A Blockchain Protocol for Real-Time Application Migration on the Edge.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Distributed Systems
• Network Architecture

Background:

• Internet of Things (IoT) adoption spans various sectors, traditionally relying on centralized cloud infrastructure.
• A shift towards decentralized edge computing architectures is occurring to reduce latency and costs.
• Existing edge architectures often retain centralized management, limiting true decentralization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a decentralized architecture for large-scale peer-to-peer IoT sensor networks.
• To enable run-time application migration within a decentralized IoT framework.
• To propose a novel leader election consensus protocol for permissioned distributed networks.

Main Methods:

• Developed a decentralized architecture for IoT sensor networks.
• Implemented a leader election consensus protocol using blockchain and Verifiable Delay Functions (VDF).
• Validated the system through performance analysis and scalability testing.

Main Results:

• Achieved consistent consensus among nodes.
• Demonstrated VDF proofs as a source for decentralized randomness.
• Successfully performed autonomous real-time application migrations.
• Validated system scalability with 100 consensus nodes and 200 applications.

Conclusions:

• The proposed decentralized architecture is suitable for large-scale IoT deployments.
• The consensus protocol ensures fault tolerance, transparency, and eliminates single points of failure.
• The system effectively supports autonomous real-time application migration and demonstrates scalability.