PoSC: Combined Score for Consensus in Intemet-of-Things Applications

Abstract

The properties of decentralization, security, and immutability have made the blockchain technology beneficial for various Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Consensus algorithms enable the peers in IoT-based networks to reach a common agreement on the current state of the network stored in a distributed ledger. The consensus protocols such as Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) face centrality failure problem in terms of high concentration of computational power and the amount of tokens respectively. Thus, the scope exists to enhance the existing consensus protocols and address the centralization problem maintaining low complexity and resource consumption. We propose a novel consensus protocol based on Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). We name our proposed consensus protocol as Proof of SCore (PoSC). PoSC provides fairness in decentralized network by calculating the combination score from all the nodes. This combination score relates to the stake and reputation score. This score helps the IoT nodes to maintain trust and ensure security. We have also performed the experimental and logical interpretation of PoSC. We compare the performance of PoSC with the existing consensus protocols including PoW, PoS, Byzantine Fault Tolerance, Raft, and Paxos. Our proposed PoSC protocol is efficient in terms of reduced memory consumption by 35%, reduced time consumption by 30%, and energy consumption reduction by 25% as compared to the mentioned existing protocols on average. Moreover, PoSC avoids centrality failure suffered by PoW and PoS. Thus, PoSC is suitable for resource constrained applications of IoTs.