Fog Node Distributed Ledger for IoT Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Resource-constrained IoT devices in networks face challenges in obtaining suitable configuration information due to resource limitations and potential malicious data, and may not be able to access configuration information from remote sources, especially during network failures or overloads.
Innovation Solution
A distributed ledger system maintained by fog nodes with varying resource capabilities, where configuration information is stored across multiple nodes, ensuring consensus for authenticity and accessibility, allowing resource-constrained devices to receive configuration data from higher-tier fog nodes that breach resource thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If configuration information is obtained from a remote source, then configuration accessibility is improved, but security risk increases due to potential malicious information
Solution Approach 1:
A distributed ledger system acts as an intermediary between remote configuration sources and resource-constrained devices. The ledger stores and verifies configuration information, allowing devices to obtain configurations without directly trusting remote sources. Fog nodes query the ledger for configurations and verify their authenticity before deployment, eliminating the need for devices to directly access potentially malicious remote sources while maintaining configuration accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Configuration information is pre-stored and verified in the distributed ledger before being requested by devices. The consensus mechanism预先 validates the authenticity of configuration data, so when devices need configurations, they can retrieve pre-verified information from the ledger through fog nodes, avoiding exposure to malicious remote sources while ensuring configuration availability.
2Reliability
If resource-constrained devices access distributed ledger directly, then configuration reliability is improved, but device resource consumption increases beyond threshold
Solution Approach 1:
Fog nodes serve as intermediaries between resource-constrained devices and the distributed ledger system. Instead of devices directly querying and verifying configurations from the ledger (which would consume excessive resources), fog nodes perform the resource-intensive operations of querying the ledger, verifying consensus, and validating configuration authenticity. Devices simply receive pre-verified configurations from fog nodes, maintaining reliability while staying within resource thresholds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the configuration management workload between fog nodes and resource-constrained devices. Fog nodes handle the computationally intensive tasks of ledger interaction, consensus verification, and configuration validation. Devices only perform lightweight operations of requesting and applying configurations. This segmentation allows devices to benefit from reliable distributed ledger-backed configurations without exceeding their resource constraints.
3Device complexity
If configuration information is stored centrally, then system complexity is reduced, but availability decreases during network failures
Solution Approach 1:
The configuration storage and management functionality is segmented across multiple fog nodes that each maintain instances of the distributed ledger. Instead of a single central repository, configuration data is distributed across the network infrastructure. This segmentation provides redundancy - if one fog node or network path fails, other nodes still hold valid configuration copies, ensuring availability during network failures while maintaining manageable complexity through standardized distributed ledger protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is performed by a first fog node of a plurality of fog nodes. In some implementations, the first fog node includes a non-transitory memory and one or more processors coupled with the non-transitory memory. In some implementations, the method includes maintaining a distributed ledger in coordination with the remaining fog nodes of the plurality of fog nodes. In some implementations, the distributed ledger stores configuration information associated with one or more devices. In some implementations, the method includes obtaining a request for configuration information from a device that breaches a resource threshold associated with the distributed ledger. In some implementations, the method includes transmitting, to the device, the configuration information associated with the device in order to allow the device to be configured in accordance with the configuration information while the device breaches the resource threshold associated with the distributed ledger.