Consortium Chain Research Articles

Trading mode design for a virtual power plant based on main-side consortium blockchains

To stimulate the market vitality of distributed resources, the virtual power plant (VPP) has gradually transformed from a third-party profit organization to a service-oriented trading platform, and the transaction has shown a trend of decentralization. In this case, a new VPP trading mode is designed to solve the difficulties in multi-layer coordination and the lack of trust between market entities from the same layer. First, the consortium chain is combined with the multi-agent system to build a VPP internal transaction framework. In order to match the characteristic of the VPP with multi-layer market entities, the main-side chain governance structure is adopted to form data barriers and ensure the scalability of the transaction framework. Second, the existing consensus protocol is improved in accordance with the feature of VPP main chain, and the consensus reputation is introduced to maintain the operation efficiency of the blockchain. In order to improve the execution quality of distributed transactions and the VPP operation stability, the trading reputation closely related to the transaction result is introduced to constrain the trading behavior of aggregators, and a feasible bidding strategy is provided. Finally, the specific trading process of VPP based on the main-side chains is analyzed, and the main functions of smart contracts are designed in combination with internal market rules. The simulation results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed VPP trading mode.

Representative Ring Signature Algorithm Based on Smart Contract

Traditional ring signature algorithms suffer from large signature data capacity and low speed of signature and verification during collective signing. In this work, we propose a representative ring signature algorithm based on smart contracts. By collecting the opinions of the signatory based on multiparty secure computation, the proposed technique protects the privacy of the signatory during the data interaction process in the consortium chain. Moreover, the proposed method uses smart contracts to organize the signature process and formulate a signature strategy of “one encryption per signature” to prevent signature forgery. It uses the Hyperledger Fabric framework as the signature test platform of the consortium chain to perform the experiments. We compare the results of the proposed method with the ECC ring signature scheme. The experimental results show that in the worst case, the signature volume of the proposed method decreases by more than two times, and the signature speed and verification speed increase by more than three times. Therefore, in the collective signature scenario of transaction verification in the consortium chain, the proposed method is verified to be innovative and practical.

Medical Data Storage Model Based on an Alliance Chain

Aiming at the problems of centralized storage, low sharing efficiency, and the security and privacy of traditional medical data, a medical data storage model based on a consortium chain is proposed. First, the Distance algorithm is designed based on the geographical relationship of nodes, which reduces the amount of communication between nodes, improves the communication efficiency between A nodes, and ensures the efficiency and reliability of grouping. Second, the dynamic election is combined with the Distance algorithm to design the election strategy of the primary node, which realizes the scientific and reasonable ranking of the medical nodes, improves the reliability of the selection of the primary node, and ensures the efficiency of the medical nodes in the alliance chain to quickly reach consensus when the medical data are uploaded to the chain. Finally, the model designs a method of information separation, which combines the distributed database IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) with the blockchain, which greatly reduces the pressure of medical data storage in the blockchain and improves the operation efficiency. The experimental results show that the medical data storage model can effectively improve the problem of the sharp increase in the amount of communication between medical nodes in the network and reduce the impact of malicious consensus nodes.

An Efficient Data Sharing Scheme for Privacy Protection Based on Blockchain and Edge Intelligence in 6G-VANET

With the substantial increase in the number of smart cars, vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), where data can be shared between vehicles to enrich existing vehicle services and improve driving safety, is gaining more and more attention, thus creating a more efficient intelligent transportation system. Moreover, the in-depth research and development of 6G and AI technology further strengthen the interconnection of various entities in VANET and can realize edge intelligence, which fundamentally enhances the efficiency of data sharing. However, reliable transmission and secure storage of data have always been a great challenge in data sharing. Although some schemes store shared data in the blockchain, most of the consensus mechanisms they use employ full nodes to verify signature information and timestamps, which cannot effectively judge the reliability of the shared data itself. Some other schemes use scoring mechanisms to evaluate data uploaded by vehicles, but these methods can be affected by network hardware failures and cannot effectively detect duplicate data. In addition, participants’ privacy may also be disclosed in the process of data sharing, such as participants’ location and identity information. Therefore, to address the above problems, this paper proposes a data sharing scheme in 6G-VANET, which can not only ensure the reliability and security of shared data but also protect the privacy of participants. Firstly, a consortium chain is adopted to realize the secure storage of shared data in 6G-VANET, which meets the requirements of tamper-proof and traceability of data. Secondly, a voting consensus mechanism is designed in combination with smart contract to ensure the reliability of data. Thirdly, the trained word2vec natural language processing model is deployed to edge nodes to realize edge intelligence, effectively eliminate the duplicate shared data, and enhance storage efficiency. Finally, a participant privacy protection mechanism is designed using the Private Set Intersection (PSI) protocol, and a secure and efficient data sharing scheme is finally realized. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by security analysis and experimental evaluation. The experimental results show that the time and space overhead of blockchain can meet the practical requirements, and the proposed PSI protocol of large-scale vehicles can be completed in a short time.

Agricultural Cold Chain Logistics Mode Based on Multi-Mode Blockchain Data Model.

Aiming at the problem of massive data storage and transaction authority in the blockchain system in the data sharing transaction scenario, this paper proposes a blockchain system for the controllable sharing transaction of massive data. By designing the blockchain system model of the consortium chain and private chain, reconstructing the data structure of the block, and introducing the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) technology, we adopt the off-chain storage method to solve the problem of high cost caused by too much data carried by the block. The isolation control of data resource transactions is realized by introducing identity authentication and channel mechanism, which meets the needs of different subjects for confidentiality of transaction data information. From the analysis results of cold chain logistics efficiency, in the five years from 2017 to 2021, the comprehensive cold chain logistics efficiency, pure technology cold chain logistics efficiency, and scale cold chain logistics efficiency of agricultural product cold chain logistics in a certain region have all reached above 0.9. The return to scale remains unchanged, and the cold chain logistics resources have been effectively allocated and reasonably utilized. The value of comprehensive cold chain logistics efficiency, pure technology cold chain logistics efficiency, and scale cold chain logistics efficiency in a certain month is less than 1, which means that the cold chain logistics efficiency is weak or ineffective. This shows that in these years, the infrastructure investment, cold chain technical support, and management level related to the cold chain logistics of agricultural products in a certain region need to be strengthened, and it is necessary to adjust the input-output structure and allocate resources reasonably. From 2018 to 2021, the total factor productivity of agricultural product cold chain logistics in a certain region is greater than 0.85, indicating that the level of total factor productivity is relatively high during this time period, and the increase in the efficiency of technical cold chain logistics is the main reason for the increase in total factor productivity.

The Game Analysis of Information Sharing for Supply Chain Enterprises in the Blockchain

The problems of additional inventory costs and inaccurate demand estimation caused by information asymmetry has severely damaged the profits of all participants and restricted the overall development of the supply chain. New technologies and ideas are urgently needed to solve these problems. The blockchain technology is widely accepted as a disruptive technology and a powerful tool to resolve information asymmetry with its advantage in decentralization, transparency, traceability, confidentiality, immutability, etc. The introduction of blockchain into the information system will effectively promote supply chain collaboration by facilitating information sharing among enterprises at various nodes. The paper builds a consortium chain model suitable for supply chain information sharing, uses evolutionary game theory to analyze the strategy changes and influencing factors in the information sharing choices of supply chain participants, and finally verifies the correctness of the results through MATLAB simulation.

Fault Tolerance Byzantine Algorithm for Lower Overhead Blockchain

A new algorithm for practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT), called score-PBFT or S-PBFT, is proposed to solve the problems of high communication overhead and low algorithm efficiency. This algorithm is based on the characteristics of the consortium chain. The scoring mechanism for nodes is added. All the nodes are broken up into consensus nodes, candidate nodes, and early nodes. To make sure the consensus nodes are as reliable as possible, the nodes are changed dynamically based on how each node is behaving. Improved: the election method for the controller node has been changed. The node’s score and behaviour are used as the election basis to make the algorithm more stable. In this paper, we want to improve the consensus protocol’s execution process, cut down on how many nodes are involved in the consensus process, simplify it, and make it more efficient. Results show that, when compared with the PBFT algorithm, the S-PBFT algorithm has a shorter consensus delay, less communication overhead and throughput, and better consensus node reliability.

Blockchain-Based Data Audit Mechanism for Integrity over Big Data Environments

Recently, data integrity for multiagent-based big data environments has been challenging. This paper presents a blockchain-based Merkle DAG structure (M-DAG) for audit data integrity. M-DAG resolves the problem that arises due to the multicopy of a large data volume in a big data environment. It employed Boneh–Lynn–Shacham’s (BSL) signature to verify the integrity of identical multicopy on big data environments. The proposed M-DAG audit mechanism uses a consortium chain algorithm for decentralized traceability and audit to archive reliable data. The evaluation has been carried out for the efficiency of the data integrity audit.

A blockchain-based lightweight identity authentication scheme for the IEDs of security and stability control system

As an important part of the second defense line of the power system, the Security and Stability Control System (SSCS) is of great significance to ensure the reliable operation of the power system. However, SSCS still lacks an effective security mechanism and is easily accessed by attackers, thus posing a threat to the stable and reliable operation of the power system. To tackle this issue, we propose a blockchain-based identity authentication scheme for Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) of SSCS. We first propose an identity authentication system model for IEDs and design the deployment of consortium chain nodes on IEDs, with architectural characteristics of SSCS and the working scenario of IEDs taken into consideration. The consortium chain is used to store credentials required for authentication, ensuring that they are tamper-proof. We combine IP address, port number and physical ID, and propose the unique identification of IEDs, with a data structure designed for the identification. We also propose a lightweight identity authentication method based on renewable hash chains, with hash chains used as one-time authentication passwords, and introduce a renewal mechanism of hash chains. Further, the detailed processes of registration and authentication phase are designed. Finally, the security analysis shows that our identity authentication scheme can resist various attacks, and the feasibility of our scheme is verified by experiments.

A Metaheuristic Approach for Encrypting Blockchain Data Attributes Using Ciphertext Policy Technique

Unlike public chains, the Alliance Blockchain Hyperledger Fabric has a member management service mechanism that may provide data isolation security at the channel level. However, because this data isolation security technique synchronizes plaintext data inside the channel, data leakage is still a possibility. Furthermore, in some fine-grained privacy protection circumstances, channel-based data access restriction is ineffective. In order to solve the data privacy security problems in the above-mentioned consortium chain superledger, a blockchain data attribute encryption scheme based on ciphertext policy is proposed. Combining the original Fabric Certificate Authority module in the Hyperledger, the proposed scheme can realize the user-level fine-grained security access to control blockchain data while also realizing the secure distribution of user attribute keys in the blockchain data attribute encryption scheme based on the ciphertext policy scheme. The security analysis of the scheme shows that the scheme achieves the security goals of attribute-based encryption user attribute private key secure distribution and data privacy protection. The scope of this research is that this study confirms that the solution’s architecture achieves fine-grained access control of private data on the Hyperledger Blockchain network and also the security objectives of secure transmission of user characteristic secret keys and data privacy protection. The performance analysis part also shows that the proposed scheme has good usability.

An improved algorithm for practical byzantine fault tolerance to large-scale consortium chain

Consortium chain can better combine blockchain technology with market business, so it is adopted by all walks of life and develops at a large scale. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) is more suitable for consortium chain, which are partially decentralized, resistant to Byzantine nodes and strong consistency. However, the limited network scale that PBFT can support is not conducive to the large-scale development of consortium chain. Based on the analysis of the working principle and consensus mechanism of PBFT, this study proposed an algorithm to improve PBFT: feature grouping and credit optimization Byzantine Fault Tolerance (FCBFT). In this algorithm, a feature grouping model is proposed to optimize the node structure of large-scale consortium chain, which divides large-scale network nodes into different institutions to form independent consensus groups by feature grouping. On this basis, a reputation score reward mechanism is proposed to improve the consensus efficiency of large-scale consortium chains. It introduces a reputation score calculation formula to select high-reputation primary nodes. At the same time, a replacement cycle is established to replace high-reputation nodes with low-reputation nodes, so as to optimize the consensus efficiency of the consortium chain. The experimental results show that FCBFT has shorter delay and higher throughput (TPS) than PBFT, which becomes more obvious as the number of nodes increases. After the number of nodes exceeds the threshold, the TPS of PBFT drops rapidly, while FCBFT can maintain high efficiency and stability. FCBFT's block generation speed is higher than PBFT, and its relative growth rate has steadily increased.

Fabric-GC: A Blockchain-based Gantt chart system for cross-organizational project management

Large-scale production is always associated with more and more development and interaction among peers, and many fields achieve higher economic benefits through project cooperation. However, project managers in the traditional centralized approach cannot rearrange their activities to cross-organizational project management. Thanks to its characteristics, the Blockchain can represent a valid solution to the problems mentioned above. In this article, we propose Fabric-GC, a Blockchain-based Gantt chart system. Fabric-GC enables to realize secure and effective cross-organizational cooperation for project management, providing access control to multiple parties for project visualization. Compared with other solutions, the proposed system is versatile, as it can be applied to project management in different fields and achieve effective and agile scheduling. Experimental results show that Fabric-GC achieves stable performance in large-scale request and processing distributed environments, where the data synchronization speed of the consortium chain reached four times faster than a public chain, achieving faster data consistency.

Blockchain and Federated Learning Based Bidding Applications in Power Markets

Currently, power generators are facing an imperfectly competitive power market with relatively limited information, and they can increase their own economic returns by raising their quotations through game theory, which leads to an inflated price in the wholesale power market. In this paper, we propose a bidding application for the wholesale power market called Federated Learning Power Quotation System (FedLPQS), which combines federated learning and blockchain to consider the characteristics of the future power trading market of ”Liberalizing both ends”. FedLPQS using federated learning aggregates cost data of each power plant to achieve a certain degree of transparency and records the data in a blockchain platform based on the consortium chain to reduce the price of power traded in the wholesale power market.

Blockchain-Enhanced Fair and Efficient Energy Trading in Industrial Internet of Things

As the technical support of the industrial Internet of Things, blockchain technology has been widely used in energy trading, data transactions, and Internet of Vehicles. However, most of the existing energy trading models only address the transaction security and transaction privacy issues that arise in the energy trading process, ignoring the fairness of resource allocation and transaction equity in the trading process. In order to tackle those problems, an energy trading scheme called HO-TRAD is proposed in this paper to improve the efficiency of model trading while ensuring the fairness of energy trading. We propose a new trading strategy in the HO-TRAD energy trading scheme that guarantees fairness in the allocation of trading resources by introducing an entity’s active reputation value. Use smart contracts to achieve transparency and ensure fairness in the transaction process. Based on the identity verification foundation of the consortium chain, the scheme enhances the existing PBFT consensus algorithm and improves the efficiency of model transactions. The experimental simulation indicates that the scheme requires less transaction time and has higher transaction fairness and security.

Controlled Sharing Mechanism of Data Based on the Consortium Blockchain

In the process of sharing data, the costless replication of electric energy data leads to the problem of uncontrolled data and the difficulty of third-party access verification. This paper proposes a controlled sharing mechanism of data based on the consortium blockchain. The data flow range is controlled by the data isolation mechanism between channels provided by the consortium blockchain by constructing a data storage consortium chain to achieve trusted data storage, combining attribute-based encryption to complete data access control and meet the demands for granular data accessibility control and secure sharing; the data flow transfer ledger is built to record the original data life cycle management and effectively record the data transfer process of each data controller. Taking the application scenario of electric energy data sharing as an example, the scheme is designed and simulated on the Linux system and Hyperledger Fabric. Experimental results have verified that the mechanism can effectively control the scope of access to electrical energy data and realize the control of the data by the data owner.

An Optimized Byzantine Fault Tolerance Algorithm for Consortium Blockchain

According to different application scenarios of blockchain system, it is generally divided into public chain, private chain and consortium chain. Consortium chain is a typical multi-center blockchain, because it has better landing, it is supported by more and more enterprises and governments. This paper analyzes the advantages and problems of Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm for the application scenarios of the consortium chain. In order to be more suitable for consortium chains, this paper proposes a new optimized consensus algorithm based on PBFT. Aiming at the shortcomings of PBFT, such as the inability to dynamically join nodes, low multi-node consensus efficiency, and primary master node selection, our optimized algorithm has designed a hierarchical structure to increase scalability and improve consensus efficiency. The simulation results show that compared with PBFT and RAFT, our new consensus algorithm increases the data throughput while supporting more nodes, and effectively reducing the consensus delay and the number of communication times between nodes.

A trusted consensus fusion scheme for decentralized collaborated learning in massive IoT domain

In a massive IoT systems, large amount of data are collected and stored in clouds, edge devices, and terminals, but the data are mostly isolated. For many new demands of various intelligent applications, self-organized collaborated learning on those data to achieve group decisions has been a new trend. However, in order to reach the goal of group decisions, trust problems on data fusion and model fusion should be solved since the participants may not be trusted. We propose a consistent and trust fusion method with the consortium chain to reach a consensus, and complete the self-organized trusted decentralized collaborated learning. In each consensus process, consensus candidates check others’ trust levels to ensure that they tends to fuse consensus with users with high trust, where the trust levels are evaluated by scores according to their historical behaviors in the past consensus process and stored in the public ledger of blockchain. A trust rewards and punishments method is designed to realize trust incentive consensus, the candidates with higher trust levels have more rights and reputation in the consensus. Simulation results and security analysis show that the method can effectively defend malicious users and data, improve the trust perception performance of the whole federated learning network, and make the federated learning more trusted and stable.

Endogenous Trusted DRL-Based Service Function Chain Orchestration for IoT

With the development of the Internet of Things, trust has become a limited factor in the integration of heterogeneous IoT networks. In this regard, we use the combination of blockchain technology and SDN/NFV to build a heterogeneous IoT network resource management model based on the consortium chain. In order to solve the efficiency problem caused by the full amount of data on the chain, we deploy light nodes and full nodes for the consortium chain. At the same time, we use the idea of identification to realize the separation of identification and resource information, build the application mode of on-chain identification and off-chain information, and realize resources endogenous trust management. We also propose a practical Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus mechanism based on reputation value to save consensus costs and improve efficiency. Combined with artificial intelligence technology, we introduce deep reinforcement learning for service function chain orchestration, and design a service function chain orchestration algorithm based on Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic to optimize orchestration costs. The final simulation results show that the consensus algorithm and service function chain orchestration algorithm we designed have good performance in terms of cost saving and efficiency improvement.

Application of Hyperledger in the Hospital Information Systems: A Survey

Hyperledger is considered to be the most mature consortium chain technology. Compared with other blockchain technologies, Hyperledger focuses on the application development of enterprise-level standards. Due to its unique permission management, fine-grained access control, pluggable consensus algorithm and higher transaction performance, Hyperledger has been increasingly used in the hospital information systems. Although there are more and more applications of Hyperledger in the field of health care, there is currently no research to comprehensively classify and compare them. This article obtained the latest 222 articles related to Hyperledger from the Web of science, Wordlib, and EBSCO databases. And this article used manual method to filter out the literates needed for this review. This article had comprehensively analyzed and compared the above literature, then summarized four research directions related to hospital information systems, including medical drug traceability, medical records, medical images and other medical fields (financial benefits, medical insurance, medical system performance and dynamic processing). Through in-depth analysis of all solutions, this article reconstructed the architecture diagrams of each solution that focus on Hyperledger, and showed the most intuitive comparison results. In addition, we summarized each solution, and analyzed their implementation form four aspects, including traceability, monitoring, security and privacy. Finally, the future opportunities and prospects were discussed. Four potential medical research directions of Hyperledger in DNA research, pathological image sharing, protein folding calculation and machine learning had been identified. Finally, this article discussed the opportunities and prospects for the future of hospital information systems, and summarized the applications of Hyperledger in four potential directions, including DNA research, pathological image sharing, protein folding calculation and machine learning.

Searchable encryption scheme for multiple cloud storage using double‐layer blockchain

SummaryWith the emergence of cloud storage security, how to ensure the security of cloud storage has become a research focus. The typical searchable encryption model consists of a single cloud service provider and has some unsolvable drawbacks. In this article, a new searchable encryption scheme in multi‐cloud was proposed based on blockchain. We first define a system model in multiple clouds and combine multiple cloud service providers to store data through a consortium chain. Then we store the encrypted documents and indexes in The Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and store the hash value and IPFS address of the documents in the blockchain. Our scheme can provide outsourced encrypted data retrieval based on multiple keywords, as well as verification schemes for the integrity of retrieved files. The theoretical analysis and experiments on real‐world data show the security and high performance of our scheme.