RC-chain: Reputation-based Crowdsourcing Blockchain for Vehicular Networks

TL;DR

RC-chain is a blockchain-based reputation system designed for vehicular crowdsourcing services, ensuring trustworthiness and reliability by evaluating participant reputation and detecting malicious behavior.

Contribution

The paper introduces RC-chain, a novel reputation-based crowdsourcing framework on blockchain that manages trust evaluation and malicious behavior detection in vehicular networks.

Findings

Effective reputation management through TPFS model

Blockchain platform supports reliable crowdsourcing trading

System performance optimized using queueing theory

Abstract

As the commercial use of 5G technologies has grown more prevalent, smart vehicles have become an efficient platform for delivering a wide array of services directly to customers. The vehicular crowdsourcing service (VCS), for example, can provide immediate and timely feedback to the user regarding real-time transportation information. However, different sources can generate spurious information towards a specific service request in the pursuit of profit. Distinguishing trusted information from numerous sources is the key to a reliable VCS platform. This paper proposes a solution to this problem called "RC-chain", a reputation-based crowdsourcing framework built on a blockchain platform (Hyperledger Fabric). We first establish the blockchain-based platform to support the management of crowdsourcing trading and user-reputation evaluating activities. A reputation model, the Trust Propagation \& Feedback Similarity (TPFS), then calculates the reputation values of participants and reveals any malicious behavior accordingly. Finally, queueing theory is used to evaluate the blockchain-based platform and optimize the system performance. The proposed framework was deployed on the IBM Hyperledger Fabric platform to observe its real-world running time, effectiveness, and overall performance.