Optimal Consensus with Dual Abnormality Mode of Cellular IoT Based on Edge Computing

Sensors (Basel). 2021 Jan 19;21(2):671. doi: 10.3390/s21020671.

Abstract

The continuous development of fifth-generation (5G) networks is the main driving force for the growth of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. It is expected that the 5G network will greatly expand the applications of the IoT, thereby promoting the operation of cellular networks, the security and network challenges of the IoT, and pushing the future of the Internet to the edge. Because the IoT can make anything in anyplace be connected together at any time, it can provide ubiquitous services. With the establishment and use of 5G wireless networks, the cellular IoT (CIoT) will be developed and applied. In order to provide more reliable CIoT applications, a reliable network topology is very important. Reaching a consensus is one of the most important issues in providing a highly reliable CIoT design. Therefore, it is necessary to reach a consensus so that even if some components in the system is abnormal, the application in the system can still execute correctly in CIoT. In this study, a protocol of consensus is discussed in CIoT with dual abnormality mode that combines dormant abnormality and malicious abnormality. The protocol proposed in this research not only allows all normal components in CIoT to reach a consensus with the minimum times of data exchange, but also allows the maximum number of dormant and malicious abnormal components in CIoT. In the meantime, the protocol can make all normal components in CIoT satisfy the constraints of reaching consensus: Termination, Agreement, and Integrity.

Keywords: Internet of Things; cellular internet of things; cloud computing; consensus problem; edge computing; fault-tolerant.