Double-Layer Blockchain and MEC Deployment Enabled Secure and Efficient Entity Interaction Framework for the Industrial IoT

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), a core driver of Industrial 4.0, is considered as one of the most promising revolutionary technologies propelling the evolution of smart manufacturing toward Specialization, Reinforcement, Distinctiveness, and Innovation. The security and efficiency of smart manufacturing depend on the secure and efficient interaction of massive production data among entities. Yet, as a crucial measure of securing entity interactions, current authentication mechanisms overlook the single-point-of-failure issue and lightweight design. Moreover, interaction efficiency is rarely optimized and enhanced from the perspective of communication-supporting nodes. Paramountly, the assurance and optimization of entity interaction security and efficiency are strongly coupled, which is not considered in existing interaction frameworks. This article designs a three-layer entity interaction framework based on mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain technology. Specifically, the double-layer blockchain and MEC-cluster assisted lightweight authentication (BCLA) mechanism is proposed under the three-layer framework to achieve lightweight entity authentication in a weakly centralized manner. To optimize the entity interaction efficiency from joint authentication and transmission, this article further proposes an industrial edge server (IES) deployment optimization scheme and the proximity policy optimization-based IES deployment (PAID) algorithm. The security features and efficiency of the three-layer framework are demonstrated by carrying out security analysis and performance evaluation, which is based on the Hyperledger Fabric platform.