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University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

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Blockchain

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Game Theoretical Analysis Of Non-Linear Blockchain System, Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Ahmed Sunny, Keshav Kasichainula, Weidong Shi May 2021

A Game Theoretical Analysis Of Non-Linear Blockchain System, Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Ahmed Sunny, Keshav Kasichainula, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent advances in the blockchain research have been made in two important directions. One is refined resilience analysis utilizing game theory to study the consequences of selfish behavior of users (miners), and the other is the extension from a linear (chain) structure to a non-linear (graphical) structure for performance improvements, such as IOTA and Graphcoin. The first question that comes to mind is what improvements that a blockchain system would see by leveraging these new advances. In this paper, we consider three major properties for a blockchain system: 𝛼-partial verification, scalability, and finality-duration. We establish a formal framework and prove …


A Secure And Flexible Fpga–Based Blockchain System For Iiots, Han-Yee Kim, Lei Xu, Weidong Shi, Taeweon Suh Feb 2021

A Secure And Flexible Fpga–Based Blockchain System For Iiots, Han-Yee Kim, Lei Xu, Weidong Shi, Taeweon Suh

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Blockchain is a promising solution for Industry 4.0 due to its traceability and immutability. However, blockchain itself does not guarantee the input data integrity. The tampered data from an endpoint device can be a significant problem because it may result in a cascaded negative effect on the whole smart factory operations. In this paper, we propose an FPGA-based private blockchain system for IIoTs, where the transaction generation is performed inside the FPGA in an isolated and enclaved manner. For the key confidentiality and transaction integrity, the proposed system utilizes a PUF, soft processor, and tightly coupled sensor connections inside the …


Edsc: An Event-Driven Smart Contract Platform, Mudabbir Kaleem, Keshav Kasichainula, Rabimba Karanjai, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Lin Chen, Weidong Shi Jan 2021

Edsc: An Event-Driven Smart Contract Platform, Mudabbir Kaleem, Keshav Kasichainula, Rabimba Karanjai, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Lin Chen, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents EDSC, a novel smart contract platform design based on the event-driven execution model as opposed to the traditionally employed transaction-driven execution model. We reason that such a design is a better fit for many emerging smart contract applications and is better positioned to address the scalability and performance challenges plaguing the smart contract ecosystem. We propose EDSC’s design under the Ethereum framework, and the design can be easily adapted for other existing smart contract platforms. We have conducted implementation using Ethereum client and experiments where performance modeling results show on average 2.2 to 4.6 times reduced total …


Supporting Blockchain-Based Cryptocurrency Mobile Payment With Smart Devices, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Larry Carranco, Xinxin Fan, Nolah Shah Feb 2020

Supporting Blockchain-Based Cryptocurrency Mobile Payment With Smart Devices, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Larry Carranco, Xinxin Fan, Nolah Shah

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The smart device owning rate such as smart phone and smart watch is higher than ever before and mobile payment has become one of the major payment methods in many different areas. At the same time, blockchain-based cryptocurrency is becoming a nonnegligible type of currency and the total value of all types of cryptocurrency has reached USD 200 billion. Therefore, it is a natural demand to support cryptocurrency payment on mobile devices. Considering the poor infrastructure and low penetration of financial service in developing countries, this combination is especially attractive. The high storage cost and payment processing latency are the …


Diota: Decentralized Ledger Based Framework For Data Authenticity Protection In Iot Systems, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi Jan 2020

Diota: Decentralized Ledger Based Framework For Data Authenticity Protection In Iot Systems, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is predicted that more than 20 billion IoT devices will be deployed worldwide by 2020. These devices form the critical infrastructure to support a variety of important applications such as smart city, smart grid, and industrial internet. To guarantee that these applications work properly, it is imperative to authenticate these devices and data generated from them. Although digital signatures can be applied for these purposes, the scale of the overall system and the limited computation capability of IoT devices pose two big challenges. In order to overcome these obstacles, we propose DIoTA, a novel decentralized ledger-based authentication framework for …


Fpga Based Blockchain System For Industrial Iot, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Hanyee Kim, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi Jan 2020

Fpga Based Blockchain System For Industrial Iot, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Hanyee Kim, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Industrial IoT (IIoT) is critical for industrial infrastructure modernization and digitalization. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to provide adequate protection of the IIoT system. A modern IIoT system usually consists of a large number of devices that are deployed in multiple locations and owned/managed by different entities who do not fully trust each other. These features make it harder to manage the system in a coherent manner and utilize existing security mechanisms to offer adequate protection. The emerging blockchain technology provides a powerful tool for IIoT system management and protection because the IIoT nature of distributed deployment and involvement …


Blockchain Based End-To-End Tracking System For Distributed Iot Intelligence Application Security Enhancement, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Lin Chen, Hanyee Kim, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi Jan 2020

Blockchain Based End-To-End Tracking System For Distributed Iot Intelligence Application Security Enhancement, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Lin Chen, Hanyee Kim, Taeweon Suh, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

IoT devices provide a rich data source that is not available in the past, which is valuable for a wide range of intelligence applications, especially deep neural network (DNN) applications that are data-thirsty. An established DNN model in turn provides useful analysis results that can improve the operation of IoT systems. The progress in distributed/federated DNN training further unleashes the potential of integration of IoT and intelligence applications. When a large number of IoT devices deployed in different physical locations, distributed training allows training modules to be deployed to multiple edge data centers that are close to the IoT devices …


Blockchain Based Access Control For Enterprise Blockchain Applications, Lei Xu, Isaac Markus, Subhod I, Nikhil Nayab Dec 2019

Blockchain Based Access Control For Enterprise Blockchain Applications, Lei Xu, Isaac Markus, Subhod I, Nikhil Nayab

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Access control is one of the fundamental security mechanisms of IT systems. Most existing access control schemes rely on a centralized party to manage and enforce access control policies. As blockchain technologies, especially permissioned networks, find more applicability beyond cryptocurrencies in enterprise solutions, it is expected that the security requirements will increase. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an access control system that works in a decentralized environment without compromising the unique features of a blockchain. A straightforward method to support access control is to deploy a firewall in front of the enterprise blockchain application. However, this approach does not …


Kcrs: A Blockchain-Based Key Compromise Resilient Signature System, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Kimberly Doan, Shouhuai Xu, Weidong Shi Dec 2019

Kcrs: A Blockchain-Based Key Compromise Resilient Signature System, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Xinxin Fan, Kimberly Doan, Shouhuai Xu, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digital signatures are widely used to assure authenticity and integrity of messages (including blockchain transactions). This assurance is based on assumption that the private signing key is kept secret, which may be exposed or compromised without being detected in the real world. Many schemes have been proposed to mitigate this problem, but most schemes are not compatible with widely used digital signature standards and do not help detect private key exposures. In this paper, we propose a Key Compromise Resilient Signature (KCRS) system, which leverages blockchain to detect key compromises and mitigate the consequences. Our solution keeps a log of …