An efficient sharding consensus algorithm for consortium chains

Abstract

The consensus algorithm is very critical in any blockchain system, because it directly affects the performance and security of the blockchain system. At present, the classic Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance Algorithm (PBFT), which is mainly used in the consortium chain, will lead to system communication congestion and reduced throughput when the number of nodes increases, so the PBFT algorithm is not suitable for large-scale consortium chains. In response to the above problems, this paper proposes a new clustering-based sharding consensus algorithm (KBFT), which aims to ensure that the consortium chain takes into account decentralization, security and scalability. The KBFT algorithm first uses the K-prototype clustering algorithm to shard the nodes in the network according to mixed attributes, and second, disjoint transactions are used to reach consensus in parallel in different shards. Concurrently, the KBFT algorithm introduces a supervision mechanism and a node credit mechanism, which is used to supervise and score the behavior of the nodes and select the proxy nodes, which improves security. We discuss the choice of shard size with the help of the binomial probability distribution and analyze the probability that the system can successfully form a global block under different node failure probabilities. Finally, the proposed algorithm is evaluated through theoretical analysis and simulation experiments. Results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a marked improvement in scalability and throughput along with a marked reduction in communication complexity compared with the classic baseline algorithm PBFT in this field of study, which improves the operating efficiency of the system and simultaneously guarantees the security and robustness of the system.

ARS-Chain: A Blockchain-Based Anonymous Reputation-Sharing Framework for E-Commerce Platforms

“…Given its semi-decentralized essence, consortium chains are particularly apt for applications like supply chain management, financial services, and cross-organizational data exchange, aligning seamlessly with the objectives of this research. Within the realm of consortium blockchains, Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) or its pragmatic variant, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), often emerge as the consensus algorithms of choice [27].…”

“…Consensus protocol: In alignment with industry consensus, as cited in [27], ARS-Chain adopts the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance Algorithm (PBFT) as its consensus protocol.…”

A Survey of Consortium Blockchain and Its Applications

“…Wang et al [40] Sharding Technology 2023 Wu et al [41] KBFT 2023 Shen et al [42] A Node Reliable Shard Model 2023 Zheng et al [43] Replay-epoch & Cross-call 2022 Zhou. et al [44] Dynamic Sharding 2020 Qi et al [45] Erasure Coding 2020 Compression Farahat et al [46] The LZ4 Algorithm 2023 Karthik et al [47] Lempel-Ziv-Welch 2023 Yu et al [48] PoW-BC 2021 Deduplication Liu et al [49] A New Refreshable Encryption Algorithm 2022…”

A novel dynamic practical byzantine fault tolerance protocol based on node grouping

“…In recent years, many improved algorithms for PBFT have been proposed to reduce the risk of malicious behaviors for nodes. A series of PBFT protocols based on credit mechanisms measuring the honestness have been proposed [2][3][4][5][6] to enhance the security and efficiency of the consensus protocol. Wu et al [3]introduced a node credit mechanism, which was used to supervise and score the behaviors of the nodes to improve security.…”

“…A series of PBFT protocols based on credit mechanisms measuring the honestness have been proposed [2][3][4][5][6] to enhance the security and efficiency of the consensus protocol. Wu et al [3]introduced a node credit mechanism, which was used to supervise and score the behaviors of the nodes to improve security. Lei et al [4] proposed reputation based BFT for consortium blockchain (RBFT), in which it selected primary nodes from nodes with high reputation values to improve the consensus efficiency, thus reducing the risk of primary nodes being malicious nodes.…”