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Blockchain in a box: A portable blockchain network implementation on Raspberry Pi's

Matija Piškorec, Anton Ivashkevich, Said Haji Abukar, Lundrim Azemi, Md Rezuanul Haque, Mostafa Chegenizadeh, Claudio J. Tessone

TL;DR

This work presents a portable blockchain-in-a-box that bootstraps a private Ethereum PoW network on Raspberry Pi clusters, controlled by a master server with a web UI and per-node visualization for real-time consensus monitoring. It demonstrates educational and research utility by enabling experiments on consensus quality under different P2P topologies in an offline, hardware-based setting. The authors quantify consensus using metrics such as mainchain rate, branching ratio, and contribution ratio, revealing topology- and overhead-driven differences in network performance. Overall, the prototype offers a low-cost, realistic platform for teaching and investigating blockchain dynamics and topology effects outside the constraints of mainnet deployments.

Abstract

In this paper we describe a prototype of a blockchain-in-a-box system which allows users to easily bootstrap the whole Ethereum Proof-of-Work (PoW) network running on multiple Raspberry Pi nodes - an inexpensive modular computers. Users are able to orchestrate the whole blockchain network using a single web based interface, for example they are able to set the topology of the peer-to-peer (P2P) connections and control the initialization parameters. Each Raspberry Pi has a screen attached which visualizes current state of local blockchain, allowing users to easily visualize the consensus of the network in real time. We show how this platform can be used to perform experiments on consensus quality while using different P2P topologies. Similar experiments can be used for demonstration purposes in a workshop or other educational settings.

Blockchain in a box: A portable blockchain network implementation on Raspberry Pi's

TL;DR

This work presents a portable blockchain-in-a-box that bootstraps a private Ethereum PoW network on Raspberry Pi clusters, controlled by a master server with a web UI and per-node visualization for real-time consensus monitoring. It demonstrates educational and research utility by enabling experiments on consensus quality under different P2P topologies in an offline, hardware-based setting. The authors quantify consensus using metrics such as mainchain rate, branching ratio, and contribution ratio, revealing topology- and overhead-driven differences in network performance. Overall, the prototype offers a low-cost, realistic platform for teaching and investigating blockchain dynamics and topology effects outside the constraints of mainnet deployments.

Abstract

In this paper we describe a prototype of a blockchain-in-a-box system which allows users to easily bootstrap the whole Ethereum Proof-of-Work (PoW) network running on multiple Raspberry Pi nodes - an inexpensive modular computers. Users are able to orchestrate the whole blockchain network using a single web based interface, for example they are able to set the topology of the peer-to-peer (P2P) connections and control the initialization parameters. Each Raspberry Pi has a screen attached which visualizes current state of local blockchain, allowing users to easily visualize the consensus of the network in real time. We show how this platform can be used to perform experiments on consensus quality while using different P2P topologies. Similar experiments can be used for demonstration purposes in a workshop or other educational settings.
Paper Structure (12 sections, 3 equations, 6 figures)

This paper contains 12 sections, 3 equations, 6 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Methods
  3. Hardware setup
  4. Software setup
  5. Visualization of consensus
  6. Experimental setup
  7. Consensus quality metrics
  8. Results
  9. Discussion
  10. Conclusion
  11. Acknowledgement
  12. Author Contributions

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: An assembled hardware prototype (right) along with the hardware schematic (left).
  • Figure 2: A software setup of the prototype (left) with a master server web-based control panel allowing users to orchestrate multiple Raspberry Pi's from a single interface (right).
  • Figure 3: Visualization shown on a single Raspberry Pi screen showing the last two blocks in a local blockchain (left) along with some additional information. The goal of such a simple visualization is to easily see whether current blockchain network is in consensus or not (right).
  • Figure 4: P2P topologies used for the experiments with the 9 Raspberry Pi's.
  • Figure 5: Mainchain rate (left) and branching ratio (right) for the three topologies.
  • ...and 1 more figures