Decentralised IOTA-Based Concepts of Digital Trust for Securing Remote Driving in an Urban Environment

The novel contribution of this research is decentralised IOTA-based concepts of digital trust for securing remote driving in an urban environment. The conceptual solutions are studied and described, and respective experimental solutions are developed relying on digital identities, public key cryptography with a decentralised approach using decentralised identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs), and an IOTA-based distributed ledger. The provided digital trust solutions were validated by executing them according to the remote driving scenario but with a simulated vehicle and simulated remote driving system. The hybrid simulation mainly focused on the validation of functional, causal temporal correctness, feasibility, and capabilities of the provided solutions. The evaluations indicate that the concepts of digital trust fulfil the purpose and contribute towards making remote driving more trustable. A supervisory stakeholder was used as a verifier, requiring a set of example verifiable credentials from the vehicle and the remote driver, and accepting them to the security control channel. The separation of control and data planes from each other was found to be a good solution because the delays caused by required security control can be limited to the initiation of the remote driving session without causing additional delays in the actual real-time remote driving control data flow. The application of the IOTA Tangle as the verifiable data registry was found to be sufficient for security control purposes. During the evaluations, the need for further studies related to scalability, application of wallets, dynamic trust situations, time-sensitive behaviour, and autonomous operations, as well as smart contract(s) between multiple stakeholders, were detected. As the next step of this research, the provided digital trust solutions will be integrated with a vehicle, remote driving system and traffic infrastructure for evaluation of the performance, reliability, scalability, and flexibility in real-world experiments of remote driving of an electric bus in an urban environment

A Framework Based on Distributed Ledger Technologies for Data Management and Services in Intelligent Transportation Systems

Data are becoming the cornerstone of many businesses and entire systems infrastructure. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are no different. The ability of intelligent vehicles and devices to acquire and share environmental measurements in the form of data is leading to the creation of smart services for the benefit of individuals. In this paper, we present a system architecture to promote the development of ITS using distributed ledgers and related technologies. Thanks to these, it becomes possible to create, store and share data generated by users through the sensors on their devices or vehicles, while on the move. We propose an architecture based on Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) to offer features such as immutability, traceability and verifiability of data. IOTA, a promising DLT for IoT, is used together with Decentralized File Storages (DFSes) to store and certify data (and their related metadata) coming from vehicles or by the users' devices themselves (smartphones). Ethereum is then exploited as the smart contract platform that coordinates the data sharing through access control mechanisms. Privacy guarantees are provided by the usage of distributed key management systems and Zero Knowledge Proof. We provide experimental results of a testbed based on real traces, in order to understand if DLT and DFS technologies are ready to support complex services, such as those that pertain to ITS. Results clearly show that, while the viability of the proposal cannot be rejected, further work is needed on the responsiveness of DLT infrastructures

Using Distributed Ledger Technologies in VANETs to Achieve Trusted Intelligent Transportation Systems

With the recent advancements in the networking realm of computers as well as achieving real-time communication between devices over the Internet, IoT (Internet of Things) devices have been on the rise; collecting, sharing, and exchanging data with other connected devices or databases online, enabling all sorts of communications and operations without the need for human intervention, oversight, or control. This has caused more computer-based systems to get integrated into the physical world, inching us closer towards developing smart cities. The automotive industry, alongside other software developers and technology companies have been at the forefront of this advancement towards achieving smart cities. Currently, transportation networks need to be revamped to utilize the massive amounts of data being generated by the public’s vehicle’s on-board devices, as well as other integrated sensors on public transit systems, local roads, and highways. This will create an interconnected ecosystem that can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency and reliability. Currently, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications, all play a major role in supporting road safety, traffic efficiency, and energy savings. To protect these devices and the networks they form from being targets of cyber-related attacks, this paper presents ideas on how to leverage distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to establish secure communication between vehicles that is decentralized, trustless, and immutable. Incorporating IOTA’s protocols, as well as utilizing Ethereum’s smart contracts functionality and application concepts with VANETs, all interoperating with Hyperledger’s Fabric framework, several novel ideas can be implemented to improve traffic safety and efficiency. Such a modular design also opens up the possibility to further investigate use cases of the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in creating a decentralized intelligent transportation system (ITS)

Blockchain-based Data Management for Smart Transportation

Smart services for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are currently deployed over centralized system solutions. Conversely, the use of decentralized systems to support these applications enables the distribution of data, only to those entities that have the authorization to access them, while at the same time guaranteeing data sovereignty to the data creators. This approach not only allows sharing information without the intervention of a “trusted” data silo, but promotes data verifiability and accountability. We discuss a possible framework based on decentralized systems, with a focus on four requirements, namely data integrity, confidentiality, access control and persistence. We also describe a prototype implementation and related performance results, showing the viability of the chosen approach

Are Distributed Ledger Technologies Ready for Intelligent Transportation Systems?

The aim of this paper is to understand whether Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) are ready to support complex services, such as those related to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In smart transportation services, a huge amount of sensed data is generated by a multitude of vehicles. While DLTs provide very interesting features, such as immutability, traceability and verifiability of data,some doubts on the scalability and responsiveness of these technologies appear to be well-founded. We propose an architecture for ITS that resorts to DLT features. Moreover, we provide experimental results of a real test-bed over IOTA, a promising DLT for IoT. Results clearly show that, while the viability of the proposal cannot be rejected, further work is needed on the responsiveness of DLT infrastructure