A Proposal for a Mobility-Control Data Transfer Mechanism Based on a Block Network Utilizing End-to-End Authentication Data

Abstract

Advances in communications technology have had tremendous influence on network implementation to date, and as communication devices get smaller and technologies more intelligent, a great number of solutions are emerging that converge communications with a multitude of domains. In particular, as transportation modes assisting with mobility have developed, many studies are in the pipeline on the domain of mobility. The development of mobility services has prompted the spread of car sharing, which also highlights the need for a system that controls shared vehicles. The data of such control system can be used not only for the operational management of vehicles but also the management of users in terms of user driving analysis or monitoring safe driving. In addition, it can be utilized in a variety of other applications that analyze traffic flow based on vehicle driving data, determine required vehicle maintenance intervals, or schedule vehicle maintenance in advance. However, if forged/altered by a third party, control data might pose a lot of challenges to data utilization. This study proposes a mechanism that manages control data on a blockchain to enhance the integrity of control data created in the communications process. In this paper, we propose a mechanism for applying a blockchain to the communication process between clients and servers. In the proposed mechanism, platform operators generate and provide independent identification information and identification numbers for users. The identification information and identification numbers are used to prove that the generated blocks were created by specific users. Data generated by clients create a block with a hash including user identification information alongside the user identification number. Verification of the generated block is performed on the platform vendor’s server, validating that the user identification number in the block matches the server-side user identification information and the hash of the data within the block. Thus, even when the contents of the block are shared in a public blockchain environment, user identification information is only held by the server and clients, preventing third parties from impersonating specific users to create data blocks. Furthermore, the verification process of the data includes hashes received from other nearby vehicles, preventing data tampering by the block creator.