it is difficult to store and interconnect remote sensing data in the blockchain. To address these issues, this paper proposes a trustworthy and decentralized system using blockchain technology. The novelty of this paper is the proposal of a multi-level blockchain architecture in which the system collects remote sensing data and stores them in the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) network; after generating the IPFS hash, the network rehashes the value again and uploads it on the Ethereum chain for public query. The distributed data storage improves data security, supports the secure exchange of information, and improves the efficiency of data management.
This article presents an umbrella review of blockchain-based smart grid applications. By umbrella review, we mean that our review is based on systematic reviews of this topic. We aim to synthesize the findings from these systematic reviews and gain deeper insights into this discipline. After studying the systematic reviews, we find it imperative to provide a concise and authoritative description of blockchain technology because many technical inaccuracies permeate many of these papers. This umbrella review is guided by five research questions. The first research question concerns the types of blockchain-based smart grid applications. Existing systematic reviews rarely used a systematic method to classify these applications. To address this issue, we propose a taxonomy of these applications, first by differentiating them based on whether the application is focusing on functional or non-functional aspects of smart grid operations, and then by the specific functions or perspectives that the application aims to implement or enhance. The second research question concerns the roles that blockchain technology plays in smart grid applications. We synthesize the findings by identifying the most prominent benefits that blockchain technology could bring to these applications. We also take the opportunity to point out several common technical mistakes that pervade the blockchain literature, such as equating all forms of blockchains to data immutability. The third research question concerns the guidelines for deciding whether a blockchain-based solution would be useful to address the needs of smart grids. We synthesize the findings by proposing benefit-based guidelines. The fourth research question concerns the maturity levels of blockchain-based smart grid applications. We differentiate between academic-led and industry-led projects. We propose a five-level scale to evaluate the maturity levels. The ranking of the industry-led projects is performed through our own investigation. Our investigation shows that more than half of the industry-led projects mentioned in the systematic reviews are no longer active. Furthermore, although there are numerous news reports and a large number of academic papers published on blockchain-based smart grid applications, very few have been successfully embraced by the industry. The fifth research question concerns the open research issues in the development of blockchain-based smart grid applications. We synthesize the findings and provide our own analysis.
Tasiu Muazu, Yingchi Mao, Abdullahi Uwaisu Muhammad, Muhammad Ibrahim ¡ 6 authors
As data sharing on the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) become more complicated, the problems of divergent interests, unregulated policies, privacy and security, and the resource constraints of data owners have drawn the attention of researchers. To address the problems, this paper provides resource management in the IoMT using a proposed edge-empowered blockchain federated learning system. Also, an improved linear regressor model is proposed as the global learning model for the federated learning system. Gradient parameters are encrypted using Paillier encryption on the federated server side before they are shared by the federated clients. Blockchain is deployed to provide new security features for IoMT and edge computing. Moreover, all transactions of IoMT and edge devices are stored on the blockchain for secure cataloguing and auditing. Edge computing is employed to handle complex computing tasks on behalf of IoMT devices. Extensive simulations are conducted to validate the efficacy of the proposed system model. The results show that computing costs are minimized while still achieving the benefits of security and privacy in the proposed system. Furthermore, security analysis shows that the proposed system is protected from security attacks.
This paper presents SymbIoT, an extensible hybrid simulation-emulation testbed to investigate the integration of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continuum. By adopting a joint software and hardware-based approach, we amalgamate the flexibility of software solutions and the real-world applicability offered by integrating comparable IoT hardware. The versatility of SymbIoT lies in its extensibility, offering flexibility in parameters including consensus algorithms, block size, node count and topology, throughput limitation, and use-case application deployment. SymbIoT facilitates comprehensive empirical studies of blockchain implementations within IIoT, focusing on performance, scalability, and security considerations. The testbed provides a platform for innovative and pragmatic experimentation in blockchain and IIoT integration, holding promise for shaping future applications and solutions in this cross-disciplinary field. We also present results from preliminary experimentation, indicating the applicability of the testbed for IIoT and broader IoT-to-cloud scenarios.