Blockgraph: A blockchain for mobile ad hoc networks

Abstract

Blockchain is one of the most prominent emerging technologies. It offers the ability to maintain an anti-tamper distributed database, ensuring the integrity and authenticity of data in a decentralized system. However, when using blockchain in a dynamic community, such as mobile nodes in an ad hoc and mesh networks, the chain structure is no longer enough to deal with node mobility. In this paper, we address the challenges of using a DAG-based blockchain for mobile and ad hoc networks (MANETs) that we call “blockgraph”. We define the characteristics of the blockgraph framework. This includes: the requirement needed for a consensus protocol in order to be resilient to network partitions; the specifications of the blockgraph protocol that ensure the maintenance of the blockgraph data structure; and a group management system that reacts to network topology changes that provide with relevant network topology information to the blockgraph framework. Finally, we implemented our framework in the discrete event network simulator NS3 as a proof-of-concept for our blockgraph.