Access control for distributed ledgers in the internet of things: a networking approach
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Cullen, Andrew
Ferraro, Pietro
Sanders, William
Vigneri, Luigi
Shorten, Robert
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In the Internet of Things (IoT) domain, devices need a platform to transact seamlessly without a trusted intermediary. Although Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) could provide such a platform, blockchains, such as Bitcoin, were not designed with IoT networks in mind, hence are often unsuitable for such applications: they offer poor transaction throughput and confirmation times, put stress on constrained computing and storage resources, and require high transaction fees. In this work, we consider a class of IoT-friendly DLTs based on directed acyclic graphs, rather than a blockchain, and with a reputation system in the place of Proof of Work (PoW). However, without PoW, implementation of these DLTs requires an access control algorithm to manage the rate at which nodes can add new transactions to the ledger. We model the access control problem and present an algorithm that is fair, efficient and secure. Our algorithm represents a new design paradigm for DLTs in which concepts from networking are applied to the DLT setting for the first time. For example, our algorithm uses distributed rate setting which is similar in nature to transmission control used in the Internet. However, our solution features novel adaptations to cope with the adversarial environment of DLTs in which no individual agent can be trusted. Our algorithm guarantees utilisation of resources, consistency, fairness, and resilience against attackers. All of this is achieved efficiently and with regard for the limitations of IoT devices. We perform extensive simulations to validate these claims.
Date Issued
2022-02-01
Date Acceptance
2021-06-24
Citation
IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2022, 9 (3), pp.2277-2292
ISSN
2327-4662
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
2277
End Page
2292
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Internet of Things Journal
Volume
9
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Identifier
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9483887
Subjects
0805 Distributed Computing
1005 Communications Technologies
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-07-14