Problem of Integrating Blockchain Technologies into Wireless Mesh Networks: Application to Community Wireless Networks

EasyChair Preprint 13046

Abstract

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs), because of their low installation costs compared to the network infrastructure, were seen as a relevant alternative to connect remote areas and poor regions where telephone companies have great apprehension to invest. However, WMNs have security vulnerabilities, including denial of service (DoS) and identity theft attacks. The most common methods for securing mesh networks are centralized systems, while WMNs are decentralized, open and flexible by design. The usual blockchain integration in WMNs is more oriented towards the construction of online payment platforms. This paper proposes BlockWMN, a model for integrating blockchain technology into WMNs with the ultimate goal of protecting them from the abovementioned attacks. Fundamentally, we address a consensus issue or a so-called "Byzantine Generals" or "Byzantine Fault Tolerance" (BFT) problem. Our approach uses the blockchain as a secure database to save the network graph and all the network nodes’ credentials in real time. Each node has the ability to check in the blockchain all signaling information received from other nodes. Unlike other approaches, our solution is decentralized, open and flexible. The limits of our model are inherent to the nature of blockchains: high energy consumption for the calculation of the proof of work and memory space for the storage of blockchain information.

Keyphrases: Blockchain, Security, Wireless mesh community network

@booklet{EasyChair:13046,
  author    = {Djotio Ndie Thomas and Dobe Abel},
  title     = {Problem of Integrating Blockchain Technologies into Wireless Mesh Networks: Application to Community Wireless Networks},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 13046},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}