Integrating IoT and Blockchain for Ensuring Road Safety: An Unconventional Approach

Sensors (Basel). 2020 Jun 10;20(11):3296. doi: 10.3390/s20113296.

Abstract

The Internet of things (IoT), the Internet of vehicles, and blockchain technology have become very popular these days because of their versatility. Road traffic, which is increasing day by day, is causing more and more deaths worldwide. The world needs a product that would reduce the number of road accidents. This paper suggests combining IoT and blockchain technology to mitigate road hazards. The new intelligent transportation system technologies and the subsequent emergence of 5G technologies will be a blessing, delivering the necessary speed to ensure both safety and quality of service (QoS). Hashgraph technology, a distributed ledger technology is used to create communication networks between the different vehicles and other relevant parameters. Scheduling the requests according to the priorities for ensuring better QoS quotient can be effectively done using hashgraph. We demonstrated how the hashgraph outstrips other equivalents platforms. The proposed model was simulated using OMNeT++ with proper design and network description files. A hardware implementation of the proposed model was also done. Messages were transferred between the vehicles and prioritized using a hashgraph. This paper proposes an effective model in reducing the accidents in terms of parameters like speed, security, stability, and fairness.

Keywords: 5G technology; IoT; OMNeT++; QoS; blockchain; hashgraph.