Energy-aware proof-of-authority:Blockchain consensus for clustered wireless sensor network

This study addresses integrating blockchain technology into lightweight devices,specifically clustered Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs).Integrating blockchain into the WSNs solves the problems of heterogeneity,data integrity,and data confidentiality.However,no blockchain integration considers network lifetime in WSNs.This research focuses on developing a permissioned blockchain system that incorporates a consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Authority(PoA)within clustered WSNs with two main features.The first feature is to enhance the network lifetime by introducing a rotational selection of block proposers using an Energy-Aware PoA(EAPoA)weighting mechanism.Known as the Multi-Level Blockchain Model(MLBM),the subsequent feature is to create a hierarchical network model within a blockchain network.The MLBM network comprises both local and master blockchains.Each cluster inside a WSN possesses its local blockchain network.In the MLBM,the local blockchain creates a block on the main blockchain by proposing the headers of every 10 blocks to improve data integrity.Each local blockchain has its leader,which can increase block production.The results show that the proposed solution can overcome traditional PoA performance and is suitable for clustered WSNs.In terms of lifetime,the EA-PoA selection method can extend the network lifetime by up to 10%.In addition,the MLBM can increase block production by up to twice each additional cluster compared to a single blockchain network used in traditional PoA.

A Dynamic Reputation–based Consensus Mechanism for Blockchain

In recent years,Blockchain is gaining prominence as a hot topic in academic research.However,the consensus mechanism of blockchain has been criticized in terms of energy consumption and performance.Although Proof-of-Authority(PoA)consensus mechanism,as a lightweight consensus mechanism,is more efficient than traditional Proof-of-Work(PoW)and Proof-of-Stake(PoS),it suffers from the problem of centralization.To this end,on account of analyzing the shortcomings of existing consensus mechanisms,this paper proposes a dynamic reputation-based consensus mechanism for blockchain.This scheme allows nodes with reputation value higher than a threshold apply to become a monitoring node,which can monitor the behavior of validators in case that validators with excessive power cause harm to the blockchain network.At the same time,the reputation evaluation algorithm is also introduced to select nodes with high reputation to become validators in the network,thus increasing the cost of malicious behavior.In each consensus cycle,validators and monitoring nodes are dynamically updated according to the reputation value.Through security analysis,it is demonstrated that the scheme can resist the attacks of malicious nodes in the blockchain network.By simulation experiments and analysis of the scheme,the result verifies that the mechanism can effectively improve the fault tolerance of the consensus mechanism,reduce the time of consensus to guarantee the security of the system.