Incentivizing Proof-of-Stake Blockchain for Secured Data Collection in UAV-Assisted IoT: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach

【Author】 Tang, Xiao; Lan, Xunqiang; Li, Lixin; Zhang, Yan; Han, Zhu

【Source】IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS

【影响因子】13.081

【Abstract】The Internet of Things (IoT) can be conveniently deployed while empowering various applications, where the loT nodes can form clusters to finish certain missions collectively. In this paper, we propose to employ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to assist the clustered IoT data collection with blockchain-based security provisioning. In particular, the UAVs generate candidate blocks based on the collected data, which are then audited through a lightweight proof-of-stake consensus mechanism within the UAV-based blockchain network. To motivate efficient blockchain while reducing the operational cost, a stake pool is constructed at the active UAV while encouraging stake investment from other UAVs with profit sharing. The problem is formulated to maximize the overall profit through the blockchain system in unit time by jointly investigating the loT transmission, incentives through investment and profit-sharing, and UAV deployment strategies. Then, the problem is solved in a distributed manner while being decoupled into two layers. The inner layer incorporates IoT transmission and incentive design, which are tackled with large-system approximation and one-leader-multi-follower Stackelberg game analysis, respectively. The outer layer for UAV deployment is undertaken with a multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient approach. Results show the convergence of the proposed learning process and the UAV deployment, and also demonstrated the performance superiority of our proposal as compared with the baselines.

【Keywords】Internet of Things; unmanned aerial vehicle; proof-of-stake blockchain; stackelberg game; multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient

【发表时间】2022 DEC

【收录时间】2023-01-14

【文献类型】理论模型

【主题类别】

区块链应用-实体经济-无人机领域