MEC Blockchain Nodes for IoT Authentication Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in wireless networks poses challenges in authenticating a large number of devices efficiently, leading to resource taxation and high latency due to traditional blockchain authentication processes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) networks with blockchain nodes that register and authenticate IoT devices, reducing the need for extensive message exchange and latency by distributing identity registration and consensus across MEC devices, using various consensus mechanisms such as Proof-of-Authority or Proof-of-Stake.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional blockchain authentication processes are used to authenticate IoT devices, then device authentication and identity registration can be achieved, but resource taxation and high latency occur due to extensive message exchange
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blockchain network into edge blockchain nodes distributed across multiple MEC devices and a central blockchain node. This segmentation allows authentication requests to be processed locally at the edge by MEC devices rather than requiring all message exchange to traverse the entire network to a central node, thereby reducing latency while maintaining authentication reliability through distributed consensus among segmented nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces MEC devices as intermediary nodes between IoT devices and the central blockchain node. These intermediary MEC devices perform initial authentication processing and maintain local blockchain copies, acting as mediators that reduce the direct communication burden between IoT devices and the central node, thereby reducing message exchange latency while ensuring authentication reliability through the intermediary's verification process.
2Reliability
If traditional blockchain authentication processes are used to authenticate a large number of IoT devices, then comprehensive device registration can be achieved, but resource taxation occurs due to extensive message exchange
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication processing load across multiple MEC devices distributed at the network edge, rather than concentrating all authentication processing at a central node. Each MEC device handles authentication for local IoT devices independently, segmenting the resource consumption across multiple nodes and reducing the energy burden on any single node and on the core network infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves blockchain nodes from a centralized core network location to distributed edge locations closer to IoT devices. This dimensional change in network architecture places authentication processing in a different spatial dimension (at the network edge rather than center), reducing the distance and resources required for message exchange while maintaining comprehensive device registration capability.
3Reliability
If blockchain nodes are centralized in the core network, then comprehensive device registration can be achieved, but latency increases due to distance from IoT devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized blockchain node into multiple distributed blockchain nodes deployed across MEC devices at the network edge. This segmentation allows device registration to be processed at multiple distributed locations rather than requiring all registrations to travel to a single centralized node, thereby maintaining comprehensive registration capability while reducing the distance and time for message exchange.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a centralized blockchain architecture to a distributed edge architecture, changing the spatial dimension of blockchain node deployment from the core network center to the network edge. This dimensional change places blockchain nodes physically closer to IoT devices, reducing communication latency while maintaining comprehensive device registration through the distributed network of edge nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
A device may include a memory storing instructions and processor configured to execute the instructions to receive, by a first blockchain node and via a first base station, a message from a first Internet of Things (IoT) device to a second IoT device, wherein the device corresponds to a first multi-access edge computing (MEC) device located in a first MEC network associated with the first base station. The processor may be further configured to authenticate, by the first blockchain node, the first IoT device using a blockchain associated with a group of IoT devices and send, by the first blockchain node, the message to a second blockchain node in a second MEC device in a second MEC network associated with a second base station servicing the second IoT device, in response to authenticating the first IoT device using the blockchain associated with the group of IoT devices.