Improving multi-hop network with Blockchain

Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a self-organized system comprised of mobile wireless nodes, and MANET allows one to instantly build a network between terminals and the entire of area by multi-hop connection. MANET are expected to provide a means of communication in crowded event venues and post-disaster environments. It also supports applications that require network communication because it does not require a contract with a telecommunications carrier. However, the MANET relay node is in the state of a volunteer providing a communication environment to maintain the network, and there is no reward for continuing to forward other people’s data without sending. In some cases, a function to monitor transfer results can be provided. In this case, since MANET are distributed environments, a centralized monitoring function is not always reliable. In this paper, we propose a protocol that can manage the transfer record even in a network composed of unreliable nodes by using a blockchain that can realize a distributed ledger even between unreliable nodes. Since the protocol uses smart contracts such as Ethereum, a data structure in which messages are concatenated with hashes is adopted to reduce the gas equivalent to the execution fee.