Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

SusChain: a sustainable sharding scheme for UAV blockchain networks

  • Published:
Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With the continuous development of information technology, drones have become the supporting technology for sustainable smart cities. Currently, the blockchain that guarantees the information security of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network has become the focus of academic attention. However, due to the small size of the drone, and its limited storage and battery capacity, it is difficult to support the sustainable work of the UAV blockchain network. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of sustainable blockchain (SusChain) and empowers the UAV blockchain network to better apply it to sustainable smart cities. In particular, we have introduced and improved the Ultra-Low Storage Overhead-Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (ULS-PBFT) consensus in the UAV blockchain network, making it a sharding scheme with extremely low storage overhead and energy consumption. Meanwhile, we design a reptation-and-matching-based UAV clustering scheme to ensure that each shard and SusChain have a high consensus success rate. The simulation results show that SusChain has a significant advantage in the key indicators of sustainability. In specific cases, it has a 9–227%, 11–58%, and 27–56% improvement effect in consensus security, consensus delay, and energy consumption, compared to other sharding schemes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

References

  1. Lai X, Zhang Y, Luo H (2024) A low-cost blockchain node deployment algorithm for the internet of things. Peer-to-Peer Netw Appl 17(2):756–766

    Google Scholar 

  2. Yeduri SR, Chilamkurthy NS, Pandey OJ, Cenkeramaddi LR (2022) Energy and Throughput Management in Delay-Constrained Small-World UAV-IoT Network. IEEE Internet Things J 10(9):7922–7935

    Google Scholar 

  3. Luo H, Liu S, Xu S, Luo J (2023) LECast: a low-energy-consumption broadcast protocol for UAV blockchain networks. Drones 7(2):76

    Google Scholar 

  4. Tripathi S, Pandey OJ, Cenkeramaddi LR, Hegde RM (2022) A Socially-Aware Radio Map Framework for Improving QoS of UAV-Assisted MEC Networks. IEEE Trans Netw Serv Manage 20(1):342–356

    Google Scholar 

  5. Sharma J, Mehra PS (2023) Secure communication in IOT-based UAV networks: A systematic survey. Internet of Things 23:100883

  6. Tsao KY, Girdler T, Vassilakis VG (2022) A survey of cyber security threats and solutions for UAV communications and flying ad-hoc networks. Ad Hoc Netw 133:102894

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ullah Z, Naeem M, Coronato A, Ribino P, De Pietro G (2023) Blockchain applications in sustainable smart cities. Sustain Cities Soc 97:104697

    Google Scholar 

  8. Sun Y, Zhang L, Feng G, Yang B, Cao B, Imran MA (2019) Blockchain-enabled wireless Internet of Things: performance analysis and optimal communication node deployment. IEEE Internet Things J 6(3):5791–5802

    Google Scholar 

  9. Luo H, Zhang J, Li X, Li Z, Yu H, Sun G, Niyato D (2024) ESIA: An Efficient and Stable Identity Authentication for Internet of Vehicles. IEEE Trans Vehicular Tech 73(4):5602–5615

    Google Scholar 

  10. Malik A, Khan MZ, Qaisar SM, Faisal M, Mehmood G (2023) An efficient approach for the detection and prevention of gray-hole attacks in VANETs. IEEE Access 11:46691–46706

    Google Scholar 

  11. Luo H, Wu Y, Sun G, Yu H, Guizani M (2024) ESCM: An Efficient and secure communication mechanism for UAV networks. IEEE Trans Netw Serv Manag 21(3):3124–3139

    Google Scholar 

  12. Luo L, Feng J, Yu H, Sun G (2021) Blockchain-enabled two-way auction mechanism for electricity trading in internet of electric vehicles. IEEE Internet Things J 9(11):8105–8118

    Google Scholar 

  13. Luo H, Yu H, Luo J (2023) PRAFT and RPBFT: a class of blockchain consensus algorithm and their applications in electric vehicles charging scenarios for V2G networks. Internet Things Cyber-Phys Syst 3:61–70

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mehmood G, Khan MZ, Waheed A, Zareei M, Mohamed EM (2020) A trust-based energy-efficient and reliable communication scheme (trust-based ERCS) for remote patient monitoring in wireless body area networks. IEEE Access 8:131397–131413

    Google Scholar 

  15. Luo H (2023) ULS-PBFT: An ultra-low storage overhead PBFT consensus for blockchain. Blockchain: Research and Applications 4(4):100155

  16. Luo H, Yang X, Yu H, Sun G, Xu S, Lei B (2024) Performance Analysis and Comparison of Non-ideal Wireless PBFT and RAFT Consensus Networks in 6G Communications. IEEE Internet Things J 11(6):9752–9765

    Google Scholar 

  17. Luu L, Narayanan V, Zheng C, Baweja K, Gilbert S, Saxena P (2016) A secure sharding protocol for open blockchains. In: Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGSAC conference on computer and communications security (CCS). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, pp 17–30

  18. Li W, Feng C, Zhang L, Xu H, Cao B, Imran MA (2020) A scalable multi-layer PBFT consensus for blockchain. IEEE Trans Parallel Distrib Syst 32(5):1146–1160

    Google Scholar 

  19. Hong Z, Guo S, Li P, Chen W (2021) Pyramid: A layered sharding blockchain system. In: IEEE INFOCOM 2021-IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, Vancouver, BC, Canada, pp 1–10

  20. Hong Z, Guo S, Li P (2022) Scaling blockchain via layered sharding. IEEE J Sel Areas Commun 40(12):3575–3588

    Google Scholar 

  21. Psaras Y, Dias D (2020) The interplanetary file system and the filecoin network. In: 2020 50th Annual IEEEIFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks-Supplemental Volume (DSN-S), Valencia, Spain, pp 80–80

  22. Mehta P, Gupta R, Tanwar S (2020) Blockchain envisioned UAV networks: challenges, solutions, and comparisons. Comput Commun 151:518–538

    Google Scholar 

  23. Aggarwal S, Kumar N, Tanwar S (2020) Blockchain-envisioned UAV communication using 6G networks: open issues, use cases, and future directions. IEEE Internet Things J 8(7):5416–5441

    Google Scholar 

  24. Chen W, Liu J, Guo H (2020) Achieving robust and efficient consensus for large-scale drone swarm. IEEE Trans Veh Technol 69(12):15867–15879

    Google Scholar 

  25. Alsamhi SH, Shvetsov AV, Shvetsova SV, Hawbani A, Guizani M, Alhartomi MA, Ma O (2022) Blockchain-empowered security and energy efficiency of drone swarm consensus for environment exploration. IEEE Trans Green Commun Netw 7(1):328–338

    Google Scholar 

  26. Lv Z, Cheng C, Lv H (2023) Blockchain based decentralized learning for security in digital twins. IEEE Internet Things J 10(24):21479–21488

    Google Scholar 

  27. Qiao L, Lv Z (2023) A blockchain-based decentralized collaborative learning model for reliable energy digital twins. Internet Things Cyber-Phys Syst 3:45–51

    Google Scholar 

  28. Castro M, Liskov B (1999) Practical byzantine fault tolerance. In: Proc 3rd Symp Operating Syst Des Implement, pp 173–186

  29. Kokoris-Kogias E, Jovanovic P, Gasser L, Gailly N, Syta E, Ford B (2018) Omniledger: A secure, scale-out, decentralized ledger via sharding. In: 2018 IEEE symposium on security and privacy (SP), San Francisco, CA, USA, pp 583–598

  30. Zamani M, Movahedi M, Raykova M (2018) Rapidchain: Scaling blockchain via full sharding. In: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM SIGSAC conference on computer and communications security (CCS). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, pp 931–948

  31. Li M, Lin Y, Zhang J, Wang W (2023) CoChain: high concurrency blockchain sharding via consensus on consensus. In: IEEE INFOCOM 2023-IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, New York City, NY, USA, pp 1–10

  32. Luo H, Sun G, Yu H, Lei B, Guizani M (2024) An energy-efficient wireless blockchain sharding scheme for PBFT Consensus. IEEE Trans Netw Sci Eng 11(3):3015–3027

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhang P, Guo W, Liu Z, Zhou M, Huang B, Sedraoui K (2023) Optimized Blockchain Sharding Model Based on Node Trust and Allocation. IEEE Trans Netw Serv Manage 20(3):2804–2816

    Google Scholar 

  34. Lin Y, Gao Z, Du H, Kang J, Niyato D, Wang Q, Ruan J, Wan S (2023) DRL-based adaptive sharding for blockchain-based federated learning. IEEE Trans Commun 71(10):5992–6004

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ghimire B, Rawat DB, Liu C, Li J (2021) Sharding-enabled blockchain for software-defined internet of unmanned vehicles in the battlefield. IEEE Netw 35(1):101–107

    Google Scholar 

  36. Wang J, Jiao Z, Chen J, Hou X, Yang T, Lan D (2023) Blockchain-aided secure access control for UAV computing networks. IEEE Trans Netw Sci Eng. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSE.2023.3324639

  37. Jiang L, Liu Y, Tian H, Tang L, Xie S (2024) Resource efficient federated learning and DAG blockchain with sharding in digital twin driven industrial IoT. IEEE Internet Things J 11(10):17113–17127

    Google Scholar 

  38. Xu X, Sun G, Yu H (2021) An efficient blockchain pbft consensus protocol in energy constrained iot applications. In: 2021 International Conference on UK-China Emerging Technologies (UCET), Chengdu, China, pp 152–157

  39. Nakamoto S (2008) Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. White Paper. Available: http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

  40. Luo H, Zhang Q, Yu H, Sun G, Xu S (2023) Symbiotic PBFT consensus: Cognitive backscatter communications-enabled wireless PBFT consensus. In: GLOBECOM 2023-2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp 910–915

  41. Riyal A, Kumar G, Sharma DK, Gupta KD, Srivastava G (2022) Blockchain tree powered green communication for efficient and sustainable connected autonomous vehicles. IEEE Trans Green Commun Netw 6(3):1428–1437

    Google Scholar 

  42. Qian K, Liu Y, Shu C, Sun Y, Wang K (2023) Fine-grained benchmarking and targeted optimization: Enabling green iot-oriented blockchain in the 6G Era. IEEE Trans Green Commun Netw 7(2):1036–1051

    Google Scholar 

  43. Islam MJ, Rahman A, Kabir S, Karim MR, Acharjee UK, Nasir MK, Band SS, Sookhak M, Wu S (2021) Blockchain-SDN-based energy-aware and distributed secure architecture for IoT in smart cities. IEEE Int Things J 9(5):3850–3864

    Google Scholar 

  44. Rahman A, Islam MJ, Montieri A, Nasir MK, Reza MM, Band SS, Pescape A, Hasan M, Sookhak M, Mosavi A (2021) Smartblock-sdn: An optimized blockchain-sdn framework for resource management in iot. IEEE Access 9:28361–28376

    Google Scholar 

  45. Rahman A, Islam MJ, Band SS, Muhammad G, Hasan K, Tiwari P (2023) Towards a blockchain-SDN-based secure architecture for cloud computing in smart industrial IoT. Digit Commun Netw 9(2):411–421

    Google Scholar 

  46. Asheralieva A, Niyato D (2020) Reputation-based coalition formation for secure self-organized and scalable sharding in iot blockchains with mobile-edge computing. IEEE Internet Things J 7(12):11830–11850

    Google Scholar 

  47. Saqib NU, Malik SU, Anjum A, Syed MH, Moqurrab SA, Srivastava G, Lin JCW (2023) Preserving privacy in the internet of vehicles (IoV): A novel group leader-based shadowing scheme using blockchain. IEEE Internet Things J 10(24):21421–21430

    Google Scholar 

  48. Jøsang A (2001) A logic for uncertain probabilities. Int J Uncertain Fuzziness Knowledge-Based Syst 9(03):279–311

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  49. Sohail M, Wang L, Jiang S, Zaineldeen S, Ashraf RU (2019) Multi-hop interpersonal trust assessment in vehicular ad-hoc networks using three-valued subjective logic. IET Inf Secur 13(3):223–230

    Google Scholar 

  50. Liu G, Yang Q, Wang H, Lin X, Wittie MP (2014) Assessment of multi-hop interpersonal trust in social networks by three-valued subjective logic. In: IEEE INFOCOM 2014-IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, Toronto, ON, Canada, pp 1698–1706

  51. Varga A (2019) A practical introduction to the OMNeT++ simulation framework. In: Virdis A, Kirsche M (eds) Recent Advances in Network Simulation. EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12842-5_1

  52. Huang X, Yu R, Kang J, Zhang Y (2017) Distributed reputation management for secure and efficient vehicular edge computing and networks. IEEE Access 5:25408–25420

    Google Scholar 

  53. Pei H, Feng S, Zhang Y, Yao D (2019) A cooperative driving strategy for merging at on-ramps based on dynamic programming. IEEE Trans Veh Technol 68(12):11646–11656

    Google Scholar 

  54. Aloqaily M, Bouachir O, Al Ridhawi I, Tzes A (2022) An adaptive UAV positioning model for sustainable smart transportation. Sustain Cities Soc 78:103617

    Google Scholar 

  55. Luo H, Yang X, Yu H, Sun G, Xu S, Luo L (2023) Performance analysis of non-ideal wireless pbft networks with mmwave and terahertz signals. In: IEEE MetaCom 2023-IEEE International Conference on Metaverse Computing, Networking and Applications, Kyoto, Japan, pp 104–108

  56. Chang B, Zhang L, Li L, Zhao G, Chen Z (2019) Optimizing resource allocation in URLLC for real-time wireless control systems. IEEE Trans Veh Technol 68(9):8916–8927

    Google Scholar 

  57. Chen X, Sun G, Wu T, Liu L, Yu H, Guizani M (2022) RANCE: a Randomly Centralized and On-Demand Clustering Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. IEEE Internet Things J 9(23):23639–23658

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant 2019YFB1802800; and in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province under Grant 2022NSFSC0913.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Jiale Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications (Ministry of Education), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Haoxiang Luo

Authors
  1. Jiale Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Haoxiang Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Jiale Chen and Haoxiang Luo wrote the main part of the manuscript. Jiale Chen developed the model and performed experiments. Haoxiang Luo developed the model. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haoxiang Luo.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This work does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, J., Luo, H. SusChain: a sustainable sharding scheme for UAV blockchain networks. Peer-to-Peer Netw. Appl. 17, 3603–3617 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12083-024-01777-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12083-024-01777-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation