Secure Cognitive Radio Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks Using Blockchain Technology in Smart Cities

Abstract

Security is an important consideration when delivering information-aware messages to vehicles that are far away from the current location of the information-sending vehicle. This information helps the receiver to save fuel and time by making wise decisions to avoid damaged or blocked roads. To ensure the safety and security of this type of information using blockchain technology, we propose a new cognitive vehicular communication scheme to transfer messages from source to destination. Due to spectrum scarcity in vehicular networks, there needs to be a wireless medium available for every communication link since vehicles require it to communicate. The primary user (PU) makes a public announcement about a free channel to all secondary users nearby and only gives it to authentic vehicles. The authenticity of vehicles is guaranteed by a roadside unit (RSU) that offers secure keys to any vehicle that joins this blockchain network. Those who participate in this network must pay a certain amount and receive rewards for their honesty that exceed the amount spent. To test the performance of various parameters, the proposed scheme utilizes the Ethereum smart contract and compares them to blockchain and non-blockchain methods. Our results show a minimum delivery time of 0.16 s and a minimum overhead of 350 bytes in such a dynamic vehicle environment.

Keywords

• blockchain
• cognitive radio (CR)
• primary user (PU)
• roadside unit (RSU)
• smart contract
• vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs)