GPBFT: A Practical Byzantine Fault-Tolerant Consensus Algorithm Based on Dual Administrator Short Group Signatures

Abstract

The practical Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus algorithm reduces the operational complexity of Byzantine protocols from an exponential level to a polynomial level, which makes it possible to apply Byzantine protocols in distributed systems. However, it still has some problems, such as high communication overhead, low security, poor scalability, and difficulty in tracking. In this article, we propose a Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus algorithm based on dual administrator short group signatures (GPBFT). Firstly, the certification authority chooses the master node and group administrators based on the credit value. The group administrators organize the nodes into a group, and the members generate the signatures by applying the short group signatures scheme, in which any group member can represent the group during the GroupSign phase. Additionally, the GPBFT algorithm adds the Trace phase. According to member and client authentication information, the group administrator can track the true identity of the malicious node, identify the malicious node, and revoke it. The experimental results show that compared with the PBFT algorithm, the GPBFT algorithm can reduce the network communication overhead, reduce the consensus delay, and greatly improve the security and stability of the system. The algorithm can effectively manage member nodes and enable the tracking of identified malicious nodes while maintaining anonymity in terms of node tracking.