Data Broker: Dynamic Multi-hop Routing Protocol in Blockchain Radio Access Network

Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is an infrastructure-less extended scenario of blockchain radio access network (B-RAN); meanwhile, the decentralization of B-RAN makes it suitable for MANETs. In the framework of B-RAN, we propose a blockchain-based multi-hop routing protocol, namely Data Broker, for non-cooperative MANETs. To incentivize the collaboration among selfish peers, we record the identity information of participating brokers on a ledger list. However, blockchain cannot guarantee the integrity of such a routing ledger directly. Therefore, we design a ledger safeguard mechanism, along with reward policies, to avoid the ledger list being tampered with or modified by dishonest brokers. The experimental results show that the proposed Data Broker can significantly improve the network performance of non-cooperative MANETs regarding latency and loss rate.