Blockchain-Based Nash Bargaining for Task Scheduling in IoT Edge Computing Environments

Modern IoT industry cannot operate well without task scheduling, while the merging of edge computing and blockchain can empower more secure task scheduling models in distributed IoT environments. Due to various desirable properties (self-verifying, self-executing, immutability, reliability, confidentiality, etc.) provided by blockchain, the tasks generated from IoT devices can be safely scheduled. However, merely incorporating a blockchain framework into an IoT edge computing environment cannot guarantee the most desirable rewards for task participants. So in this article, we propose to use a Nash bargaining method in blockchain smart contract designing to strive the rewards for task participants and stimulate their proactivity while extending the above properties. The proposed blockchain-based Nash bargaining architecture can be applied in many distributed IoT scenarios, such as smart logistics, health data exchange, etc. For a practical implementation, a configurable blockchain architecture is developed consisting of both regular and constrained IoT devices. We additionally implement mutual authentication protocol and proof of authority to maintain the privacy and security for scheduling. Further, we experimentally study the feasibility of such architecture built in static and mobile IoT devices. Evaluations demonstrate that, the proposed architecture can well support a task scheduling process with tamper resistance, which is suitable for IoT edge computing with high-level security and creditability.