TrustMesh: A Blockchain-Enabled Trusted Distributed Computing Framework for Open Heterogeneous IoT Environments

2024-11-20

arXiv.org

AI Summary

To address the lack of decentralized trust, unreliable scheduling, and the trade-off between security and performance in open heterogeneous IoT environments, this paper proposes a trusted distributed computing framework. Methodologically, it introduces a multi-stage PBFT-based consensus mechanism supporting non-deterministic scheduling—overcoming the traditional blockchain limitation where determinism and Byzantine fault tolerance are mutually exclusive—while integrating a permissioned blockchain architecture, a blockchain-driven resource management engine, and a lightweight device authentication mechanism. Experimental evaluation in a real-world cold-chain monitoring scenario demonstrates sub-150 ms Byzantine fault detection latency, low computational overhead, strong security guarantees, and adaptive scheduling flexibility under dynamic workloads. The framework significantly enhances trustworthy resource coordination across heterogeneous IoT systems.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Scheduling under Uncertainty
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Blockchains and distributed ledgers
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI

Abstract

The rapid evolution of Internet of Things (IoT) environments has created an urgent need for secure and trustworthy distributed computing systems, particularly when dealing with heterogeneous devices and applications where centralized trust cannot be assumed. This paper proposes TrustMesh, a novel blockchain-enabled framework that addresses these challenges through a unique three-layer architecture combining permissioned blockchain technology with a novel multi-phase Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus protocol. The key innovation lies in TrustMesh's ability to support non-deterministic scheduling algorithms while maintaining Byzantine fault tolerance - features traditionally considered mutually exclusive in blockchain systems. The framework supports a sophisticated resource management approach that enables flexible scheduling decisions while preserving the security guarantees of blockchain-based verification. Our experimental evaluation using a real-world cold chain monitoring scenario demonstrates that TrustMesh successfully maintains Byzantine fault tolerance with fault detection latencies under 150 milliseconds, while maintaining consistent framework overhead across varying computational workloads even with network scaling. These results establish TrustMesh's effectiveness in balancing security, performance, and flexibility requirements in trustless IoT environments, advancing the state-of-the-art in secure distributed computing frameworks.

Problem

• IoT
• Secure Resource Management
• Decentralized Trust

Innovation

• TrustMesh
• Blockchain-Integrated PBFT
• ResourceAdaptive Management