An Outlier-aware Consensus Protocol for Blockchain-based IoT Networks Using Hyperledger Fabric
A new framework for a secure and robust consensus in blockchain-based IoT networks is proposed. Hyperledger fabric, which is a blockchain platform developed as part of the Hyperledger project, though looks very apt for IoT applications, has comparatively low tolerance for malicious activities in an untrustworthy environment. To that end, we propose a 2-step consensus protocol that uses an outlier detection algorithm for a blockchain-based IoT network implemented on hyperledger fabric platform. The outlier-aware consensus protocol first detects anomaly activities via a learned detector. Then, the data goes through the inherent Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus protocol in the hyperledger fabric for ledger update. We measure and report the performance of our framework with respect to the various delay components. Results reveal that our implemented 2-step consensus protocol improves hyperledger fabric performance in terms of fault tolerance by marginally compromising the delay performance.