A Novel Homomorphic Blockchain Scheme for Intelligent Transport Services in Fog/Cloud and IoT Networks

Abstract

Modern smart city services necessitate complex technological infrastructure with heterogeneous compute servers, networks, and communication protocols. However, there are many research issues in heterogeneous computing infrastructure for Intelligent transport systems (ITS) when using the services in the network. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to intelligent transportation services and their underlying infrastructure, built on an amalgamation of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and fog computing, and associated technologies. Specifically, this paper investigates the challenging issues of security, processing costs, and communication delays that frequently occur during the communication of data and messages. We propose novel, secure, and cost-effective schemes based on blockchain-assisted homomorphic encryption techniques. A Secure, Cost-Optimal Workload Assignment (SCWA) algorithm and a blockchain scheme made possible by Partially Hashing Homomorphic Encryption and Decryption (PHHE/D) are designed to distribute workload efficiently. We developed a simulator, MOTEL, that simulates the different functions of the proposed schemes and all the necessary components. Using MOTEL and data sets from real transport companies, the proposed approach is tested and evaluated using various experiments. The results demonstrate that, compared to existing solutions, the proposed approach significantly reduces processing costs and delays while maintaining an appropriate level of security in transport services.