Secure and Efficient Hierarchical P2P Fog Architecture: A Novel Approach for IoT

In recent years, the rapid growth of IoT devices has posed challenges for traditional cloud computing architectures due to issues related to latency, bandwidth, and real-time response. To overcome those constraints, fog computing architecture emerged as a promising solution, responding to IoT device requests at the edge and forwarding them to the cloud only when necessary. However, some requests still need to be sent to the cloud, making them susceptible to the shortcomings of cloud-based systems. To enhance the fog computing approach, this research proposes an integrated peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture within the fog layer. The proposed model builds upon the 2-layer linear diophantine equation-based hierarchical architecture for P2P networks, wherein current networks are organized hierarchically, with each of the networks having a diameter of one overlay hop. These modest diameters play a crucial role in the new P2P fog model, as they facilitate highly effective data lookup techniques. In this architecture, fog nodes collaborate to handle client requests, enabling them to be fulfilled within the fog layer, thereby reducing the load on the cloud and improving overall efficiency. Moreover, to enhance communication security, we employ ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE), which introduces a novel secure algorithm. The proposed architecture is further evaluated through simulations using omnet++, with experimental results compared to existing research work based on distributed hash table (DHT) protocols.