{"id":22485,"date":"2022-03-16T21:36:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T20:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mi.hdm-stuttgart.de\/?p=22485"},"modified":"2023-06-18T17:36:37","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T15:36:37","slug":"optimizing-practical-byzantine-fault-tolerance-in-wireless-iot-blockchain-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mi.hdm-stuttgart.de\/index.php\/2022\/03\/16\/optimizing-practical-byzantine-fault-tolerance-in-wireless-iot-blockchain-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimizing Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance in Wireless IoT Blockchain Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Don’t we all appreciate a little help in our everyday lives? “Alexa, turn on the lights in the living room.”<\/em>
Voice assistants, smart lights and other smart home devices are all part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Those and other possible applications of IoT devices increase continuously and with it the overall number of connected devices. According to IoT Analytics Research, there are already over 12.3 billion connected IoT devices around the world, whereas most of them are wireless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how can we guarantee security, trust and liveliness in such networks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Global IoT Market Forecast From IoT Analytics Research (https:\/\/iot-analytics.com\/product\/state-of-iot-summer-2021\/<\/a> \/ https:\/\/iot-analytics.com\/number-connected-iot-devices\/<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, we will gain an insight into how byzantine fault tolerance can be achieved in wireless IoT networks. In particular, we will look at an analytical modeling framework by Onreti et al. for applying the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm to such networks. Furthermore, we will see which restrictions apply and how the viable area for these networks can be obtained. For more details, take a look at the original paper “On the Viable Area of Wireless Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) Blockchain Networks” by Onreti et al. [2].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IoT and Blockchain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

All devices (or nodes) in a fully autonomous IoT network communicate in a distributed way. However, this communication style is not an easy task as nodes need to agree on the validity of communicated data. The approach, for achieving the necessary level of security and trust, is to apply an appropriate consensus method. As the principle of agreeing on new data is the same as in blockchain, its consensus methods can also be applied to IoT networks. However, commonly used methods such as proof of work and proof of stake rely on computational power – a limited resource for most IoT devices. This is where wireless PBFT protocol comes in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here, (wireless) PBFT refers to a blockchain consensus method with low computational complexity and power suited for asynchronous IoT environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The protocol consists of the following three phases<\/p>\n\n\n\n