Blockchain Systems and Communication Networks: From Concepts to Implementation

181 Pages·2021·5.119 MB·English

by  Mubashir Husain Rehmani

Textbooks in Telecommunication Engineering
Mubashir Husain Rehmani
Blockchain Systems
and Communication
Networks:
From Concepts
to Implementation
Textbooks in Telecommunication Engineering
SeriesEditor
TarekS.El-Bawab,ProfessorandDeanofEngineering,
AmericanUniversityofNigeria,Yola,Nigeria
Dr. Tarek S. El-Bawab, who spearheaded the movement to gain accreditation for the
telecommunicationsmajoristheserieseditorforTextbooksinTelecommunications.Please
[e-mail]ntributingtothisseries.
TheTextbooksinTelecommunicationsSeries:
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Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/13835
Mubashir Husain Rehmani
Blockchain Systems
and Communication
Networks: From Concepts
to Implementation
MubashirHusainRehmani
DepartmentofComputerScience
MunsterTechnologicalUniversity(MTU)
Cork,Ireland
Additionalmaterialtothisbookcanbedownloadedformhttps://www.springer.com/
book/9783030717872
ISSN2524-4345 ISSN2524-4353 (electronic)
TextbooksinTelecommunicationEngineering
ISBN978-3-030-71787-2 ISBN978-3-030-71788-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71788-9
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ThisbookisdevotedtomydearestSheikh,
Grandmother,Father,Mother,andBrother!
Preface
Internet has been used to share information among different parties. For instance,
customersmakeonlinetransactionsinbanks,onlinebuyingandselling,management
ofdigitalcurrencies,andfinancialtransactionsarefewexampleswhereinformation
issharedamongdifferentparties.Traditionalwayofdoingthesetransactionsrequires
thepresenceofthetrustedthirdparty.Blockchain,intheabsenceofthistrustedthird
party,permitscommunicatingpartiestointeractwitheachother.Blockchainisbasi-
callyadistributedanddecentralizedpublicledgersystemusedformaintainingthe
transactionsrecordoverseveralcomputers(blockchainnodes).Infact,Distributed
LedgerTechnology(DLT)ensurestheavailabilityofmultiplecopiesoftheidentical
ledgerdistributedacrossvariousplaces.Ifanychangehappensinanyplaceinthe
ledger,itwillbereflectedinalltheplaces.
Blockchainhasbeenappliedtonumerousapplicationsareasrangingfromhealth
sector to transportation and from financial sector to energy management systems.
Thiswideapplicabilityofblockchaintechnologyisduetoitsinherentfeatureslike
decentralization,auditability,andfaulttolerance.Blockchaincanplayavitalrolein
communicationnetworksaswell.Let’stakeanexampleofInternetofThings(IoT).
InIoT,blockchaincanbeusedforadecentralizedfabricfortheIoT,withnomanaging
orauthorizingintermediaries.Similarly,blockchaincanalsoprovideIoTidentityand
datamanagement,privacy,trustlessarchitecturesandsecuredcommunications,and
monetizationofIoTdataandresources.
Consideringtheaforementionedapplicationsandtheimportanceofthistopic,I
havebeenworkingonthistopicwithmyresearchcollaboratorsandPh.D.students
sinceJanuary2018.Inordertoequipmyselffullywiththeadventofthistechnology,
Itriedtotakedifferentonlinecourses,attendedseveralwebinars,andreadseveral
books on this topic. In addition to this, without exaggeration, I read hundreds of
research papers on this so-called disruptive technology blockchain. Fortunately, I
had been given a chance to design two modules on distributed ledger technology.
Thefirstoneisfortheundergraduateprogramsonblockchainandthesecondoneis
ondistributedledgertechnologyforgraduateprograms,bothattheDepartmentof
ComputerScience,MunsterTechnologicalUniversity(MTU),Ireland.Themodule
distributed ledger technology had to be delivered to programs such as Masters in
ArtificialIntelligence,MastersinCloudComputing,andMastersinCybersecurity.
vii
viii Preface
Both proposed modules were accepted and became the part of the curriculum at
MTU.
I wanted to design a module which not only provides solid theoretical back-
groundtostudentsbutalsoenablesthemtoeasilythinkaboutblockchainrealization
anditsapplications.Moreprecisely,questionslike:howwecanadoptanyspecific
blockchain architecture to a specified application and which consensus algorithm
canbeusedineachapplicationscenario?Whatarethesecurityandprivacyconcerns
associatedwitheachtypeofblockchaindesign?Allthesequestionsweredispersed
andcanbefoundindifferentresourcessuchasbooksandresearchpapers.However,
there was not a single source which completely answers all these questions to the
extentinwhichIwassearching.Ontopofit,themainaspectwhichIwaslooking
forwasthecodingaspect–inordertogiverealsenseofusingblockchaintostudents.
SincethemodulethatIdesignedhasfivecredithours,i.e.,ithas2hoursoflabin
eachweek(integralpartofthismodule),therefore,Irealizedthatnotasingleeasy-
to-use resource or book is available that helps students to understand the working
of blockchain. For instance, how hashing can be implemented? What will be the
impactifblocksgettamperedbyanyone?Howwecanimplementdifferentconsensus
algorithms?Howblocksarevalidatedandbroadcast?Allsuchquestionsspanning
fromtheoreticalconceptstotheirimplementationwerenotavailableinasinglesource
sothatonecaneasilyunderstandthisblockchaintechnologyandeasilyimplementthe
ideaspresentedthereinbyusinganopensourceprogramminglanguage.Moreover,a
textbookonapplyingblockchaintechnologyforcommunicationsystemsismissing.
Therefore, considering this gap, I was motivated enough to think about writing a
textbookonblockchaintechnologywhichnotonlyprovidestheoreticalknowledge
tothestudentsbutalsohelpsthemunderstandbasicideasbyimplementingthem.
IwouldliketothankMuneebUlHassanwhohelpedmeinthepreparationoflab
materialfortheabovemodules,whichIthenusedasabasistoexplainblockchain
concepts from the implementation perspective in this book. Without the help of
MuneebUlHassan,Imaynotbeabletoproducesuchaneasyandunderstandable
sourcecode.Finally,IwouldliketothankProf.TarekEl-Bawab,whoinvitedmeand
gavemetheopportunitytopublishthisbookunderTextbooksinTelecommunication
EngineeringbySpringer.
I would like to say my special thanks to Tim Horgan—Head of Faculty of
Engineering and Science at Munster Technological University (MTU) and Donna
O’Shea—Chair Cybersecurity and the former Head of Department of Computer
Science at MTU. I remember, we all were taking tea together after a meeting and
thereTimandDonnasuggestedmetoprepareamoduleonblockchaintechnology.
This was the time when I seriously started thinking about writing a textbook on
blockchaintechnology.
ThisbookisparticularlywrittenfortheComputerScienceandTelecomstudents.
This book in fact can serve as a step-by-step hands-on tutorial for designing and
implementingblockchainsystemsbesidesbuildingconcreteblockchaintheoretical
knowledge.Tosupportfurtherreading,fewinterestingthingshavebeenincludedin
each chapter: further reading section (what to do next?), research directions, basic
definitions,programmingtips,labs,andself-assessmentexercises.
Preface ix
Theobjectiveofthisbookistoprovidedetailedinsightsonblockchainsystems,
starting from its historical perspective and moving toward building foundational
knowledgeaboutblockchainsystems.Thisbookalsocoversblockchainsystemswith
emphasisonapplicationstoimplementationconsideringCommunicationNetworks
andServices,ratherthanbookswhichonlycoverseitherblockchainarchitectures,
cryptocurrencies,oraboutbuildingblockchainprojects.Thisbookalsodiscussesthe
technologiesrelatedtotheintegrationoftelecommunicationsystemsanddistributed
ledger technology (blockchain). This book bridges the divide between the fields
of telecommunication networks (including computer and mobile networks) and
blockchain systems, while focusing on the applicability of blockchain in different
applicationsdomainsanditsimplementation.
Thisbookisorganizedintothreeparts:
(cid:129)
PartI:“BlockchainSystems:Background,Fundamentals,andApplications”
(cid:129)
PartII:“Hands-onExercisesandBlockchainImplementation”
(cid:129)
PartIII:“BlockchainSystemsandCommunicationNetworks”
Part I: “Blockchain Systems: Background, Fundamentals, and Applications”
consistsoffourchapters.InChap.1,blockchainintroductionisprovided.Chapter2
discusses the differences between database management system and blockchain.
BlockchainfundamentalsandworkingprinciplesarediscussedinChap.3andfinally,
Chap.4isdedicatedtoconsensusalgorithmsinblockchainsystems.PartII:“Hands-
onExercisesandBlockchainImplementation”consistsofonechapter(Chap.5)in
whichtwominiprojectsarepresented.Moreover,thischapteralsocontainsfivelab
implementationsalongwithdesiredprogramoutputandsamplecode.Finally,inPart
III:“BlockchainSystemsandCommunicationNetworks”,twochaptersareincluded.
Thefirstchapter(Chap.6)discussescognitiveradionetworksandblockchain.The
second chapter (Chap. 7) talks about communication networks and blockchain in
generalcoveringvariouscommunicationnetworkssuchasWi-Fi,cellularnetworks,
cloud computing, Internet of Things, software defined network, and smart energy
networks.
Ihopeyouwillenjoyreadingthisbookandfinditbeneficial,particularlyfrom
hands-onexercisesandtheimplementationpointofview.
Cork,Ireland MubashirHusainRehmani
February2021
Acknowledgements
IwouldliketoexpresssincerethankstoAllahSubhanahuWa-ta’alathatbyhisgrace
andbountyIwasabletowritethisbook.
IwishtoexpressgratitudetoSheikhHazratMuftiMohammadNaeemMemon
Sahib Damat Barakatuhum of Hyderabad, Pakistan. I could have not written this
bookwithouthisprayers,spiritualguidance,andmoralsupport.
I also want to acknowledge my family, especially my wife, for her continued
supportandencouragingwordsthathelpedmetocompletethisbook.
Lastbutnotleast,IalsowanttothanksSaad,Maria,andAamirfortheirpatience
andsupportduringthewrite-upofthisbook.
xi