Lightweight Blockchain for Data Integrity and Traceability in IoT Networks

Data integrity and traceability are important challenges to provide security in the Internet of Things (IoT) networks, which are often vulnerable to data manipulation attacks due to their use of low-resource devices and wireless communication technologies. In this regard, blockchain is a promising solution to enhance IoT security, but the implementation of a conventional blockchain requires high computational and network connectivity resources that are not compatible with IoT networks. In this paper, we propose a lightweight blockchain for data integrity and traceability in IoT networks that adapts the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) feature of blockchain to the LoRaWAN wireless communication protocol. Our proposal offers data integrity without the need for complex consensus algorithms or cryptographic operations. We also have designed and implemented a logical LoRaWAN P2P topology that enables communication between the IoT nodes which comprise LoRaWAN’s characteristic star topology. Finally, we evaluate our proposal and demonstrate its feasibility and performance in terms of data traceability, and network overhead.