Trustless Virtual PON Sharing for 5G Services

Abstract

Sharing network/infrastructure resources becomes more essential as the cost of ownership and network deployment increases due to the new and more resource-demanding services as a part of the 5G evolution. Meanwhile, the new network ownership models challenge the conventional centralized network ownership/sharing models where a central authority is absent, leading to a trust-less market ecosystem. In this paper, we propose, for the first time, a distributed market verification mechanism using permissioned blockchain technology for multi-tenant PONs. We use the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework to implement our solution, which has a considerably lower cost in terms of latency and computing compared to the traditional blockchain (e.g., Bitcoin).