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Fog computing is a new computing paradigm for meeting ubiquitous massive access and latency-critical applications by moving the processing capability closer to end users. The geographical distribution/floating features with potential autonomy requirements introduce new challenges to the traditional methodology of network access control. In this paper, a blockchain-enabled fog resource access and granting solution is proposed to tackle the unique requirements brought by fog computing. The smart contract concept is introduced to enable dynamic, and automatic credential generation and delivery for an independent offer of fog resources. A per-transaction negotiation mechanism supports the fog resource provider to dynamically publish an offer and facilitates the choice of the preferred resource by the end user. Decentralized authentication and authorization relieve the processing pressure brought by massive access and single-point failure. Our solution can be extended and used in multi-access and especially multi-carrier scenarios in which centralized authorities are absent.


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Blockchain-enabled fog resource access and granting

Show Author's information Gang LiuJinsong WuTing Wang*( )
Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201206, China
School of Artificial Intelligence, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Trustworthy Computing and the School of Software Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China

Abstract

Fog computing is a new computing paradigm for meeting ubiquitous massive access and latency-critical applications by moving the processing capability closer to end users. The geographical distribution/floating features with potential autonomy requirements introduce new challenges to the traditional methodology of network access control. In this paper, a blockchain-enabled fog resource access and granting solution is proposed to tackle the unique requirements brought by fog computing. The smart contract concept is introduced to enable dynamic, and automatic credential generation and delivery for an independent offer of fog resources. A per-transaction negotiation mechanism supports the fog resource provider to dynamically publish an offer and facilitates the choice of the preferred resource by the end user. Decentralized authentication and authorization relieve the processing pressure brought by massive access and single-point failure. Our solution can be extended and used in multi-access and especially multi-carrier scenarios in which centralized authorities are absent.

Keywords: edge computing, fog computing, access control, blockchain, smart contract

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Publication history

Received: 22 December 2020
Accepted: 16 March 2021
Published: 30 June 2021
Issue date: June 2021

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© ITU and TUP 2021

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This work is available under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/.

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