As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used in more complex scenarios, Multi-UAV networking such as flying ad hoc networks (FANET) has become an important focus of UAV applications. To solve the problem that FANET’s performance is limited by spectrum resources, this letter examines collaborative spectrum sharing between FANET and cellular networks (CN). In order to optimize the transmission rate of the FANET and address incentive and security issues related to collaborative spectrum sharing, this letter proposes a blockchain-based secure cooperative spectrum-sharing auction scheme.
Zi-hao Wang, Hang Wang, Zhuowen Li, Xinghua Li · 9 authors
The utilization of blockchain technology as a distributed information sharing system has gained widespread adoption across various domains. However, its application to Flying Ad-Hoc Network (FANET), characterized by severe packet loss, poses significant challenges. The high packet loss rates in FANETs can result in decreased consensus success rates and negatively impact information sharing consistency and efficiency. In this paper, we proposed RoUBC, a novel consensus scheme for Flying Ad-Hoc Networks (FANET), which is based on the Raft protocol and is designed to address the challenges posed by the severe packet loss network in FANET. The proposed scheme consists of two phases: leader election and block consensus. In the leader election phase, we integrate multi-criteria decision-making and link prediction algorithms to design an efficient stable-leader election method. In the block consensus phase, we propose a dynamic block verification algorithm based on historical verification information to achieve efficient block consensus. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that the proposed consensus protocol is safe and live, effectively ensuring the consistency of message sharing in FANET. Experiment results show that our scheme outperforms traditional Raft schemes, with 35% increase in consensus success rate and 25% improvement in consensus efficiency.
Navin V. Keizer, Onur Ascigil, Michał Król, George Pavlou
The Web has become an integral part of life, and over the past decade, it has become increasingly centralised, leading to a number of challenges such as censorship and control, particularly in search engines. Recently, the paradigm of the decentralised Web (DWeb), or Web3, has emerged, which aims to provide decentralised alternatives to current systems with decentralised control, transparency, and openness. In this paper we introduce Ditto, a decentralised search mechanism for DWeb content, based on similarity search. Ditto uses locality sensitive hashing (LSH) to extract similarity signatures and records from content, which are stored on a decentralised index on top of a distributed hash table (DHT). Ditto uniquely supports numerous underlying content networks and types, and supports various use-cases, including keyword-search. Our evaluation shows that our system is feasible and that our search quality, delay, and overhead are comparable to those currently accepted by users of DWeb and search systems.
Xueqiang Yan, Xueli An, Wenxuan Ye, Mingyu Zhao · 6 authors
In conventional mobile communications systems, network services are designed to serve a huge amount of subscribers simultaneously, which is normally called a network-centric design approach. In comparison, this paper aims to investigate the user-centric design approach, which refers to sys-tems that are designed to be user-defined, user-configurable and user-controllable. The user-centric approach allows for dedicated network services to be provided at the granularity of the user. A novel User-Centric Network (UCN) architecture is proposed in this work, which includes key design principles, corresponding network elements as well as procedures. It is envisioned that UCN is distributed in nature by leveraging enabling technologies like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Distributed Hash Table (DHT). In this way, UCN not only provides extreme customization by offering fine-grained services, but also enables autonomous and trusted data control and privacy protection. A simulation platform is developed to verify the feasibility of the architecture, and to preliminarily evaluate its performance by numerical results in terms of hop count, bandwidth consumption, latency, success ratio and scalability.
Hamza Sohail, Mahmood ul Hassan, M. A. Elmagzoub, Adel Rajab · 9 authors
A vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a technique that uses vehicles with the ability to sense data from the environment and use it for their safety measures. Flooding is a commonly used term used for sending network packets. VANET may cause redundancy, delay, collision, and the incorrect receipt of the messages to their destination. Weather information is one of the most important types of information used for network control and provides an enhanced version of the network simulation environments. The network traffic delay and packet losses are the main problems identified inside the network. In this research, we propose a routing protocol which can transmit the weather forecasting information on demand based on source vehicle to destination vehicles, with the minimum number of hop counts, and provide significant control over network performance parameters. We propose a BBSF-based routing approach. The proposed technique effectively enhances the routing information and provides the secure and reliable service delivery of the network performance. The results taken from the network are based on hop count, network latency, network overhead, and packet delivery ratio. The results effectively show that the proposed technique is reliable in reducing the network latency, and that the hop count is minimized when transferring the weather information.
The recently accentuated features of augmenting conventional wireless networks with high altitude platform systems (HAPS) have fueled a plethora of applications, which promise to offer new services to ground users, as well to enhance the efficiency and pervasion of existing applications. Cloud-enabled HAPS, which aims to create HAPS-based datacenters that offer cloud services to users, has particularly emerged as a promising key enabler to provide large-scale equitable services from the sky. Although offering cloud services from the HAPS proves to be efficient, its practical deployment at the stratosphere level still faces many challenges such as high energy requirements, physical maintenance, and is particularly prone to security considerations. Safeguarding the cloud-enabled HAPS against various cyberattacks is a necessity to guarantee its safe operation. This paper proposes a blockchain model to secure cloud-enabled HAPS networks that contain a large number of HAPS stations from recurring cyberattacks within the context of the environment and infrastructure monitoring (EIM) application. To this end, the paper first presents a detailed blockchain framework, and describes the ways of integrating the developed framework into the various system components. We then discuss the details of the system implementation, including the storing and consuming of cloud transactions, the generation of new blocks, and the blockchain consensus protocol that is tailored to the EIM requirements. Finally, we present numerical simulations that illustrate the performance of the system in terms of throughput, latency, and resilience to attacks.
Antonio Coutinho, Uellington da Conceição Damasceno, E. Mascarenhas, Allan Capistrano de Santana Santos · 6 authors
Edge and fog computing are models to develop internet of things (IoT) solutions with mobility, location awareness, low latency and that allow the processing of large amount of data. Distributed ledger technologies (DLT), such as blockchain, improve IoT system interoperability by enabling a more secure and decentralized way to share data. Recent research has pointed out that integrating current paradigms such as edge/fog and DLT/blockchain allows the development of responsive and secure IoT solutions. Despite recent advances in edge/fog platforms, the current modeling tools are adapted to evaluate edge/fog solutions in limited environments with no DLT/blockchain support. This paper presents an extensible toolset integration to enable edge/fog-based DLT testbeds in virtualized environments. The proposed architecture extends Fogbed to allow the deployment and testing of real-world Edge/Fog-DLT solutions in a scalable way. A case study to demonstrate the emulation and benefits of Edge/Fog-DLT systems is presented. Furthermore, future developments and research directions are discussed.
Ramakrishnan Raman, Kodipaka Rajeshwar Rao, S. John Justin Thangaraj, S. Praveen Kumar · 6 authors
The fusion of terrestrial radio and satellite communications will result in a world completely connected with sixth-generation (6G) networks. But there is a limitation of power and space available on satellites due to low computing power, limited storage space, and insufficient security occur. It is critical to utilize information storage and access protection in satellite networks efficiently to prevent data tampering and alteration. Satellite communications play an increasing role in global communication networks, creating security problems. Based on the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol, this proposal suggests a security and authentication method for satellite communication networks. A wireless and heterogeneous network architecture utilizes both open-source and commercial hardware to enable communication. The three stages of registration, authentication, and cancellation facilitate communication. As data is transmitted to satellites from ground stations, all measurements of significance are then logged on a decentralized blockchain. All certifications generated by rogue nodes are subsequently cleared from the blockchain by ground stations. It has been suggested that the technology be used with upcoming 6G networks, as well as the Internet of Things, self-driving cars, and other rapidly expanding applications.
Michail‐Alexandros Kourtis, George Xilouris, Michael C. Batistatos, Anastasios Kourtis · 5 authors
Abstract—Reliable and ubiquitous communications, offering high data rates, low latency and supporting large numbers of connected devices, are critical requirements for modern emergency rescue missions. Multiple teams of First Responders, operating at remote areas, on rough terrain or under harsh conditions (e.g. wildfires, earthquakes, flooding etc.) need seamless connectivity to send/receive mission data and organize their operations. Decentralized swarm computing architectures offer a wide range of capabilities to enhance and accelerate edge processing for critical use case scenarios. This paper presents a converged approach on swarm computing and intelligence using Decentralized Autonomous Organizations for emergency communications, and how a swarm of drones can leverage different edge accelerators for different applications.
This demonstration presents an original low cost SIM Ethereum Bluetooth token (SIM_ETH_BLE_TOKEN), used from a mobile application, for the generation of Ethereum transaction. The token is based on open hardware (i.e. Arduino) and open source code. The core security is a secure element (i.e. javacard) with SIM card form factor, protected by PIN code, which stores keys and generates transactions. The token has no keypad or screen; it uses a LED and a button for user interface. The mobile application is available on Google Play. It signs files stored in smartphone, thanks to transactions, inserted in the Ethereum ledger.
MANETs aredecentralized network that involves mobile nodes. As the overall network is mobile and has no centralization, network management, routing, and security become very challenging. Though many works have been presented, still there is a lack in organizing the network due to unauthorized access, centralized security schemes, and the dynamic nature of the nodes. This paper proposed a novel Blockchain-assisted Secure Routing (Block-Sec) protocol for MANETs. All mobile nodes are authenticated by Distributed One-Time Passcode (DOT) based authorization scheme. All authorized nodes are segregated into multiple clusters based on Weight based Dynamic Clustering (WDC) algorithm in which multiple metrics are considered in clustering and re-clustering processes. After cluster formation, each cluster is elected with optimal Cluster Head (CH) by Strawberry Optimization (SBO) algorithm with a new objective function. After cluster formation, the optimal route is selected by Fast Neural Net-assisted Fuzzy (FNNF) algorithm by combining multiple variables. Data transmission is secured by Efficient Elliptic Curve (E2C2) algorithm. With the combined algorithms, the proposed approach obtainedimproved efficiency in packet delivery ratio (PDR), throughput, time analysis, and security level.
The rise of Internet-of-Things enables the development of smart applications devoted to improving the quality of life in urban and rural areas, thus fostering the creation of smart territories. However, some dislocated areas are underprivileged in providing such services due to the lack, inefficiency, or excessive cost of Internet access. Opportunistic networking techniques might aid in surmounting these problems. In this article, we propose a framework that relies on an untrusted Data Mule to carry data from an offline source to an online destination. In particular, we present a framework that enables the communication between different actors and a reward mechanism using Distributed Ledger Technologies, Smart Contracts, and Decentralized File Storage. The protocol involved in bringing a Client’s message online and getting back a response is thoroughly explained in all its steps and then discussed on the most important trust and security issues. Finally, we evaluate such a protocol and the whole framework through a series of communication latency tests, an analysis of the Smart Contract usage, and simulations in which buses act as Data Mules. Our results suggest the feasibility of our proposal in a smart territory scenario.
We demonstrate how to leverage Apple's Find My protocol, most well known as the underlying protocol of the AirTag, for arbitrary data-muling and location services. This provides a new "infrastructure-free" deployment, where areas with frequent human activity can take advantage of this zero-cost backhaul network. While there are severe limitations (e.g. no acknowledgement channel back to the sending device), Find My-based networking could still be a reliable backhaul with sufficient transmission redundancy and knowledge of deployment context. Towards that end, we develop TagAlong, a protocol for scalable, efficient data transmission on the Find My network. We implement a proof-of-concept and demonstrate throughput up to 12.5 bytes/sec and up to a 97% data reception rate.
Lucian Trestioreanu, Wazen M. Shbair, Flaviene Scheidt de Cristo, Radu State
With the growing adoption of Distributed Ledger Technologies and the subsequent scaling of these networks, there is an inherent need for efficient and resilient communication used by the underlying consensus and replication mechanisms. While resilient and efficient communication is one of the main pillars of an efficient blockchain network as a whole, the Distributed Ledger Technology is still relatively new and the task of scaling these networks has come with its own challenges towards ensuring these goals. New content distribution concepts like Information Centric Networking, of which Named Data Networking is a worthy example, create new possibilities towards achieving this goal, through in-network caching or built-in native multicasting, for example. We present and evaluate XRP-NDN Overlay, a solution for increasing the communication efficiency for consensus-validation based blockchains like the XRP Ledger. We experiment by sending the XRP Ledger consensus messages over different Named Data Networking communication models and prove that our chosen model lowers the number of messages at node level to minimum necessary, while maintaining or improving blockchain performance by leveraging the possibilities offered by an overlay such as specific communication mechanisms.
Traffic safety applications and other communication systems for vehicles together with data collection sensors have the potential to improve road safety. For this to be viable however, it is important that the data collection and communication can be trusted so that erroneous or malicious data does not impact the use cases of the applications. This paper studies current and upcoming solutions to such problems and how they can be modified and applied to meet both technical requirements as well as the needs of relevant stakeholders. The paper defines the TruVeLedger framework using technology from the fields of distributed ledgers and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) to create a trusted platform. The paper considers the viability of different approaches to such a platform as well as defining a verifiable trusted communication protocol for vehicular networks.
This paper presents a framework to manage the content whereabouts in the network consisting of heterogeneous resources by distributed ledger technology. Referring to our previously proposed Piggyback Network, which is an infrastructure-sharing-based large-volume digital content distribution/dissemination platform for the B5G society, we propose a partially ordered directed acyclic graph-based distributed ledger (DAG-DL) as a node-hosted transaction recording method. Through the computer simulations on the propagation delay of transactions over the network, we demonstrate that the proposed DAG-DL can record the past transactions with high censorship resistance, while a conventional blockchain cannot, even over an extremely large number of multiplex pathways and multi-hop relays in a distributed way.
Multimedia networking is the area of study associated with the delivery of heterogeneous data including, but not limited to, imagery, video, audio, and interactive content. Multimedia and communication network researchers have continually struggled to devise solutions for addressing the three core challenges in multimedia delivery: security, reliability, and performance. Solutions to these challenges typically exist in a spectrum of compromises achieving gains in one aspect at the cost of one or more of the others. Networked videogames represent the pinnacle of multimedia presented in a real-time interactive format. Continual improvements to multimedia delivery have led to tools such as buffering, redundant coupling of low-resolution alternative data streams, congestion avoidance, and forced in-order delivery of best-effort service; however, videogames cannot afford to pay the latency tax of these solutions in their current state. The Secure Multi-Channel Internet Memory Information Control (S-MIMIC) protocol was developed as a novel solution to address these challenges by leveraging recent developments in blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Multiple algorithms were developed within the S-MIMIC protocol to perform create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) interactions via distributed ledger and blockchain technologies. Performance of the the S-MIMIC protocol was evaluated by porting its capabilities into an open source First-Person Shooter (FPS) videogame developed within the Unity3D game engine. SMIMIC efficacy was evaluated across the dimensions of confidentiality, integrity, availability and read/write performance. Though performance evaluation of the S-MIMIC focused on implementation within videogames, this protocol may be used to augment data delivery in multiple industries to include: medical information, legal documents, financial transactions, and many other applications that require security, reliability and performance guarantees.
Informally, a distributed system is grassroots if it is permissionless and can have autonomous, independently-deployed instances - geographically and over time - that may interoperate voluntarily once interconnected. More formally, in a grassroots system the set of all correct behaviors of a set of agents P is strictly included in the set of the correct behaviors of P when they are embedded within a larger set of agents P' ⊃ P. Grassroots systems are potentially important as they may allow communities to conduct their social, economic, civic, and political lives in the digital realm solely using their members' networked computing devices (e.g., smartphones), free of third-party control, surveillance, manipulation, coercion, or rent seeking (e.g., by global digital platforms such as Facebook or Bitcoin). Client-server/cloud computing systems are not grassroots, and neither are systems designed to have a single global instance (Bitcoin/Ethereum with hardwired seed miners/bootnodes), and systems that rely on a single global data structure (IPFS, DHTs). An example grassroots system would be a serverless smartphone-based social network supporting multiple independently-budding communities that can merge when a member of one community becomes also a member of another. Here, we formalize the notion of grassroots distributed systems; describe a grassroots dissemination protocol for the model of asynchrony and argue its safety, liveness, and being grassroots; extend the implementation to mobile (address-changing) devices that communicate via an unreliable network (e.g. smartphones using UDP); and discuss how grassroots dissemination can realize grassroots social networking and grassroots cryptocurrencies. The mathematical construction employs distributed multiagent transition systems to define the notions of grassroots protocols, to specify the grassroots dissemination protocols, and to prove their correctness. The protocols use the blocklace - a distributed, partially-ordered counterpart of the replicated, totally-ordered blockchain.
Extended Reality (XR) is expected to grow exponentially with significant investments from big tech companies such as Meta and the introduction of related and supporting new technologies such as web3, blockchain, etc. Like other technologies, most of the discussion and analysis is focused on the positive benefits of XR technologies and systems at the inception stage. If history was any guide, then the negative impacts of XR technologies with ultra-personalization capabilities and advanced immersive technologies are likely to be much worse, especially for teenagers. Based on the current direction of regulations and laws related to the use of technologies, including social media and XR, the current expectation is that parents ‘regulate’ the usage of the technologies and nudge their teenage children away from the ill effects of XR technologies [1] . This is an unreasonable expectation and an onerous burden placed on the parents given personalized algorithms and the fast-changing nature of the underlying technologies. ParGuard, a smartphone-based app system, is designed to help parents to navigate through a maze of technologies and ultra-personalization algorithms, and guard children from the ill effects of new technologies.
Blockchain has been deemed as a promising solution for providing security and privacy protection in the next-generation wireless networks. Large-scale concurrent access for massive wireless devices to accomplish the consensus procedure may consume prohibitive communication and computing resources, and thus may limit the application of blockchain in wireless conditions. As most existing consensus protocols are designed for wired networks, directly apply them for wireless users equipment (UEs) may exhaust their scarce spectrum and computing resources. In this paper, we propose AirCon, a byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) consensus protocol for wireless UEs via the over-the-air computation. The novelty of AirCon is to take advantage of the intrinsic characteristic of the wireless channel and automatically achieve the consensus in the physical layer while receiving from the UEs, which greatly reduces the communication and computational cost that would be caused by traditional consensus protocols. We implement the AirCon protocol integrated into an LTE system and provide solutions to the critical issues for over-the-air consensus implementation. Experimental results are provided to show the feasibility of the proposed protocol, and simulation results to show the performance of the AirCon protocol under different wireless conditions.
Abstract Named data networking (NDN) has been viewed as a promising future Internet architecture due to its data-centric design. It requires a new security model that is orienting data but not devices. In this paper, an advanced hierarchical identity-based security mechanism by blockchain (AHISM-B) is to be proposed for the NDN networks. On one hand, the hierarchical identity-based cryptology is used to bind the data name to a public key. The valid public parameters would be requested by consumers with the Interest packets so that consumers would compose producers’ public keys to authenticate producers and verify the integrity of the Data packets. On the other hand, a blockchain is employed to manage public parameters to avoid catastrophes due to a single node failure. Both of the security proof result and the formal validation result indicate that the proposed AHISM-B is secure. Moreover, the simulation results show that the performance of our AHISM-B outperforms that of the classic NDN scheme. Especially, the average response delay of the AHISM-B scheme is less by 8% than that of the classic NDN scheme. With the increase of the average arrival rate of Interest packets, the advantage of the AHISM-B could be enhanced further to 11%.