Towards an Optimized Blockchain-Based Secure Medical Prescription-Management System

• Published in: Future Internet
• Main Authors: Imen Ahmed, Mariem Turki, Mouna Baklouti, Bouthaina Dammak, Amnah Alshahrani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2024-07-01
• Subjects: blockchain; healthcare; IoT; energy consumption; consensus mechanism
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/16/7/243

This work introduces a blockchain-based secure medical prescription-management system seamlessly integrated with a dynamic Internet of Things (IoT) framework. Notably, this integration constitutes a pivotal challenge in the arena of resource-constrained IoT devices: energy consumption. The choice of a suitable blockchain consensus mechanism emerges as the linchpin in surmounting this hurdle. Thus, this paper conducts a comprehensive comparison of energy consumption between two distinct consensus mechanisms: Proof of Work (PoW) and Quorum-based Byzantine fault tolerance (QBFT). Furthermore, an assessment of the most energy-efficient algorithm is performed across multiple networks and various parameters. This approach ensures the acquisition of reliable and statistically significant data, enabling meaningful conclusions to be drawn about the system’s performance in real-world scenarios. The experimental results show that, compared to the PoW, the QBFT consensus mechanism reduced the energy consumption by an average of 5%. This finding underscores the significant advantage of QBFT in addressing the energy consumption challenges posed by resource-constrained IoT devices. In addition to its inherent benefits of privacy and block time efficiency, the Quorum blockchain emerges as a more sustainable choice for IoT applications due to its lower power consumption.