Integration of fog computing for health record management using blockchain technology

Abstract

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a breakthrough technology in the transfer of medical data via a communication system. Wearable sensor devices collect patient data and transfer them through mobile internet, that is, the IoMT. Recently, the shift in paradigm from manual data storage to electronic health recording on fog, edge, and cloud computing has been noted. These advanced computing technologies have facilitatedmedical services with minimum cost and available conditions. However, the IoMT raises a high concern on network security and patient data privacy in the health care system. The main issue is the transmission of health data with high security in the fog computing model. In today's market, the best solution is blockchain technology. This technology provides high-end security and authentication in storing and transferring data. In this research, a blockchain-based fog computing model is proposed for the IoMT. The proposed technique embeds a block chain with the yet another consensus (YAC) protocol building security infrastructure into fog computing for storing and transferring IoMT data in the network. YAC is a consensus protocol that authenticates the input data in the block chain. In this scenario, the patients and their family members are allowed to access the data. The empirical outcome of the proposed technique indicates high reliability and security against dangerous threats. The major advantages of using the blockchain model are high transparency, good traceability, and high processing speed. The technique also exhibits high reliability and efficiency in accessing data with secure transmission. The proposed technique achieves 95% reliability in transferring a large number of files up to 10,000.