Virtualization for Distributed Ledger Technology (vDLT)

Recently, with the tremendous development of crypto-currencies, distributed ledger technology (DLT) (e.g., blockchain) has attracted significant attention. The traditional Internet was originally design to to handle the exchange of information. With DLT, we will have the Internet of value. Although DLT has great potential to create new foundations for our economic and social systems, the existing DLT has a number of drawbacks (e.g., scalability) that prevent it from being used as a generic platform for distributed

A novel blockchain architecture based on network functions virtualization (NFV) with auto smart contracts

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is considered to be a hopeful technology for supporting blockchain with many features like flexible networks and intelligent equipment. NFV decreases the expenses incurred on the maintenance and operation of assets that are generated through expenses, in addition to capital expenditures based on the isolate the physical devices from the main tasks executed by that equipment. Blockchain currency transfers or technology is the most powerful security tool that ensures the security of data. The prominent challenges in NFV are the processes of transition, vendor compatibility, network management, rapid growth, and security. The software industry and skills of networking are experiencing fast expansion and deployment of the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) approach, jointly in blockchain and cloud networks. In this paper, a novel method is offered to virtualize the work of the blockchain based on the NFV with auto work of the smart contract between virtual nodes based on cloud computing. By blending NFV with Blockchain, all of the above-mentioned challenges have been overcome by moving to software environments through creating virtual nodes, as well as smooth interaction among them and managing the transactions between nodes and clients, indicating ideal network management. Through the proposed work, a throughput of up to 20% is obtained by applying NFV compared to not applying NFV to the blockchain. In addition, the costs of the hardware are eliminated and eventually a secure environment is used which distances the system from virtual attacks

The Foundation of Distributed Ledger Technology for Supply Chain Management

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) appears to be one of the most promising technologies in the field of supply chain management (SCM). However, as the technology is still evolving, only limited empirical evidence has been analyzed, managers and scientific scholars alike seek to understand how DLT can help improving SCM. This study aims to shed light into the current DLT applications in SCM to identify the foundation of the technology for SCM and uncover what DLT brings to the table. It develops seven foundational characteristics of DLT in SCM that describe both the nature of DLT and its characteristics for SCM. The study reveals that DLTs are interorganizational information systems that are diverse in their realizations and enable modular platform ecosystems. Nowadays application in SCM build on steady data availability, selective transparency, high authenticity and a source of mutual trust

Application-Aware Consensus Management for Software-Defined Intelligent Blockchain in IoT

Currently, IoT has become an important carrier of blockchains, which not only makes blockchain more ubiquitous but also improves the security of IoT. Consensus is the core component of blockchains with various forms, which raises the following challenges. Dynamic management and configuration of the consensuses in a blockchain are required because IoT applications have high dynamics. Moreover, an IoT node is usually reutilized by various applications in different blockchains, which means the IoT node should be switched frequently to cross consensuses in different blockchains. To address this, a software-defined blockchain architecture is proposed to realized the dynamic configurations for blockchains. Then a consensus function virtualization approach with application-aware work flow is proposed, which can abstract and manage various consensus resources. Next, a transfer-learning-based intelligent scheme is designed to implement the application- layer packet analysis and perform the efficient management of virtualized consensus resources. Experiment results indicate the feasibility of the proposed scheme. This work is significant in enhancing the flexibility and extendibility of blockchains in IoT

A decentralized blockchain-based energy market for citizen energy communities

Despite the fact that power grids have been planned and utilized using centralized networks for many years, there are now significant changes occurring as a result of the growing number of distributed energy resources, the development of energy storage systems and devices, and the increased use of electric vehicles. In light of this development, it is pertinent to ask what an efficient approach would be to the operation and management of future distribution grids consisting of millions of distributed and even mobile energy elements. Parallel to this evolution in power grids, there has been rapid growth in decentralized management technology due to the development of relevant technologies such as blockchain networks. Blockchain is an advanced technology that enables us to answer the question raised above. This paper introduces a decentralized blockchain network based on the Hyperledger Fabric framework. The proposed framework enables the formation of local energy markets of future citizen energy communities (CECs) through peer-to-peer transactions. In addition, it is designed to ensure adequate load supply and observe the network’s constraints while running an optimal operation point by consensus among all of the players in a CEC. An open-source tool in Python is used to verify the performance of the proposed framework and compare the results. Through its distributed and layered management structure, the proposed blockchain-based framework proves its superior flexibility and proper functioning. Moreover, the results show that the proposed model increases system performance, reduces costs, and reaches an operating point based on consensus among the microgrid elements

Distributed Ledger Technology: State-of-the-Art and Current Challenges

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is making the first steps toward becoming a solution for the growing number of various decentralized systems world wide. Unlike pure Blockchain, DLT finds many uses across different industries, including eHealth, finance, supply chain monitoring, and the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the vital DLT features is the ability to provide an immutable and commonly verifiable ledger for larger-scale and highly complex systems. Today’s centralized systems can no longer guarantee the required level of availability and reliability due to the growing number of the involved nodes, complicated heterogeneous architectures, and task load, while the publicly available distributed systems are still in their infancy. This paper aims to provide an exhaustive topical review of the state-of-the art of Distributed Ledger Technology applicability in various sectors. It outlines the importance of the practical integration of technology-related challenges, as well as potential solutions

Cooperative computation offloading and resource allocation for blockchain-enabled mobile edge computing: A deep reinforcement learning approach

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a promising paradigm to improve the quality of computation experience of mobile devices because it allows mobile devices to offload computing tasks to MEC servers, benefiting from the powerful computing resources of MEC servers. However, the existing computation-offloading works have also some open issues: 1) security and privacy issues, 2) cooperative computation offloading, and 3) dynamic optimization. To address the security and privacy issues, we employ blockchain technology that ensures the reliability and irreversibility of data in MEC systems. Meanwhile, we jointly design and optimize the performance of blockchain and MEC. In this paper, we develop a cooperative computation offloading and resource allocation framework for blockchain-enabled MEC systems. In the framework, we design a multi-objective function to maximize the computation rate of MEC systems and the transaction throughput of blockchain systems by jointly optimizing offloading decision, power allocation, block size and block interval. Due to the dynamic characteristics of the wireless fading channel and the processing queues at MEC servers, the joint optimization is formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP). To tackle the dynamics and complexity of the blockchain-enabled MEC system, we develop an A3C-based cooperation computation offloading and resource allocation algorithm to solve the MDP problem. In the algorithm, deep neural networks are optimized by utilizing asynchronous gradient descent and eliminating the correlation of data. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm converges fast and achieves significant performance improvements over existing schemes in terms of total reward

Blockchain Technology for Secure Accounting Management: Research Trends Analysis

The scope of blockchain technology, initially associated with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is greater due to the multiple applications in various disciplines. Its use in accounting lies mainly in the fact that it reduces risks and the eventuality of fraud, eliminates human error, promotes efficiency, and increases transparency and reliability. This means that different economic sectors assume it as a recording and management instrument. The aim is to examine current and emerging research lines at a global level on blockchain technology for secure accounting management. The evolution of the publication of the number of articles between 2016 and 2020 was analyzed. Statistical and mathematical techniques were applied to a sample of 1130 records from the Scopus database. The data uncovered a polynomial trend in this period. The seven main lines of work were identified: blockchain, network security, information management, digital storage, edge computing, commerce, and the Internet of Things. The ten most outstanding emerging research lines are detected. This study provides the past and future thematic axes on this incipient field of knowledge, which is a tool for decision-making by academics, researchers, and directors of research investment program