Smart contract based digital evidence management framework over blockchain for vehicle accident investigation in IoV era

Abstract

Digital collection and maintenance of evidence corresponding to an accident is of utmost relevance as vehicles become connected and part of Internet of things ecosystem. A conceptual evidence management framework is proposed examining the future of accident investigation forensics in the era of connected vehicles. The framework discusses how evidence generated from vehicles involved in incident along with supporting evidence from nearby vehicles CCTVs and road users can be collected and managed over blockchain using smart contracts in a vehicle to everything connected environment. The management of evidence over blockchain serves as an immutable and auditable means to investigate and settle cases post an accident among the stakeholders. Dynamic access control over evidence data and reports based on location of incident and vehicle involved is implemented with the help of smart contracts. The cost of deploying and carrying out transactions using the smart contracts is evaluated over both public and private Ethereum blockchain. Mechanism and cost involved in storing evidence on chain versus off chain using Inter Planetary File System in most optimised manner saving memory and execution cost is compared and presented. The smart contract codes are deployed on Rinkeby test network and can be accessed using address mentioned.

Keywords

• Accident forensics
• Digital evidence management
• Access control
• Blockchain
• Smart contracts
• Inter Planetary File System