Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems
In many blockchain networks, light nodes (e.g. mobile clients) with few computational resources must rely on more powerful full nodes to retrieve transactions from the chain. However, in this untrusted environment a malicious full node could deliver altered or incomplete information, requiring query...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2021-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Access |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9638515/ |
| _version_ | 1819004746807115776 |
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| author | Matteo Loporchio Anna Bernasconi Damiano Di Francesco Maesa Laura Ricci |
| author_facet | Matteo Loporchio Anna Bernasconi Damiano Di Francesco Maesa Laura Ricci |
| author_sort | Matteo Loporchio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In many blockchain networks, light nodes (e.g. mobile clients) with few computational resources must rely on more powerful full nodes to retrieve transactions from the chain. However, in this untrusted environment a malicious full node could deliver altered or incomplete information, requiring query authentication techniques to ensure the integrity of the results. To this aim, we study an authentication mechanism for spatial information (i.e. data representing the location, size, and shape of objects in a geographical coordinate system). We assume that light nodes issue range queries to obtain data from a single block. To enable authentication, we propose to construct a Merkle R-tree for each block and embed its root into the corresponding header, so that full nodes can exploit it to fetch information and construct a proof of integrity for lightweight clients. We also develop a new algorithm based on sorting and partitioning for constructing Merkle R-trees from a set of spatial transactions and employ space-filling curves to preserve the locality of elements. We examine its theoretical complexity, evaluate it experimentally on a real data set and compare it against other popular construction strategies. Results show that, as queries become more selective, trees generated with our solution improve query performance and reduce verification times with respect to other approaches. Moreover, we observe that the overhead induced by the tree construction is negligible if compared to the average inter-block time of popular blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:41:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4370943383964c97b7f9cdc5d274c0b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:41:48Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj.art-4370943383964c97b7f9cdc5d274c0b32022-12-21T19:23:03ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-01916336316337810.1109/ACCESS.2021.31329909638515Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain SystemsMatteo Loporchio0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9806-6475Anna Bernasconi1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0263-5221Damiano Di Francesco Maesa2Laura Ricci3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8179-8215Department of Computer Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Computer Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Computer Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Computer Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyIn many blockchain networks, light nodes (e.g. mobile clients) with few computational resources must rely on more powerful full nodes to retrieve transactions from the chain. However, in this untrusted environment a malicious full node could deliver altered or incomplete information, requiring query authentication techniques to ensure the integrity of the results. To this aim, we study an authentication mechanism for spatial information (i.e. data representing the location, size, and shape of objects in a geographical coordinate system). We assume that light nodes issue range queries to obtain data from a single block. To enable authentication, we propose to construct a Merkle R-tree for each block and embed its root into the corresponding header, so that full nodes can exploit it to fetch information and construct a proof of integrity for lightweight clients. We also develop a new algorithm based on sorting and partitioning for constructing Merkle R-trees from a set of spatial transactions and employ space-filling curves to preserve the locality of elements. We examine its theoretical complexity, evaluate it experimentally on a real data set and compare it against other popular construction strategies. Results show that, as queries become more selective, trees generated with our solution improve query performance and reduce verification times with respect to other approaches. Moreover, we observe that the overhead induced by the tree construction is negligible if compared to the average inter-block time of popular blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9638515/BlockchaincryptographyMerkle R-treequery authenticationspace-filling curvespatial data |
| spellingShingle | Matteo Loporchio Anna Bernasconi Damiano Di Francesco Maesa Laura Ricci Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems IEEE Access Blockchain cryptography Merkle R-tree query authentication space-filling curve spatial data |
| title | Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems |
| title_full | Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems |
| title_fullStr | Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems |
| title_short | Authenticating Spatial Queries on Blockchain Systems |
| title_sort | authenticating spatial queries on blockchain systems |
| topic | Blockchain cryptography Merkle R-tree query authentication space-filling curve spatial data |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9638515/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matteoloporchio authenticatingspatialqueriesonblockchainsystems AT annabernasconi authenticatingspatialqueriesonblockchainsystems AT damianodifrancescomaesa authenticatingspatialqueriesonblockchainsystems AT lauraricci authenticatingspatialqueriesonblockchainsystems |