B-TSCA: Blockchain Assisted Trustworthiness Scalable Computation for V2I Authentication in VANETs

The rapid development of 5G networks has made smart driving possible. The vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are the main environment for smart driving, providing road information, instant communication between vehicle and vehicle (V2V) or vehicle and infrastructure (V2I). The information interaction security of VANETs is critical to the proper functioning of the traffic. Much research in recent years has focused on secure communication in VANETs, especially the secure V2V or V2I communications. However, current security schemes often require complex identity re-authentication when vehicles enter a new infrastructure coverage, which greatly reduces the efficiency of the entire network. In addition, the emergence of blockchain has created opportunities to overcome the challenges in VANETs mentioned above. In this article, blockchain is utilized to enhance the scalability of the trustworthiness scalable computation. The proposed blockchain assisted trustworthiness scalable computation based V2I authentication (B-TSCA) scheme achieves rapid re-authentication of vehicles through secure ownership transfer between infrastructures. Note that, trustworthiness scalable computation assisted by blockchian technology ensures the decentralization and non tamperability of the scalable computation result. The security analysis indicates that B-TSCA scheme is a CDH-secure scheme. The time cost of the novel handover authentication phase is half of that of the initial one as is presented in the simulation.

I. Introduction

The development of the next generation networks push the researches of intelligent transportation. Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are the most considered network model for an intelligent transportation system. The decentralization, heterogeneity and nontrustworthiness of VANETs pose the challenges in secure message-transmission and transaction-execution [1], [2]. Advanced technologies such as cloud computing, smart chips, blockchain, etc., promote the development of VANETs [3], [4], [5]. Integrating blockchains with VANETs can provide solutions to some existing challenges. The establishment of VANETs can greatly promote breakthroughs in applications such as driverless and intelligent road rescue. Traffic safety and efficiency are constantly being optimized due to the extensive research of VANETs. The complex VANETs require the data transmission schemes to be extremely scalable. Hence, scalable computation is an important part of advancing VANETs technology. Furthermore, the increasing data scale of Internet of Things (IoT) and new trends in data applications have spurred the growing demand for scalable computation in new networks [6], [7]. In traffic networks, vehicles collect and upload their own attribute data or surrounding road condition information monitored by on-board units (OBUs) [8], [9]. Meanwhile, roadside infrastructure and remote servers can collect and analyze uploaded information. As a result, according to the analysis results, the traffic control center formulates the optimal traffic flow management strategy and emergency response method [10], [11].