Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology relies on wireless communication and coordination, aiming to improve road safety and traffic efficiency by orchestrating the interaction among the vehicles, infrastructures, and various entities. However, existing organizational and operational forms of V2X infrastructures encounter significant challenges, such as the capability to guarantee communication security, privacy, and efficiency especially when a centralized management system is used. The emerging Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and Operations (DAOs) present a solution to these challenges. DAOs embed managerial and operational protocols within a blockchain via smart contracts, facilitating smooth and efficient management of organizations without the necessity for centralized oversight. This letter introduces DAOs into the coordination of V2X infrastructures. Through a tripartite functional architecture including organization, coordination, and execution, we can achieve intelligent collaborative management among road infrastructures and vehicles. The DAO-secured V2X infrastructures are anticipated to augment the safety and efficiency of vehicular management in complex road scenarios, holding applicable potential for developing the intelligent roadways of tomorrow.
As a brief summary of the Distributed/Decentralized Hybrid Workshop on sustainable vehicular service ecology, this letter discusses the challenges of autonomous vehicular services and the potential of decentralized autonomous organizations and operations (DAOs) to address them. It outlines the future research issues on the integration of blockchain-based TRUE DAOs (TAOs) within vehicular services, including the ecological framework and the corresponding organizational, cooperational, executional and application technologies, to support a sustainable ecology of mobility.
Efficient energy management of Distributed Re-newable Energy Resources (DRER) enables a more sustainable and efficient energy ecosystem. Therefore, we propose a holistic Energy Management System (EMS), utilising the computational and energy storage capabilities of nearby Electric Vehicles (EVs), providing a low-latency and efficient management platform for DRER. Through leveraging the inherent, immutable features of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts, we create a secure management environment, facilitating interactions between multiple EVs and energy resources. Using a privacy preserving load forecasting method powered by Vehicular Fog Computing (VFC), we integrate the computational resources of the EVs. Using DLT and our forecasting framework, we accommodate efficient management algorithms in a secure and low-latency manner enabling greater utilisation of the energy storage resources. Finally, we assess our proposed EMS in terms of monetary and energy utility metrics, establishing the increased benefits of multiple interacting EVs and load forecasting. Through the proposed system, we have established the potential of our framework to create a more sustainable and efficient energy ecosystem whilst providing measurable benefits to participating agents.
In the rapidly evolving phase of the new energy vehicle industry, there is a shortage of charging stations for electric vehicles, leading to frequent unavailability of charging spots in parking lots. Additionally, users often have to pay high parking fees. In such a scenario, a method for sharing charging stations of multiple types is proposed. Due to the different owners of charging stations, real-time sharing of information between the charging equipment and users becomes challenging. Consequently, some charging stations remain idle for extended periods, resulting in low utilization. This paper employs blockchain technology to secure the information of both charging station owners and users. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization algorithm is applied to consider multiple types of charging stations simultaneously, resulting in a solution that can be implemented using smart contracts.
In an era of global commerce and digital interconnectedness, the inefficiencies and complexities of cross-border payment systems have become a significant hindrance to seamless international transactions.This project explores the transformative potential of blockchain technology, specifically focusing on the utilization of smart contracts, Solidity programming language, and the Ethereum platform, to revolutionize cross-border payments.This research delves into the core concepts of decentralized transactions, shedding light on how blockchain technology can disintermediate traditional financial intermediaries, mitigate transactional inefficiencies, and enhance the transparency, security, and trust in cross-border financial transactions.The utilization of smart contracts as self-executing, tamper-proof digital agreements offers a novel approach to automate and streamline cross-border payments, reducing the risk of fraud and errors while eliminating the need for intermediaries.By evaluating the benefits and challenges of decentralized transactions, this offers insights into the potential for latest technologies to disrupt the status quo of international payments and foster financial inclusion on a global scale.
Marco Pasetti, Salvatore Dello Iacono, Davide Astolfi, Antony Vasile
While the transition to fully electrified road mobility is expected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions, Electric Vehicles (EV s) still face challenges concerning infrastructure impact, installation costs, and indirect GHG emissions. Recent research has highlighted the potential benefits of optimal EV charging schedules and Vehicle-to-Grid functions in providing flexibility to power grids and global GHG emission reduction. Nevertheless, these solutions are complicated by interoperability and regulatory challenges. Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) have been proposed to tackle these issues, but the lack of standardization in DLT for EV charging architectures may constrain their full potential. This study aims to establish a framework for designing DLTs in EV charging infrastructures, presenting an EV charging reference architecture and examining its characteristics and implications from the DLT perspective. The study emphasizes the impact of multiple and concurrent communication protocols on the implementation of DLTs, suggesting that further standardization must be agreed upon by DLT specialists and EV domain experts.
Carpooling offers an effective solution to mitigate pollutant emissions and alleviate traffic congestion. This paper presents a novel system designed to address the shortcomings of centralized ride-sharing services by leveraging smart contracts. By ensuring data security, confidentiality, and privacy, the proposed system initiates the decentralization process for carpooling systems. Users can assume the role of either a driver or a passenger, enabling them to publish rides or search for and book desired rides. Smart contracts facilitate seamless execution of user requests, triggered by events such as ride creation or booking. The fare calculation is based on the passenger's route distance, current fuel price, and the driver's car mileage, resulting in significantly reduced costs. Upon booking a ride, the fare amount is debited from the passenger and credited to the driver only upon the passenger reaching their destination. The system's overarching objective is to simplify people's lives by minimizing travel expenses and traffic congestion, all while upholding user security.
Son Nguyen, Aengus Leman, Zhe Xiao, Xiuju Fu · 10 authors
Efficiency and sustainability are undisputedly the most critical objectives for modern ports. Current exercises for port services still lack performance profiling for arriving vessels regarding their arrival punctuality and compliance with port resource schedule for Just-in-time (JIT) service, as well as their efforts contributing towards less emission through reduced turnaround time within port. As a result, a performance-based incentive is missing. Bringing in the incentive component may facilitate the objectives of achieving both port efficiency and sustainability. Blockchain technology, owning to its intrinsic features like immutability, traceability, governance and provenance, and in-built tokens (for most public chain platforms), allow for the establishment of system solutions to record key performance indicators (KPIs) and distribute incentives to good performers. This paper is the first to propose a blockchain-based system to incentivize JIT and green operations in ports. The platform system design and operating mechanisms are elaborated in detail, and a prototype system has been implemented based on the Solana blockchain to demonstrate the core features. The current system’s potential is substantial, considering the industry’s increasing awareness about its environmental footprint. Continuous developments can be facilitated by connecting to market-based measures such as carbon pricing and emission trading in the maritime sector.
Urban growth sometimes leads to rigid infrastructure that struggles to adapt to changing demand. This paper introduces a novel approach, aiming to enable cities to evolve and respond more effectively to such dynamic demand. It identifies the limitations arising from the complexity and inflexibility of existing urban systems. A framework is presented for enhancing the city's adaptability perception through advanced sensing technologies, conducting parallel simulation via graph-based techniques, and facilitating autonomous decision-making across domains through decentralized and autonomous organization and operation. Notably, a symbiotic mechanism is employed to implement these technologies practically, thereby making urban management more agile and responsive. In the case study, we explore how this approach can optimize traffic flow by adjusting lane allocations. This case not only enhances traffic efficiency but also reduces emissions. The proposed evolutionary city offers a new perspective on sustainable urban development, highliting the importance of integrated intelligence within urban systems.
Germán Abu Arab, Juan Ignacio Cogliatti, Cristina Mayr, Juan Abu Arab · 6 authors
The advent of Web3 technologies and blockchain has opened new avenues for exploring decentralized solutions to pressing environmental issues. A blockchain-based Web3 application for the management of CO2 absorption rights could be a very effective solution to combat climate change. Blockchain technology allows the creation of permanent and transparent records of transactions in a decentralized network, which makes it an ideal tool for monitoring and managing CO2 absorption rights. The rights could be registered in the blockchain and transferred through smart contracts, which would guarantee the validity and traceability of these transactions. In addition, the Web3 application would allow greater accessibility for users, since it could be accessed from anywhere without the need to have proprietary systems installed. Decentralized applications could also be used to verify CO2 emissions and removals by users, which would increase transparency and trust in the system. This paper presents the development of a novel Web3 application that leverages blockchain technology for managing CO2 absorption rights using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). The proposed application allows for the secure, transparent, and efficient management of CO2 absorption rights, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of carbon offsetting initiatives.
The international railway logistics management system with a centralized system has problems such as information security, difficulty tracking logistics information, complex operating procedures, and information sharing and exchange. However, the decentralized, tamper-proof, and traceable features of blockchain technology can effectively enhance the data security and credibility of the system. Nonetheless, the development of smart contracts based on blockchain lacks a disciplined, standardized, and mature development process. On the other hand, adopting a Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) development approach can reduce human coding errors and improve development efficiency. This study proposed a modeling method based on UML class diagrams and state machine diagrams to analyze the static structure and dynamic behavior of the smart contract in the international railway logistics management system. By developing a conversion algorithm and combining the source and target metamodels, the platform-independent model (PIM) was converted into a platform-specific model (PSM), which was eventually transformed into code using a model-to-code transformation algorithm. The feasibility and correctness of this method were validated through experiments.
Ahmad Hammoud, Rabeb Mizouni, Hadi Otrok, Shakti Singh · 6 authors
Fog computing empowers the internet of vehicles (IoV) paradigm by offering computational resources near the end users. In this dynamic paradigm, users tend to move in and out of the range of fog nodes which has implications for the quality of service of the vehicular applications. To cope with these limitations, scholars addressed forming federations of fog providers for task offloading purposes. Nonetheless, a few challenges remain a burden for the formation of the federations. The formation mechanisms used to structure the federations of providers are still not fully stable. This causes a problem because a structureless federation can lead to an underperforming infrastructure. Furthermore, most of the literature ignored the honesty metrics of the providers and how trustworthy they are in allocating the agreed-upon resources for processing the tasks. Moreover, adopting a central reputation mechanism is questionable in terms of reliability due to many complications including the lack of consensus. In this work, we develop a Blockchain-based reputation mechanism for assisting the formation of fog federations for IoV applications. Our mechanism comprises on-chain smart contracts for storing and manipulating the providers’ reputations, and an off-chain Hedonic-based formation process that considers the parameters extracted from the chain to build the federations. We develop smart contracts using Solidity and deploy them on the Ethereum Blockchain. We test our mechanism using the EUA dataset as a proof of concept and compare it to other works in the literature. The results obtained show that our approach is able to enhance the overall payoff and quality of service in the IoV paradigm.
Chen Ben Tolila, Yarden Hovav, Kiril Danilchenko, Hadassa Daltrophe
The rising expenses associated with car ownership have driven individuals to seek more affordable alternatives, such as car rentals. However, conventional car rental services often come with high costs due to leasing company overhead expenses. Consequently, car sharing has emerged as a popular and cost-effective solution that not only reduces expenses but also promotes eco-friendliness by reducing the overall number of vehicles on the roads. Nonetheless, centralization and reliability remain persistent challenges in car-sharing implementation. To address these issues, we propose a decentralized crowd car sharing and renting platform called Crowd-CarLink, leveraging blockchain technology's power. This innovative platform enables both individuals and leasing companies to rent out vehicles while securely recording the maintenance history of each vehicle on the blockchain. Within CrowdCarLink, garages are pivotal contributors, adding vehicle information in a reliable and immutable manner. By utilizing blockchain technology, our platform ensures transparency and fosters trust, effectively overcoming the limitations imposed by centralization. Our architectural design incorporates smart contracts which help streamline processes and facilitate seamless transactions within the platform. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we have developed a prototype utilizing a private Ethereum blockchain with Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus. We believe that the architectural design and the practical solution presented here will play an integral role in shaping the future of smart transportation. By offering a cost-effective and efficient solution, our platform aims to benefit individuals and the environment alike, paving the way for a more sustainable and advanced transportation ecosystem.
Nii Osae Osae Dade, Margaret Lartey-Quaye, Emmanuel Teye-Kofi Odonkor, Paul Ammah
Programming has always been at the heart of technological innovation in the 21st century. With the advent of blockchain technologies and the proliferation of web3 paradigms of decentralised applications, smart contracts have been very instrumental in enabling developers to build applications that reside on decentralised blockchains. Despite the huge interest and potential of smart contracts, there is still a significant knowledge and skill gap that developers need to cross in order to build web3 applications. In light of this, we introduce MazzumaGPT, a large language model that has been optimised to generate smart contract code and aid developers to scaffold development and improve productivity. As part of this research, we outline the optimisation and fine-tuning parameters, evaluate the model's performance on functional correctness and address the limitations and broader impacts of our research.
Air cargo supply chain has become an integral stage in the transportation sector. Transparent information sharing is an important factor to facilitate fast communication and achieve efficient collaboration among stakeholders in handling the air cargo processes. However, the fundamental air cargo communication channel relies on the traditional peer-to-peer messaging approach that cannot ensure efficient communication flow, and this also caused complexity in digital connections due to multiple ownership in an air cargo supply chain. Leveraging the blockchain technology (BCT), which can ensure data transparency and security, our work first explores a variety of real-world applications of BCT in the air cargo activities coordination; we then propose the blockchain-based messaging and information systems and a self-enforceable smart contract framework to streamline the communication among stakeholders. Supported by the proposed BCT-based systems, shipment coordination and collaboration are strengthened through enhanced information transparency, communication efficiency and messages accountability in the end-to-end air cargo supply chain journey.
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.
Providing equitable and resilient electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to remote locations with limited access to the Internet infrastructure is one of the paradoxes in the decarbonization plan. In this paper, we develop an electric vehicle (EV) charging management system comprised of offline EVSEs based on a Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) system. To enable offline peer-to-peer (P2P) authentication between the user’s device (UD) and EVSE stations, we use a distributed certificate management based on Shamir’s algorithm and blind signing approach using the ring signature. We introduce extended FBA for charge point operator (FBA-CPO) systems and include explicit operational functions to ensure the ledger dissemination and scalability of the network. We specifically employ a pre-authorized mechanism for deferral vouchers using a pre-signed and weighted signing method. In the FBA-CPO network, each charger records all transactions on a local ledger and publicly publishes ledgers through random UD nodes. Under a generalization of the property of the federated quorum system, the proposed approach could provide a reliable network centrality with or without offline EVSEs. Eventually, we examined the performance of the proposed model using a system of real devices and their digital twins. Results show the FBA-CPO satisfies all functional and cross-cutting requirements for a consistent transnational mechanism.
Most of today's rental transportation options depend upon centralized control, which ends up making the system vulnerable to flaws at certain points and raises concerns about the disclosure of sensitive information by internal and external attackers. These transportation systems are also susceptible to outside threats and frauds, and the present ride-sharing service provider's commission is quite high leaving the driver underpaid. The idea behind ride sharing is to allow people travelling the same route to share their vehicles giving rides at a reduced cost with less congestion on roads while preventing environment through reduced toxic gases due to reduced fuel consumption. The proposed system enables frequent travelers to share their vehicles with other registered passengers or borrow rides from owners of other vehicles commuting the same route in an autonomous, self-sustained, flexible and secure ecosystem. Ethereum blockchain technology is used to provide secure system without centralized control, giving additional security and revenues/savings to drivers/riders. The trip information, including seat availability, booking confirmation, the pick-up and the drop-off locations, the arrival and the departure times, are secured with blockchain mining. The payments are secured with Ethereum based smart contracts to handle booking, cancellation, and transfer of ride fares without any conflicts. The proposed system is capable to reduce congestion by decreasing the number of vehicles on road due to effective vehicle utilization by sharing. The overall impact on natural resources and environment makes this system a promising ecosystem for future transportation systems.
In a world where sustainable and collaborative behavior is increasingly important due to climate change, environmental concerns, and social engagement, individual willpower may not be enough to sustain positive behavior for long-term sustainability. To encourage collaborative behavior, many blockchain-based applications are emerging that provide an incentive in the form of fungible tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or reputation points. Existing services address specific solutions such as waste disposal, peer-to-peer energy management, and sustainable mobility. However, the tokens issued by these services generally can be used only by the services themselves and are not interchangeable with other tokens. This paper proposes a platform that aggregates different blockchain-based services, and that exploits a conversion mechanism enabling the user to convert a given service token with other service tokens. The conversion is not based on a monetary value, rather, it relies on the amount of saved CO2 a service token represents. The platform provides a token (the “sCO2” token) anchored to a fixed amount of saved CO2, that may be converted for token of other services or used to get a discount on various municipal services such as waste tax, parking, public transport, etc. The proposed system aims to increase the engagement and awareness among citizens and end-users, provide an accountable and transparent way to track people’s sustainable behavior, and issue certificates to organizations based on how much CO2 their services have helped save.
Tri Nguyen, Huong Nguyen, Juha Partala, Susanna Pirttikangas
Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is an advanced Intelligent Transport System (ITS) that integrates various modes of transportation to meet the demands of travellers. The system relies on frequent communication for data exchange between the MaaS provider and transport service providers. Ideally, such communication would utilize trust technologies between these entities. However, current MaaS systems lack transparency and reliability, and their centralized nature creates a single point of failure for the entire service. To address these issues, this paper proposes a blockchain-based MaaS, which includes an architecture and smart contract functionalities. The solutions are built on permissioned and permissionless Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum blockchain platforms, respectively, for a realistic deployment of network architecture and proposed smart contracts. Additionally, the paper presents a framework derived from comparing these two blockchain platforms. Finally, the framework is evaluated, and open questions and challenges are analyzed.