Analysis and Performance Evaluation of Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms for Network Sharing

Abstract

The growing demand for mobile data services has made it necessary to find efficient and cost-effective ways to share networks. Blockchain technology is a promising solution to the challenges of network sharing, such as interoperability, trust, and accountability. This paper presents a comprehensive classification and categorization of blockchain-based network sharing scenarios, highlighting their advantages and limitations. Seven network sharing scenarios are identified, ranging from centralized network sharing to fully decentralized spectrum sharing. The suitability of some selected blockchain consensus algorithms (namely Proof-of-Work (PoW) with Ethereum, Proof-of-Authority (PoA) with Ethereum, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) with Tendermint and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) with Cosmo) is assessed for selected scenarios through extensive evaluations. This paper also identifies gaps and opportunities in blockchain-based network sharing solutions, and presents future research directions.