A lightweight practical consensus mechanism for supply chain blockchain

Abstract

We present a consensus mechanism in this paper that is designed specifically for supply chain blockchains, with a core focus on establishing trust among participating stakeholders through a novel reputation-based approach. The prevailing consensus mechanisms, initially crafted for cryptocurrency applications, prove unsuitable for the unique dynamics of supply chain systems. Unlike the broad inclusivity of cryptocurrency networks, our proposed mechanism insists on stakeholder participation rooted in process-specific quality criteria. The delineation of roles for supply chain participants within the consensus process becomes paramount. While reputation serves as a well-established quality parameter in various domains, its nuanced impact on non-cryptocurrency consensus mechanisms remains uncharted territory. Moreover, recognizing the primary role of efficient block verification in blockchain-enabled supply chains, our work introduces a comprehensive reputation model. This model strategically selects a leader node to orchestrate the entire block mining process within the consensus. Additionally, we innovate with a Schnorr Multisignature-based block verification mechanism seamlessly integrated into our proposed consensus model. Rigorous experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance and feasibility of our pioneering consensus mechanism, contributing valuable insights to the evolving landscape of blockchain technology in supply chain applications.

Keywords

Supply chain / Blockchain / Consensus / Reputation / Reputation-based consensus / Multisignature / RAFT / Schnorr multisignature

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Mohammad Saidur Rahman: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Ibrahim Khalil: Supervision, Writing - original draft. Mohammed Atiquzzaman: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing - review & editing. Abdelaziz Bouras: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This work was made possible by NPRP (NPRP11S-1227-1701359) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

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