Utilizing Blockchain Technology to Improve WSN Security for Sensor Data Transmission

• Published in: Computers, materials & continua materials & continua, 2021-01, Vol.68 (2), p.1899-1918
• Main Authors: Hsiao, Sung-Jung, Sung, Wen-Tsai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Blockchain; Cryptography; Data analysis; Data centers; Data transfer (computers); Data transmission; Electronic devices; Embedded systems; Encryption; Microcontrollers; Relay stations; Sensors; Servers; Wireless networks; Wireless sensor networks
• ISSN: 1546-2226; 1546-2218; 1546-2226
• DOI: 10.32604/cmc.2021.015762

This paper proposes a method for improving the data security of wireless sensor networks based on blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is applied to data transfer to build a highly secure wireless sensor network. In this network, the relay stations use microcontrollers and embedded devices, and the microcontrollers, such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino Yun, represents mobile databases. The proposed system uses microcontrollers to facilitate the connection of various sensor devices. By adopting blockchain encryption, the security of sensing data can be effectively improved. A blockchain is a concatenated transaction record that is protected by cryptography. Each section contains the encrypted hash of the previous section, the corresponding timestamp, and transaction data. The transaction data denote the sensing data of the wireless sensing network. The proposed system uses a hash value representation calculated by the Merkel-tree algorithm, which makes the transfer data of the system difficult to be tamped with. However, the proposed system can serve as a private cloud data center. In this study, the system visualizes the data uploaded by sensors and create relevant charts based on big data analysis. Since the webpage server of the proposed system is built on an embedded operating system, it is easy to model and visualize the corresponding graphics using Python or JavaScript programming language. Finally, this study creates an embedded system mobile database and web server, which can utilize JavaScript program language and Node.js runtime environment to apply blockchain technology to mobile databases. The proposed method is verified by the experiment using about 1600 data records. The results show that the possibility of data being changed is very small, and the probability of data being changed is almost zero.