Cooperation among telecom carriers and datacenter (DC) providers (DCPs) is essential to ensure resiliency of network-cloud ecosystems. To enable efficient cooperative recovery in case of resource crunch, e.g., due to traffic congestion or network failures, we previously studied several frameworks for cooperative recovery among different stakeholders (e.g., telecom carriers and DCPs). Now, we introduce a novel Multi-entity Cooperation Platform (MCP) for implementing cooperative recovery planning, to achieve efficient use of carriers' valuable optical-network resources during recovery. We adopt a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that ensures decentralized and tamper-proof information exchange among stakeholders to achieve open and fair cooperation. To support diverse types of cooperation, we develop a state machine representing the MCP operation and define state transitions associated to stakeholders' cooperation within the state machine. Moreover, we propose a signaling system in MCP to ensure simple and reliable state transitions for stakeholders during the cooperative recovery planning in large ecosystems. We experimentally demonstrate a proof-of-concept DLT-based MCP on a testbed. We showcase a DCP-carrier cooperative planning process, showing the flexibility of the proposed MCP to support diverse types of cooperation.
In a practical blockchain system based on the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) protocol, the voting nodes can fail at any time due to non-Byzantine errors, such as autonomous shutdowns, device crashes, and communication link failures caused by mobility or obstacles. These errors may cause voting nodes to exit the PBFT-based blockchain system unpredictably, resulting in a variable number of voting nodes available at any given time. To maintain optimal performance and consistency while adapting a PBFT-based blockchain system to this dynamic change, this paper proposes an extension to the PBFT protocol by introducing a repair process for failed nodes. The new PBFT-based blockchain system with repairable voting nodes is then analyzed for performance and reliability analysis by using multi-dimensional Markov processes, queueing theory, and the first passage time method. Additionally, we validate the accuracy of our theoretical findings by conducting numerical examples and simulation experiments. These experiments demonstrate that the introduction of a repair process can improve the performance and reliability of the PBFT-based blockchain system. Furthermore, we illustrate how various system parameters impact the performance measures of the PBFT-based blockchain system with repairable voting nodes. We hope that the methodology and results presented in this paper will establish a common framework for deriving theoretical analysis of existing PBFT-based blockchain systems and inspire future research efforts in this field.
B.P. Sreeja, G Rajeshkumar, Alagu Kiruthika B, Sasi Prabha N · 6 authors
Distributed storage, which is one of the main functions of distributed computing, enables clients of cloud services to think of their data as being stored in the cloud and to share it with qualified customers. In distributed storage, stable deduplication has been widely researched because it can eliminate overt repetitiveness within scrambled data to reduce storage space significantly. In the field of safety and protection, many current continuous deduplication schemes highlight to a large extent the associated characteristics: information classification, label consistency, access control animal attack assaults. One technique for ensuring the accuracy of information in garage outsourcing is confirmed information possession. The article discusses the development of a green PDP scheme for a distributed cloud garage to facilitate provider migration scalability and statistics, where we keep in mind the lifecycle of multiple cloud service providers to maintain and maintain collaborative customer statistics. The cooperative scheme relies entirely on verifiable homomorphic reactions. Completeness, knowledge soundness, and zero-knowledge qualities may all be satisfied by our multi-proof zero-knowledge proof system, which strengthens the security of our system. The experiment shows that this solution has lower computational and communication overhead than non-cooperative approaches.
In today's digital landscape, the exponential growth of big data demands secure and efficient processing, particularly in complex multi-cloud environments. This paper proposes an innovative blockchain-enabled data governance framework, revolutionizing data management, processing, and security across diverse cloud infrastructures. The framework integrates cutting-edge technologies, including the Ethereum blockchain, the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) protocol, and cloud solutions like OpenStack and Red Hat OpenShift. At its core, the framework utilizes Ethereum's robust smart contracts and consensus mechanisms to establish a decentralized and secure data governance model. This ensures data integrity, transparency, and immutability, mitigating risks associated with centralized storage and processing. The IPFS protocol complements blockchain by offering efficient data sharding and retrieval mechanisms, enhancing data accessibility and fault tolerance in distributed cloud environments. Through comprehensive testing and analysis, the proposed framework's value is demonstrated. Performance metrics, including throughput, latency, CPU utilization, and memory utilization, were meticulously evaluated to assess system efficiency and scalability. Results indicate high performance, with Ethereum's Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism enabling efficient transaction throughput of up to 1000 transactions per second. Additionally, the IPFS protocol exhibits effective data retrieval capabilities, with an average latency of 15 milliseconds for data access operations.
Elitsa Pankovska, Ashish Rajendra Sai, Harald Vranken, Alan Ransil
The high electricity consumption of cryptocurrencies that rely on proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithms has raised serious environmental concerns due to its association with carbon emissions and strain on energy grids. There has been significant research into estimating the electricity consumption of PoW-based cryptocurrencies and developing alternatives to PoW. In this article, we introduce refined models to estimate the electricity consumption of two prominent alternatives: Ethereum, now utilizing proof-of-stake (PoS), and Filecoin, which employs proof-of-spacetime (PoSt). Ethereum stands as a leading blockchain platform for crafting decentralized applications, whereas Filecoin is recognized as the world's foremost decentralized data storage network. Prior studies for modeling electricity consumption have been criticized for methodological flaws and shortcomings, low-quality data, and unvalidated assumptions. We improve on this in several ways: we obtain more novel, validated data from the systems in question, extract information from existing data and research, and we improve transparency and reproducibility by clearly explaining and documenting the used methodology and explicitly stating unavoidable limitations and assumptions made. When comparing the current, most prominent models for Ethereum and Filecoin to our refined models, we find that given the wide error margins of both the refined models and the ones introduced in prior literature, the resulting average estimates are to a large extent in line with each other.
Rahmanul Hoque, Md. Maniruzzaman, Daniel Lucky Michael, Mahmudul Hoque
This paper introduces BlockNIC, an innovative blockchain infrastructure designed to operate exclusively on SmartNICs. Unlike traditional blockchain implementations, BlockNIC leverages the unique capabilities of SmartNICs to execute relatively simple computations directly on the network path, eliminating the need for additional hardware and reducing reliance on host CPUs. By harnessing idle resources within the network, BlockNIC significantly reduces energy consumption and hardware requirements, addressing the environmental concerns associated with conventional blockchain architectures. Through comprehensive performance comparisons between SmartNICs and bare-metal servers, this study demonstrates the promising potential of BlockNIC in achieving scalability, security, and environmental sustainability in blockchain networks. The findings highlight BlockNIC's ability to enhance overall performance and reliability while minimizing resource limitations, thereby unlocking new possibilities for various applications and use cases previously hindered by energy and hardware constraints. The emergence of BlockNIC aligns with the global sustainability agenda, offering a timely solution to the environmental challenges posed by traditional blockchain technologies. By promoting the adoption of SmartNIC-based blockchain infrastructures, this research contributes to a greener and more secure digital future. It emphasizes the importance of exploring innovative approaches to address the environmental impact of technological innovations, urging researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers to recognize the transformative potential of SmartNIC-based solutions in advancing sustainability and efficiency in blockchain ecosystems.
Naveen Arali, D. G. Narayan, Altaf Husain M., P. S. Hiremath
Blockchain technology is a decentralized ledger system that finds applications in various domains such as banking, e-governance, and supply chain management. The consensus algorithm plays a crucial role in any blockchain network as it directly impacts the network's performance and security. There have been several proposed consensus mechanisms in the literature, including Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), Robust Proof of Stake (RPoS), and Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). Both Ethereum and Bitcoin utilize the PoW consensus mechanism, where nodes compete to solve puzzles in order to generate blocks, consuming significant processing power. On the other hand, the PoS consensus mechanism selects miners based on the stakes they hold, making it more energy efficient. However, PoS has drawbacks such as vulnerability to coin age accumulation attacks and the potential for partial centralization. In this work, we present a consensus mechanism known as Delegated Proof of Stake with Downgrading Mechanism using Game Theory (DDPoS (GT)). This mechanism employs a two-step game strategy to divide nodes into strong and weak nodes, as well as attack and non-attack nodes. Later, the results of the two games are combined to enhance protocol efficiency and security. Experimental results using a private Ethereum-based network demonstrate that DDPoS (GT) performs better than PoS and DPoS in terms of transaction latency, average block waiting time, and fairness.
Benefiting from the booming of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, data-as-a-service is gradually transforming into knowledge-as-a-service. Extracting knowledge from massive raw data is becoming a popular paradigm to save network resources and improve efficiency, and establishing knowledge markets is receiving increasing attention from academia and industry. In this paper, we propose a one-stop knowledge acquisition ecosystem termed BWKA that covers the whole process from upper-layer knowledge trading to underlying knowledge generation. In the knowledge trading process, the knowledge-as-a-service platform (KSP) is the buyer and publishes knowledge demands to multiple local knowledge sellers (LKSs). In the knowledge generation process, each LKS aggregates data from its sensors and then trains data into knowledge according to the KSP's requirements. We resort to blockchain technology and provide a series of tailored operating rules and functions to protect the truthfulness of data gathering and the fairness of knowledge trading. In addition, we introduce incentive mechanisms to stimulate selfish and rational entities in the BWKA ecosystem to participate in knowledge acquisition. To analyze the strategic interactions among entities theoretically, we develop a nested hierarchical game model, where the upper-layer knowledge trading is evaluated based on the Contract Theory, and the lower-layer knowledge generation is formulated as a two-stage Stackelberg game. By solving the nested hierarchical game in a backward inductive way, we identify the optimal strategy for each entity in closed form. Experiments on the Ethereum blockchain and simulation results demonstrate the practical operability and outstanding performance of the BWKA ecosystem.
The Proof-of-Work algorithm that underlies Bitcoin, Ethereum w , 1 and many other cryptocurrencies is well known for its energy-intensive requirements. The Proof-of-Stake algorithm that underlies Ethereum and various other cryptocurrencies is less impactful environmentally, but it has a second, looming issue: the problem of wealth inequality. We have developed an alternative to Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake, called Proof-by-Location, that has the potential to address both of these issues. This article describes Proof-by-Location and a financial platform called Xylem that is based on it. This platform seeks to distribute transaction fees to billions of cryptocurrency “Notaries” around the world (essentially, anyone with a smartphone), who work together to establish a distributed consensus about financial transactions. In this article, we demonstrate that this platform can scale to more than 3.9 trillion transactions per year (more than triple the number of digital payments per year currently occurring). We show a reduction of electricity usage per transaction of 99.9999914% compared to Bitcoin, 99.999905% compared to Ethereum w , 99.83% compared to Ethereum, and 95.9% compared to the Visa financial services company. We demonstrate that this platform would have a redistributive rather than consolidatory effect on wealth compared to any of these platforms, leading to a source of income for more than 1 billion people around the world, including more than 110 million in the bottom 10th to 20th percentile by income, with income for that group equivalent to 8.8 million full-time jobs. Finally, this currency provides a positive, non-compulsory mechanism for shaping human habitation patterns in ways that can slow global biodiversity loss and enable ecological restoration. Using Xylem as a global financial infrastructure could lead to significantly better social and environmental outcomes than existing financial platforms. 2
S. Prabakar, Sathish Kumar.R, Archana Sasi, P Sowmya · 6 authors
This study has investigated how blockchain-based technologies can be integrated at the boundary of computing environments in this research to revolutionize security, effectiveness, and transparent handling of information. Combining edge computing, Blockchain technology, and cloud-based solutions can be very beneficial to companies that depend on data-driven knowledge, because it always facilitates prompt decision-making. As Database trust and honesty issues have always been of trouble these problems are addressed by the decentralized ledger design's permanence and cryptographic safety features. Everyone makes use of edge techniques for consensus like Delegated Evidence of Stake and Practical Fault Tolerance of Byzantine Faults during the technical setup. Not only can deals at the boundary level improve the effectiveness of operations, but they also help save expenditures. There are many benefits and use situations that exist, such as enhanced data truthfulness, decreased delays, and ground-breaking uses for managing supply chains and cybersecurity. It is crucial to recognize that there remain issues with communication, optimizing resources, flexibility, safety precautions, and changing legislative landscapes. Considering these challenges, the study comes to the conclusion that there will be chances to improve privacy and automate processes in handling information in the coming years by integrating blockchain-based technologies at the edges. The goal of current research and cooperative projects is to address these kinds of problems as well as to understand the full capabilities of technological advances in computer-related settings.
Software Development based on Scrum Agile in a distributed development environment plays a pivotal role in the contemporary software industry by facilitating software development across geographic boundaries. However, in the past different frameworks utilized to address the challenges like communication and collaboration in scrum agile distributed software development (SADSD) were notably inadequate in transparency, security, traceability, geographically dispersed location work agreements, geographically dispersed teamwork effectiveness, and trust. These deficiencies frequently resulted in delays in software development and deployment, customer dissatisfaction, canceled agreements, project failures, and disputes over payments between customers and development teams. To address these challenges of SADSD, this paper proposes a new framework called ChainAgile, which leverages blockchain technology. ChainAgile employs a private Ethereum blockchain to facilitate the execution of smart contracts. These smart contracts cover a range of functions, including acceptance testing, secure payments, requirement verification, task prioritization, sprint backlog, user story design and development and payments with the automated distribution of payments via digital wallets to development teams. Moreover, in the ChainAgile framework, smart contracts also play a pivotal role in automatically imposing penalties on customers for making late payments or for no payments and penalties on developers for completing the tasks that exceed their deadlines. Furthermore, ChainAgile effectively addresses the scalability limitations intrinsic in blockchain technology by incorporating the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is used for storage solutions as an off-chain mechanism. The experimental results conclusively show that this innovative approach substantially improves transparency, traceability, coordination, communication, security, and trust for both customers and developers engaged in scrum agile distributed software development (SADSD).
Smart contracts are computer programs that are executed on blockchain network. Executing smart contracts requires a certain cost. Costs are measured by the amount of gas. One of the important goals in the smart contract development process is to create it in a way that minimizes gas costs. In addition to cost, an excess of gas negatively impacts code performance and security. Until transactions are executed, the total gas cost cannot be accurately predicted in advance. Calculating the gas cost for transactions alone does not provide sufficient data to reveal the source of high costs. However, there are various tips and strategies in creating smart contracts that can help save on gas costs. The focus of this paper will be on presenting specific code modification activities aimed at reducing gas costs.
Abstract Blockchain infrastructures have emerged as a disruptive technology and have led to the realization of cryptocurrencies (peer‐to‐peer payment systems) and smart contracts. They can have a wide range of application areas in e‐Science due to their open, public nature and global accessability in a trustless manner. We propose and implement a smart contract called eBlocBroker, which is an autonomous blockchain‐based middleware system for volunteer computing and providing data resources for e‐Science. The eBlocBroker infrastructure connects requesters who need to combine applications (jobs) with datasets and run them via an Ethereum‐based private blockchain network (Bloxberg) on providers that utilize computational and data resources on clouds or home servers. It uses cloud storage, such as B2DROP, IPFS, or Google Drive, to store and transfer data between requesters and providers. Each provider utilizes the Slurm workload manager to execute jobs submitted through eBlocBroker. In this paper, we demonstrate how an autonomous organization programmed as a smart contract can be used to deploy a marketplace that supports data and computation‐intensive research projects. We propose a cost model implemented as a function in the smart contract which calculates and records computation and dataset usage costs. We develop a Python‐based system to communicate with eBlocBroker and orchestrate jobs' execution on the provider's end. We present eBlocBroker's features, infrastructure, implementation, algorithms and experimental results.
The scalability limitations of public blockchains have hindered their widespread adoption in real-world applications. While the Ethereum community is pushing forward in zk-rollup (zero-knowledge rollup) solutions, such as introducing the ``blob transaction'' in EIP-4844, Layer 2 networks encounter a data availability problem: storing transactions completely off-chain poses a risk of data loss, particularly when Layer 2 nodes are untrusted. Additionally, building Layer 2 blocks requires significant computational power, compromising the decentralization aspect of Layer 2 networks. This paper introduces new techniques to address the data availability and decentralization challenges in Layer 2 networks. To ensure data availability, we introduce the concept of ``proof of download'', which ensures that Layer 2 nodes cannot aggregate transactions without downloading historical data. Additionally, we design a ``proof of storage'' scheme that punishes nodes who maliciously delete historical data. For decentralization, we introduce a new role separation for Layer 2, allowing nodes with limited hardware to participate. To further avoid collusion among Layer 2 nodes, we design a ``proof of luck'' scheme, which also provides robust protection against maximal extractable value (MEV) attacks. Experimental results show our techniques not only ensure data availability but also improve overall network efficiency, which implies the practicality and potential of our techniques for real-world implementation.
Blockchain technology has been successfully applied in recent years to promote the immutability, traceability, and authenticity of previously collected and stored data. However, the amount of data stored in the blockchain is usually limited for economic and technological issues. Namely, the blockchain usually stores only a fingerprint of data, such as the hash of data, while full, raw information is stored off-chain. This is generally enough to guarantee immutability and traceability, but misses to support another important property, that is, data availability. This is particularly true when a traditional, centralized database is chosen for off-chain storage. For this reason, many proposals try to properly combine blockchain with decentralized IPFS storage. However, the storage of data on IPFS could pose some privacy problems. This paper proposes a solution that properly combines blockchain, IPFS, and encryption techniques to guarantee immutability, traceability, availability, and data privacy.
Anirudh RH, V Darshan, Kohav Dey, S Phaneesh · 5 authors
The decentralized internet, often termed as Web3, is envisioned as the future of the online world. It holds the promise of addressing the centralization and censorship issues prevalent in today’s web landscape. Yet, a significant hurdle faced by Web3 is its reliance on centralized servers provided by major entities like AWS and Azure. The vulnerability of this reliance becomes apparent when these servers encounter downtime or other disruptions, potentially causing widespread issues. This paper focuses on the crucial necessity of decentralizing Web3’s infrastructure to bolster its resilience against such outages. To accomplish this objective, we introduce an innovative RPC (Remote Procedure Call) relay protocol tailored specifically for Web3. This protocol not only caters to the requirements of Network as a Service (NaaS) platforms but also introduces incentives to motivate network nodes to function as relays. Our research and development efforts focus on two fundamental aspects: first, the technical implementation of the RPC relay protocol, and second, the incentivization mechanisms that reward network nodes for participating as relays. By enabling a more decentralized and robust infrastructure, we aim to enhance the reliability and stability of Web3 services.
Shayan Ahmed, Rifat Al Mamun Rudro, Afrina Jannat Prity, Suman Saha · 6 authors
The integrity of academic and professional creden-tials is a foundation in education and the professional fields. Traditional certificate verification methods are flawed by in-efficiencies, susceptibility to fraud, and a reliance on manual processes that compromise security and expedience. To address these issues, we present CredChain, a robust Academic and Professional Certificate Verification System that harnesses the power of blockchain technology. Our system utilizes Ethereum-based Decentralized Applications (DApps) and Smart Contracts integrated with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to ensure immutable, secure, and transparent verification processes. We outline the novel algorithms for essential system functions such as certificate uploading, verification, and retrieval of certificates. The CredChain system has been subjected to rigorous testing and validation, demonstrating its effectiveness in mitigating the risk of fraudulent certificates and streamlining the verification process accurately.
Oleksandr Kuznetsov, Dzianis Kanonik, Alex Rusnak, Anton Yezhov · 6 authors
The scalability of blockchain technology remains a pivotal challenge, impeding its widespread adoption across various sectors. This study introduces an innovative approach to address this challenge by proposing the adaptive restructuring of Merkle and Verkle trees, fundamental components of blockchain architecture responsible for ensuring data integrity and facilitating efficient verification processes. Unlike traditional static tree structures, our adaptive model dynamically adjusts the configuration of these trees based on usage patterns, significantly reducing the average path length required for verification and, consequently, the computational overhead associated with these processes. Through a comprehensive conceptual framework, we delineate the methodology for adaptive restructuring, encompassing both binary and non-binary tree configurations. This framework is validated through a series of detailed examples, demonstrating the practical feasibility and the efficiency gains achievable with our approach. Moreover, we present a comparative analysis with existing scalability solutions, highlighting the unique advantages of adaptive restructuring in terms of simplicity, security, and efficiency enhancement without introducing additional complexities or dependencies. This study's implications extend beyond theoretical advancements, offering a scalable, secure, and efficient method for blockchain data verification that could facilitate broader adoption of blockchain technology in finance, supply chain management, and beyond. As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, the principles and methodologies outlined herein are poised to contribute significantly to its growth and maturity.
Multi-cloud environments such as OnApp and Cloudflare have turned the cloud marketplace towards a new horizon where end-users can host applications transparently over different cloud service providers (CSPs) simultaneously by taking the best from each. Existing cloud federations are typically driven by a broker service which provides a trusted interface allowing the participant CSPs and end-users to coordinate. However, such a broker has the limitations of any centralized trusted authority like risk of manipulation, bias, censorship, single point of failure, etc. In this paper, we propose a decentralized trustless cloud federation architecture calledCollabCloudwhich eliminates any central mediator while addressing the challenges introduced by byzantine participants.CollabCloudutilizes blockchain, and introduces a novel interoperability protocol bridging a permissionless blockchain as an open interface for the end-users, and a permissioned blockchain as a coordination platform for the CSPs. We have implementedCollabCloudwith Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric and Burrow platforms. Experiments with a proof-of-concept testbed emulating 3 CSPs show thatCollabCloudcan operate within an acceptable response latency for resource allocation, while scaling upto 64 parallel requests per second. Scalability analysis over Mininet emulation platform indicates that the platform can scale well with minimal impact on the response latency as the number of participating CSPs increases. % for resource scheduling and allocation. %trustless, transparency, immutability properties of %By utilizing trustless, transparency, immutability and verifiability features of a distributed ledger technology, % Such multi-cloud environments bring the notion of cloud federation where various CSPs can buy and sell cloud resources, and thus collaborate among themselves to provide better capacity with less capital expenditure. %The novelty ofCollabCloudis in designing the interfacing between the two different blockchain platforms, through which the end-users access resources over multi-clouds in a secured way. %Need to reduce to 200 words. %The broker works like a trusted entity that takes care of various management tasks of the federation. %as the decentralized federation marketplace needs to provide a unified interface to the end-users while maintaining an agreement on pricing, fair scheduling of resources and securing resource access to the end-users. %InCollabCloud, we achieve the above goals by developing a unique interface through interconnecting a public (permissionless) blockchain platform with a private (permissioned) blockchain platform. %Cloud federation helps multiple cloud service providers to come into collaboration and share their resources for their overall benefit. However, the current implementations of federated clouds depend on a trusted federation broker that takes care of the handling end-user requests, resource allocation as well as scheduling and pricing for the shared resources under the federation. This central broker provides a unified interface to the end-users, through which they can access the federation as a single entity. The unified interface presents the federation as a single larger cloud provider which can fulfill a broader set of user demands and at a better pricing. Although the cloud broker plays a crucial role in the federation, it has the limitations of any centralized trusted authority like risk of manipulation, biasness, censorship, single point of failure, etc.. In this work, we propose a trustless, decentralized and democratic architecture for cloud federations which is free from any cloud broker. This democratic system leverages a combination of permissionless and permissioned blockchain which keeps all the functionalities of a broker based federation intact. Our system provides a trustless unified interface for the federation as well as brokerless scheduling, transfer of resources, catalog maintainance etc.. We implement the system with a fair scheduling smart contract and evaluate it with respect to end-to-end request processing time and analyze its overheads. The outcome of the analysis gives a clear view that the proposed system keeps all functionalities of cloud federation intact, while maintaining the required quality of experience(QoE) to the end-users.
Public permissionless blockchains facilitate peer-to-peer digital transactions, yet face performance challenges, specifically minimizing transaction confirmation time to decrease energy and time consumption per transaction. Performance evaluation and prediction is crucial in achieving this objective, with performance modeling as a key solution despite the complexities involved in assessing these blockchains. This survey examines prior research concerning the systems used to model blockchain performance, specifically focusing on public permissionless blockchains. Initially, it provides foundational knowledge about these blockchains and the crucial performance parameters for their assessment. Additionally, the study delves into research on the performance modeling of public permissionless blockchains, predominantly considering these systems as bulk service queues. It also examines prior studies on workload and traffic modeling, characterization, and analysis within these blockchain networks. By analyzing existing research, our survey aims to provide insights and recommendations for researchers keen on enhancing the performance of public permissionless blockchains or devising novel mechanisms in this domain.
Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) offers low-latency and flexible computing services for mobile devices (MDs) in industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT). Edge servers (ESs) in general belong to different subjects and will focus on their own interests. They may be reluctant to provide computation resources to MDs without appropriate incentives. Meanwhile, there is a trust issue in trading computation resources between ESs and MDs. Due to the complex interaction between ESs and MDs, it is a challenge for ESs to gain satisfactory revenue through reasonable resource pricing strategies, and for MDs to improve their quality of experience (QoE) through efficient computation offloading strategies. This paper proposes a Stackelberg Game-based Computation offloading and resource pricing Scheme (SGCS) in blockchain-enable MEC for IIoT. Firstly, a blockchain-based resource trading framework is designed to enable trusted resource transactions. Secondly, a multi-leader multi-follower Stackelberg game is presented to analyse the complex interactions in the multi-ES and multi-MD environments. Finally, the Iterative Proximal Algorithm (IPA) for MDs’ offloading decision and the Sub-gradient based Iterative Pricing Algorithm (SIPA) for ESs’ pricing decision are proposed respectively, which guarantees that the game converges to a Stackelberg Equilibrium (SE). Compared with MADDPG, GA and PSO-GA (i.e., benchmark strategies), the average disutility of MDs with our proposed scheme is reduced by 6.95%-13.07%, 3.09%-20.41%, and 2.36-17.22%, respectively. Moreover, with the increase of the number of MDs, our proposed scheme has better robustness, which can effectively deal with large-scale scenarios.