Secure PBFT Consensus-Based Lightweight Blockchain for Healthcare Application

Abstract

Recent advancement in IoT technology has boosted the healthcare domain with enormous usage of IoT devices to provide elevated services to patients with chronic disorders on a real-time basis by the incorporation of IoT sensors on patients’ bodies. However, providing services ensuring security and maintaining the privacy of patients is a challenging task. Blockchain technology promises security in a distributed environment but popular consensus algorithms such as Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) require huge computational resources and energy by making the IoT environment inefficient. This paper introduces a secure Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus-based lightweight blockchain algorithm for healthcare applications. To strengthen the PBFT consensus, highly trusted nodes were allowed to participate in the consensus algorithm using the Eigen Trust model and Verifiable Random Function (VRF) to select a random primary node from a group of trusted consensus nodes. The proposed algorithm is tested in a simulated environment and evaluated against the traditional PBFT consensus algorithm considering throughput, latency, and fault tolerance.

Blockchain technology and raft consensus for secure physician prescriptions and improved diagnoses in electronic healthcare systems

“…This paper proposes a lightweight consensus-based PBFT blockchain for healthcare applications by incorporating a trust model to prevent untrusted nodes from participating in the consensus process, taking into account both the benefits of blockchain technology and the limitations of IoT devices 19 . Therefore, as seen in Fig.…”

“…Multi-Leader (Quorum-Based) requires flexibility in the number of nodes, and its quantity depends on changes. Raft uses a specific and predefined number of nodes for the consensus process, which leads to simplicity and greater adjustability 19 .…”

“…This protocol allows multiple nodes to validate and add transactions to the blockchain concurrently, improving the scalability and fault tolerance of a blockchain network and making it more suitable for large-scale healthcare systems. In 19 , a blockchain-based system is proposed for secure and efficient management of healthcare data. The proposed system utilizes the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus algorithm to ensure the integrity and consistency of stored data in the blockchain.…”

A secure and highly efficient blockchain PBFT consensus algorithm for microgrid power trading

“…This improvement enhances the scalability of the blockchain, enabling it to efficiently support large-scale nodes for transmission and communication. Reference 39 proposes a lightweight blockchain algorithm based on secure practical byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus for healthcare applications, considering the limited computational power of IoT devices in IoT environments. It uses a feature trust model and verifiable random functions (VRF) to randomly select a primary node from a group of trusted consensus nodes, improving consensus efficiency and system security.…”

Blockchain and Healthcare: A Critical Analysis of Progress and Challenges in the Last Five Years

“…To promote interoperability, share EHRs among healthcare providers, and improve patient care, HealthBlock offers a collaborative platform [88]. A lightweight blockchain system leveraging practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus is developed in the pursuit of a safe and effective healthcare application [89].…”