Private Blockchain Network Research Articles

Performance analysis of a private blockchain network built on Hyperledger Fabric for healthcare

The healthcare industry suffers from poor interoperability due to its fragmented communication systems. Each medical institution has a communication system that is not necessarily compatible with the other systems on the same network. Poor communication has serious implications for patients, resources, and costs. The literature proposes blockchain technology as a governance data management system that optimizes the flow of information between multiple organizations by providing a trust component. However, much of the literature is conceptual and addresses blockchain in healthcare in a very general way. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the use of Hyperledger Fabric in healthcare to improve information flow and solve the fragmentation problem between two medical institutions. In addition, two rate controllers on Hyperledger Caliper are used to evaluate the performance of our network: fixed and linear. We believe that our work will be useful for those working in value chains in healthcare and academia.

CD/CV: Blockchain-based schemes for continuous verifiability and traceability of IoT data for edge–fog–cloud

This paper presents a continuous delivery/continuous verifiability (CD/CV) method for IoT dataflows in edge–fog–cloud. A CD model based on extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) mechanism as well as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) construction, enable end-users to create efficient schemes for the continuous verification and validation of the execution of applications in edge–fog–cloud infrastructures. This scheme also verifies and validates established execution sequences and the integrity of digital assets. CV model converts ETL and DAG into business model, smart contracts in a private blockchain for the automatic and transparent registration of transactions performed by each application in workflows/pipelines created by CD model without altering applications nor edge–fog–cloud workflows. This model ensures that IoT dataflows delivers verifiable information for organizations to conduct critical decision-making processes with certainty. A containerized parallelism model solves portability issues and reduces/compensates the overhead produced by CD/CV operations. We developed and implemented a prototype to create CD/CV schemes, which were evaluated in a case study where user mobility information is used to identify interest points, patterns, and maps. The experimental evaluation revealed the efficiency of CD/CV to register the transactions performed in IoT dataflows through edge–fog–cloud in a private blockchain network in comparison with state-of-art solutions.

On the Latency Performance in Private Blockchain Networks

Blockchain technologies have been emerging with the potential to disrupt many fields (e.g., cryptocurrencies replacing the traditional ones, enabling trustworthy voting, etc.). The Internet of Things (IoT) has been predictably strengthened when integrating to the private blockchain, such as Ethereum. In an IoT deployment with private Ethereum, a thorough understanding of the latency is a critical issue that has not been adequately understood in the literature. Motivated by that, this work aims to comprehend the latency performance in the IoT Ethereum with two popular consensus algorithms: Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Authority (PoA). Initially, we clarify different latency segments from transaction submission to execution, namely, the transaction lifecycle in a private blockchain. We then consider the three related latency metrics: 1) transaction-oriented latency; 2) mining time; and 3) block-oriented latency in the PoW case. With PoA, the mining time’s consideration is omitted since the mining process is not necessary. After that, we construct a realistic private Ethereum IoT network (i.e., using a laptop and seven Raspberry Pi 3b+ nodes) and a large-scale emulated one with 30 nodes. We write and deploy a smart contract to read and write data to the blockchain and measure the latencies in various scenarios. The measurement results reveal the values of transaction-oriented and block-oriented latency with PoW and PoA in both the actual and emulated networks. Moreover, we derive the expected value for the PoW’s mining time by fitting the probabilities to an exponential curve.

Storing and analyzing a genome on a blockchain

There are major efforts underway to make genome sequencing a routine part of clinical practice. A critical barrier to these is achieving practical solutions for data ownership and integrity. Blockchain provides solutions to these challenges in other realms, such as finance. However, its use in genomics is stymied due to the difficulty in storing large-scale data on-chain, slow transaction speeds, and limitations on querying. To overcome these roadblocks, we developed a private blockchain network to store genomic variants and reference-aligned reads on-chain. It uses nested database indexing with an accompanying tool suite to rapidly access and analyze the data.

Chatbot for construction firms using scalable blockchain network

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including multimedia tools, email services, voice-based tools, and handheld computing tools, have been extensively used for automating and digitalizing different construction processes and activities. However, these technologies are subjected to single-point attacks or failures, manipulation, and lack of privacy and traceability. This study introduces a novel information exchange and management system for construction firms based on blockchain technology and chatbots. The system leverages the characteristics of blockchain technology in terms of peer-to-peer operation mode, data integrity, structuring, and privacy, and the chatbots' merits regarding ease of use and degree of automation. The system is developed for tracking work progress in construction projects as a generic use-case using a four-step approach. First, a private blockchain network is configured for data distribution and storage. Second, a smart contract is coded for regulating data writing/reading operations. Third, a chatbot is developed for data collection and retrieval through textual conversations. Fourth, serverless cloud function and cloudant database are configured to allow the linkage between the blockchain network and the chatbot. A prototype of the system is built and applied to a case study of non-residential construction project to test and verify its capabilities. Further, the system's performance is assessed in terms of the writing and reading latencies and the storage size. The system features can be extended by embedding mathematical algorithms to simultaneously analyze data and employing Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) to maintain visuals and large-size data.

A hybrid consensus algorithm for master–slave blockchain in a multidomain conversation system

Conversation systems play an important role in the research and development of multidomain systems, in which the number of conversations increases rapidly with the number of domains. Multiple experts must maintain these conversation interactions, otherwise experts from different domains are unable to interact properly. For this reason, ensuring secure and efficient cooperation between different experts has become a serious issue that needs to be resolved. This study proposes a hybrid consensus algorithm for a master–slave chain to improve the efficiency and scalability of multidomain conversation interactions. Firstly, we build a master–slave chain model for a multidomain conversation system which can be applied to process multiple conversation interactions from different domains concurrently. Subsequently, a new hybrid consensus algorithm is proposed which combines reputation-driven voting, dynamic construction strategies and an incentive scheme with both economic and non-economic rewards. Implemented and tested on a local private blockchain network, the experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach, in order to offer a decentralised, scalable, multidomain conversation system in a secure manner.

Characterization and Costs of Integrating Blockchain and IoT for Agri-Food Traceability Systems

An increasing amount of research focuses on integrating the Internet of Things and blockchain technology to address the requirements of traceability applications for Industry 4.0. However, there has been little quantitative analysis of several aspects of these new blockchain-based traceability systems. For instance, very few works have studied blockchain’s impact on the resources of constrained IoT sensors. Similarly, the infrastructure costs of these blockchain-based systems are not widely understood. This paper characterizes the resources of low-cost IoT sensors and provides a monetary cost model for blockchain infrastructure to support blockchain-based traceability systems. First, we describe and implement a farm-to-fork case study using public and private blockchain networks. Then, we analyze the impact of blockchain in six different resource-limited IoT devices in terms of disk and memory footprint, processing time, and energy consumption. Next, we present an infrastructure cost model and use it to identify the costs for the public and private networks. Finally, we evaluate the traceability of a product in different scenarios. Our results showed that low-cost sensors could directly interact with both types of blockchains with minimal energy overhead. Furthermore, our cost model showed that setting a private blockchain infrastructure costs approximately the same as that managing 50 products on a public blockchain network.

Low-Cost and High-Efficiency Electromechanical Integration for Smart Factories of IoT with CNN and FOPID Controller Design under the Impact of COVID-19

This study proposes a design for unmanned chemical factories and implementation based on ultra-low-cost Internet of Things technology, to combat the impact of COVID-19 on industrial factories. A safety and private blockchain network architecture was established, including a three-layer network structure comprising edge, fog, and cloud calculators. Edge computing uses a programmable logic controller and a single-chip microcomputer to transmit and control the motion path of a four-axis robotic arm motor. The fog computing architecture is implemented using Python software. The structure is integrated and applied using a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative controller (FOPID). In addition, edge computing and fog computing signals are transmitted through the blockchain, and can be directly uploaded to the cloud computing controller for signal integration. The integrated application of the production line sensor and image recognition based on the network layer was addressed. We verified the image recognition of the CNN and the robot motor signal control of the FOPID. This study proposes that a CNN + FOPID method can improve the efficiency of the factory by more than 50% compared with traditional manual operators. The low-cost, high-efficiency equipment of the new method has substantial contribution and application potential.

Blockchain for Education: Verification and Management of Lifelong Learning Data

In recent years, blockchain technology has been applied in the educational domain because of its salient advantages, i.e., transparency, decentralization, and immutability. Available systems typically use public blockchain networks such as Ethereum and Bitcoin to store learning results. However, the cost of writing data on these networks is significant, making educational institutions limit data sent to the target network, typically containing only hash codes of the issued certificates. In this paper, we present a system based on a private blockchain network for lifelong learning data authentication and management named B4E (Blockchain For Education). B4E stores not only certificates but also learners’ training data such as transcripts and educational programs in order to create a complete record of the lifelong education of each user and verify certificates that they have obtained. As a result, B4E can address two types of fake certificates, i.e., certificates printed by unlawful organizations and certificates issued by educational institutions for learners who have not met the training requirements. In addition, B4E is designed to allow all participants to easily deploy software packages to manage, share, and check stored information without depending on a single point of access. As such, the system enhances the transparency and reliability of the stored data. Our experiments show that B4E meets expectations for deployment in reality.

Performance and scalability evaluation of a permissioned Blockchain based on the Hyperledger Fabric, Sawtooth and Iroha

This paper shows the performance and scalability evaluation of different blockchain platform implementations. Hyperledger Iroha implementing YAC consensus, Sawtooth implementing PoET algorithm, and Hyperledger Fabric framework implementation. Performance evaluation and scalability assessment were done by varying different sets of parameters such as block size, transaction sending rate, network traffic distribution, and network size. Performance evaluation was done based on average transaction latency, network throughput, and transaction failure rate. Scalability was assessed based on changes in transaction latency and throughput with increasing network size. Test results let to study the impact of a particular parameter on the private blockchain network performance and show how they can be adjusted to improve performance.

Blockchain Analytics - Real-time Log Management in Healthcare

With the growing dependence on information technologies in healthcare organizations, it is crucial to ensure data security since its sensitiveness. To guarantee this requirement, a system was developed consisting of a private blockchain network designed to support the recording of hospital logs and an interface to facilitate data analysis. This article covers the development of a private blockchain solution. For its development were used Hyperledger technologies and Sockets.io. Apart from that, web technologies that were used to interface real-time logs. The objective of the developed solution is to allow the visualization of logs in real time, where analysis methods have applied.

Impact of Block Data Components on the Performance of Blockchain-Based VANET Implemented on Hyperledger Fabric

Blockchain, a vital technology in today’s era, changed the way we share, manage and exchange our data in a centralized way to decentralized architecture. With the increasing demand for Blockchain, various platforms are available to implement public, private, consortium, or permissioned, permissionless Blockchain. Hyperledger, an open-source, permissioned, distributed ledger-based Blockchain, was hosted by Linux. This paper explores Hyperledger Fabric Private Blockchain Network (HFPBN). The architecture of HFPBN with its components and transaction flow is explored in detail. The Blockchain in HFPBN comprises multiple blocks that are linked to each other. The block elements are discussed in detail with their type and size, and after that, the total size of the block depending upon various parameters is calculated. Further, one application of Blockchain, i.e., Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), is discussed in this paper as a case study. The VANET application is being implemented on the Hyperledger Fabric platform. Formulas showing the dependency of various parameters like endorsement policy, number of transactions, and number of reads and writes on block size are derived and shown in their relationship through the graph for the VANET system. The impact of block size on various performance parameters like throughput, latency, memory, and CPU utilization for the VANET system is then analyzed using Hyperledger Caliper. An optimal required value of throughput and latency is achieved for Blockchain-based VANET. Also, the Hyperledger Fabric platform seems suitable for many applications as it creates separate Blockchain for different applications.

Blockchain-Enabled SLA Compliance for Crowdsourced Edge-Based Network Function Virtualization

Network function virtualization (NFV) allows edge devices to host different types of virtual network functions (VNFs) and support Computing in the Network. Therefore, an edge device can abstract multiple VNFs of different infrastructure providers (InPs) as services and serve them at different times to act as a tenant for different InPs. Deploying edge devices is expensive and difficult to manage. Hence, crowdsourced edge devices can be used. To ensure the quality and availability of the services and the privacy of sensitive data of the service stakeholders, it is extremely important to establish a service level agreement (SLA) between an edge device owner and an InP. For monitoring of SLA compliance and enforcing accountability, a trusted platform is required. The traditional NFV management authority cannot be trusted due to its centralized characteristics. In this article, we propose a blockchain-powered framework for the SLA compliance of edge devices offering VNFs as services and introduce a smart contract-driven framework to establish trust in edge-based NFV. We analyze the performance of the proposed framework in the context of a private blockchain network.

A Modified Hybrid Blockchain Framework for Secured Data Transaction

Blockchain has recently become an essential tool which enables sensitive cloud services without the need for central confidence. For example, several different cryptocurrencies were permitted with public blockchains. Unfortunately, confidential details may be exposed on current public blockchain and smart contracts implemented there. Whilst some continuous work is under way to resolve these insecure knowledge leakage problems using advanced cryptography, they need major improvements on current and common Blockchain technology such as Ethereum and are typically costly in computing. On the other hand, blockchain applications were proposed to allow the data exchange among the pre accepted nodes/participants to be more efficient and privacy-preserving. While private blockchains respond to certain challenges of privacy by allowing only the particular community of participants to view sensitive data, they do not allow public transparency for communications because businesses are accepted by a known number of users also cannot be freely viewed. One natural problem is whether we should use public and private Blockchain networks in order to allow effective, improve privacy and accountable applications in view of these findings? In this work, we try in connection with digital auctions to face this challenge. In specific, we provide a newly designed blockchain architecture combined with private and open blockchains which enables sensitive offers to be opened up on a secluded blockchain so solitary the merchant can study the offers, and none of others. We also use shared blockchains to report the public sale winner and to make transfers responsible. Moreover, we demonstrate how we can promote sincere activity among auction participants by using intelligent contracts on public blockchains. Our detailed analytical findings suggest that it’s more cost effective compared to pure public auction implementations based on blockchain.

Decentralizing Private Blockchain-IoT Network with OLSR

With data transparency and immutability, the blockchain can provide trustless and decentralized services for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. However, most blockchain-IoT networks, especially those with a private blockchain, are built on top of an infrastructure-based wireless network (i.e., using Wi-Fi access points or cellular base stations). Hence, they are still under the risk of Single-Point-of-Failure (SPoF) on the network layer, hindering the decentralization merit, for example, when the access points or base stations get failures. This paper presents an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol-based solution for that issue in a private blockchain-IoT application. By decentralizing the underlying network with OLSR, the private blockchain network can avoid SPoF and automatically recover after a failure. Single blockchain connections can be extended to multiple ad hoc hops. Services over blockchain become flexible to fit various IoT scenarios. We show the effectiveness of our solution by constructing a private Ethereum blockchain network running on IoT devices (i.e., Raspberry Pi model 4) with environmental data sensing (i.e., Particular Matter (PM)). The IoT devices use OLSR to form an ad hoc network. The environment data are collected and propagated in transactions to a pre-loaded smart contract periodically. We then evaluate the IoT blockchain network’s recovery time when facing a link error. The evaluation results show that OLSR can automatically recover after the failure. We also evaluate the transaction-oriented latency and block-oriented latency, which indicates the blocks have a high transmission quality, while transactions are transferred individually.

The use of blockchain in the luxury industry: supply chains and the traceability of goods

PurposeMost businesses strive to control the efficiency of their supply chains; however, luxury firms face additional challenges from counterfeit, gray market and copycat products. Blockchain technology can address these issues and enhance firms' supply chain management, guaranteeing the traceability and origin of luxury products. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the utility and contexts influencing the implementation of blockchain technology to optimize supply chain management and prevent fraud in the luxury industry.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a qualitative approach based on the grounded theory method. Data are collected by semi-structured interviews with 12 stakeholders working on blockchain applications in the luxury business sector.FindingsHighlighting the problems faced by luxury brands' supply chains, this study presents blockchain technology as a solution for disintermediation, traceability and transparency in the luxury goods sector. The constraints faced by luxury brands incorporating this technology into their ecosystem include the knowledge gap, the multiplicity of third parties involved in the production process and bias toward short-term returns on investment.Originality/valueBlockchains promote greater transparency and efficiency within supply chains, which builds consumer trust and improves brand revenue. Considering luxury brands' reluctance to adopt blockchains, this study suggests that luxury firms adopt a staggered implementation of private blockchain networks starting with a small number of third-party suppliers.

CONSTRUCT IDENTIFICATION ON BLOCKCHAIN IMPLEMENTATION IN EMERGING ACCOUNTING AND ASSURANCE DOMAIN

Blockchain, popularly characterized as a distributed ledger technology, has been perceived as a revolutionary innovation. Due to its rapid development, blockchain has the capabilities to influence many domains, including accounting and assurance. Besides improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a business, blockchain has several features that ensure any information's reliability. Currently, many industries are exploring this emerging technology so that it could be implemented in their organizations. This research tried to identify the constructs on blockchain implementation in the accounting and assurance domain through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The five steps conducted in this research are identification, search strategy or study selection, data extraction or quality assessment, data analysis, as well as data synthesis, and report preparation. This research identified blockchain constructs in internal control, accounting, and auditing functions. We also analyzed the private blockchain network is more appropriate to be implemented in these sectors. Subsequently, three aspects need to be considered in implementing blockchain technology, namely technology, business, and environment. This research hopes will contribute to the development of Blockchain-based technology in future accounting and assurance domains. Keywords: blockchain, accounting, assurance, construct, systematic literature review

Different types of government and governance in the blockchain

This research work, a study was carried out on blockchain technology and its types, as well as the creation of new models of government and governance from the scope of an organization, infrastructure and platform. Governance and commercial models were addressed, based on standardization of data and legal frameworks. On the other hand, it showed how operational governance causes consequences in business models, whether with transactions, multi-signature, forks, consensus mechanism, smart contracts, tokenization, online dispute resolution and decentralized application (World Economic Forum, 2020, pp. 97 196). It was discovered that at least in current business models, private blockchain networks are more useful than public networks because they have greater operational flexibility and data governance, without exempting that public networks must also have mechanisms of governance since sometimes a human consensus must be reached to make updates to protocols and technical rules (The Law Society, 2020, pp. 24-61). This paper shows the basic principles that must be observed about governance and regulation in the implementation of blockchain technologies in systems created by governments, corporations and/or organized civil societies.

Design and Implementation of Blockchain Based Single Sign-On Authentication System for Web Applications

Today, many services are provided through web applications and the number of these applications is increasing rapidly. Nowadays, most users use their username and password to login to web applications. Many of these users also use the same login information in different applications. This causes a major security vulnerability for applications and users. As a solution to these weaknesses in the field of authentication, there have been many developments in recent years. Some of these studies have been third party identity authentication systems like Google and Facebook. Since this method also contains potential risks, studies have been conducted on the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) method for more security. In parallel with the innovations that emerge every day, methods should be used in the field of authentication. In these times, blockchain technology offers solutions that make life easier in many areas thanks to its distributed, transparent, secure and immutable structure. In this study, blockchain based single sign-on (SSO) authentication system was developed and implemented for web applications. In this system, a public address and a private key are defined on the private blockchain network for users and this information is used for the 2FA method through the developed mobile application. Detailed information was given about the proposed system and technologies used in the study.

A Blockchain Based Lifelong Learning Platform: The Smart University

According to today's education system, the content, applicability, quality and performance measurement criteria of the courses may vary according to countries, educational institutions and educators. Because of incorrect performance measurement, hidden skills disappear before they appear. Thanks to the graduation diploma it is observed that people with less than professional knowledge and skills come to better places than those who are more knowledgeable and skilled. In addition, due to the lack of a proper training plan according to the target learning community, boredom and financial problems may arise due to long periods of education. In this study, while trying to avoid material and temporal problems, a blockchain-based lifelong learning platform whose content, processing, reliability, decentralized, open to continuous and rapid accessibility, and evaluation criteria and method is completely objective is proposed. Thanks to this platform, the diplomas to be received by the students who have successfully passed the end-of-education exams will be time-stamped, immutable, safe and traceable. At the same time, all these documents, storage of training contents, diplomas, certificates, post-training exams and all related files , will be kept accessible, secure and immutable thanks to IPFS, the Inter Planetary File System. Achievements, employer and employee pools to be created according to the achievements, and a recruitment contract to be realized will be controlled by smart contracts and absolute reliability and objectivity will be ensured. All these concepts will be made available through a decentralized application (DApp) which will run on a private blockchain network that requires a partial permission to be established.