Data Integrity Time Optimization of a Blockchain IoT Smart Home Network Using Different Consensus and Hash Algorithms

Abstract

Data security is a major issue for smart home networks. Yet, different existing tools and techniques have not been proven highly effective for home networks' data security. Blockchain is a promising technology because of the distributed computing infrastructure network that makes it difficult for hackers to intrude into the systems through the use of cryptographic signatures and smart contracts. In this paper, an architecture for smart home networks that could guarantee data integrity, robust security, and the ability to protect the validity of the blockchain transactions has been investigated. The system model is tested using various sizes of realistic datasets (30, 3 k, and 30 k to represent a small, medium, and large number of transactions, respectively). Four different consensus algorithms were considered, the conventional schemes concatenated hash transactions (CHT) and Merkle hash tree (MHT), as well as the newly proposed odd and even modified MHT (O&E MHT) and modified MHT (MMHT). Moreover, 15 hash functions were also examined and compared to understand the effects of each consensus algorithms on the data integrity verification check execution time and the time optimization provided by the proposed MMHT algorithm. The results show that even though the CHT algorithm gives the lowest execution time, it is impractical for a blockchain implementation due to the requirement to copy the entire blockchain ledger in real time. Meanwhile, the O&E MHT does not give any tangible benefit in the execution time. However, the proposed MMHT offers a minimum of 30% gain in time optimization than the conventional MHT algorithm typically used in blockchains. This work shows that the proposed MMHT consensus algorithm not only can identify malicious codes but has an improved data integrity check performance in smart homes, all while ensuring network stability.