A Fair and Lightweight Consensus Algorithm for IoT
Sokratis Vavilis, Harris Niavis, Konstantinos Loupos
TL;DR
IoT environments require secure, scalable consensus without imposing heavy resource demands. The authors present a fair, lightweight hybrid consensus that uses Verifiable Random Functions for distributed lotteries to propose blocks and a reputation-based voting mechanism for finality, avoiding specialized hardware. A detailed protocol design (sortition, thresholds, and vote mechanics) is validated via a Python PoC, demonstrating stable throughput, increasing proposer diversity with scale, and resilience to certain adversarial behaviors. The work shows a practical path to secure, traceable blockchain-enabled IoT and logistics applications, with future work targeting real-world scalability and stronger Sybil defenses through reputation dynamics.
Abstract
With the rapid growth of hyperconnected devices and decentralized data architectures, safeguarding Internet of Things (IoT) transactions is becoming increasingly challenging. Blockchain presents a promising solution, yet its effectiveness depends on the underlying consensus algorithm. Conventional mechanisms, such as Proof of Work and Proof of Stake, are often impractical for resource-constrained IoT environments. To address these limitations, this work introduces a fair and lightweight hybrid consensus algorithm tailored for IoT. The proposed approach minimizes resource demands on the nodes while providing a fair and secure agreement process. Specifically, it utilizes a distributed lottery mechanism to ensure fair block proposals without requiring dedicated hardware. In addition, to enhance trust and establish finality, a reputation-based voting mechanism is incorporated. Finally, we experimentally validated the key features of the proposed consensus algorithm.