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A Scientific Data Integrity system based on Blockchain

Gian Sebastian Mier Bello, Alexander Martinez Mendez, Carlos J. Barrios H., Robinson Rivas, Luis A. Núñez

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel approach to help research groups to validate data integrity on such distributed repositories using Blockchain, and ensures secure access to data management, easy validation of data integrity, and an easy way to add new records to the dataset with the same robust integrity policy.

Abstract

In most High Performance Computing (HPC) projects nowadays, there is a lot of data obtained from different sources, depending on the project's objectives. Some of that data is very huge in terms of size, so copying such data sometimes is an unrealistic goal. On the other hand, science requires data used for different purposes to remain unaltered, so different groups of researchers can reproduce results, discuss theories, and validate each other. In this paper, we present a novel approach to help research groups to validate data integrity on such distributed repositories using Blockchain. Originally developed for cryptographic currencies, Blockchain has demonstrated a versatile range of uses. Our proposal ensures 1) secure access to data management, 2) easy validation of data integrity, and 3) an easy way to add new records to the dataset with the same robust integrity policy. A prototype was developed and tested using a subset of a public dataset from a real scientific collaboration, the Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) Project.

A Scientific Data Integrity system based on Blockchain

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel approach to help research groups to validate data integrity on such distributed repositories using Blockchain, and ensures secure access to data management, easy validation of data integrity, and an easy way to add new records to the dataset with the same robust integrity policy.

Abstract

In most High Performance Computing (HPC) projects nowadays, there is a lot of data obtained from different sources, depending on the project's objectives. Some of that data is very huge in terms of size, so copying such data sometimes is an unrealistic goal. On the other hand, science requires data used for different purposes to remain unaltered, so different groups of researchers can reproduce results, discuss theories, and validate each other. In this paper, we present a novel approach to help research groups to validate data integrity on such distributed repositories using Blockchain. Originally developed for cryptographic currencies, Blockchain has demonstrated a versatile range of uses. Our proposal ensures 1) secure access to data management, 2) easy validation of data integrity, and 3) an easy way to add new records to the dataset with the same robust integrity policy. A prototype was developed and tested using a subset of a public dataset from a real scientific collaboration, the Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) Project.
Paper Structure (14 sections, 6 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm)

This paper contains 14 sections, 6 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. LAGO
  4. State of the art
  5. Execution environment
  6. Prototype Architecture
  7. Data scheme
  8. Materials
  9. Data collection
  10. Proof of concept
  11. Results
  12. Discussion
  13. Conclusions and Further Work
  14. Acknowledgments.

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Geographical distribution of LAGO Project WCD detectors. Taken from ref_Rubio
  • Figure 2: Blockchain prototype architecture
  • Figure 3: Hyperledger Explorer Dashboard
  • Figure 4: Hyperledger Fabric blockchain structure — Taken from ref_HFDoc
  • Figure 5: Blocks validation
  • ...and 1 more figures