Consensus in Blockchain Systems with Low Network Throughput: A Systematic Mapping Study

• Main Authors: Knudsen, Henrik, Notland, Jakob Svennevik, Haro, Peter Halland, Ræder, Truls Bakkejord, Li, Jingyue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 04.03.2021
• Subjects: Computer Science - Computational Complexity; Computer Science - Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing; Computer Science - Performance
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2103.02916

Blockchain technologies originate from cryptocurrencies. Thus, most blockchain technologies assume an environment with a fast and stable network. However, in some blockchain-based systems, e.g., supply chain management (SCM) systems, some Internet of Things (IOT) nodes can only rely on the low-quality network sometimes to achieve consensus. Thus, it is critical to understand the applicability of existing consensus algorithms in such environments. We performed a systematic mapping study to evaluate and compare existing consensus mechanisms' capability to provide integrity and security with varying network properties. Our study identified 25 state-of-the-art consensus algorithms from published and preprint literature. We categorized and compared the consensus algorithms qualitatively based on established performance and integrity metrics and well-known blockchain security issues. Results show that consensus algorithms rely on the synchronous network for correctness cannot provide the expected integrity. Such consensus algorithms may also be vulnerable to distributed-denial-of-service (DDOS) and routing attacks, given limited network throughput. Conversely, asynchronous consensus algorithms, e.g., Honey-BadgerBFT, are deemed more robust against many of these attacks and may provide high integrity in asynchrony events.