“Securing Smart Cities through Blockchain Technology: Architecture,

Requirements, and Challenges”

A technical report submitted to the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology in the fulfillment of the requirements for the

“Course of EE 4130: Technical Seminar”

Journal: IEEE Network

Publication Year: 2020
DOI: 10.1109/MNET.001.1900178

Authors:
Saqib Hakak; Wazir Zada Khan; Gulshan Amin Gilkar;
Muhammad Imran; Nadra Guizani

Submitted by
Abid Hassan
Roll:1803043

Date of Submission: 16/05/2023

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Khulna – 9203, Bangladesh

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ABSTRACT
Unprecedented effort has been done in the field of smart cities recently. The goal of creating
smart cities is to improve the standard of living for things that affect individuals who live there.
IoT and cloud computing technologies have been used to accomplish that goal. One of the
promising technologies that may provide various beneficial services to its consumers is
blockchain technology. It is an immutable programmable digital register that was primarily
created for virtual currencies like Bitcoin with the intention of recording virtual assets with some
value. The properties of blockchain technology, as well as its essential needs and research
obstacles, must be determined in order to properly employ its services inside smart cities.
Consequently, an effort has been made to identify the traits of blockchain technology in this
paper. Additionally, essential conditions for integrating blockchain technology into smart cities
are listed. Using a potential use case study, a conceptual architecture for protecting smart cities
with blockchain technology is offered. A summary of a real-world case study of a smart city built
on three blockchains is also provided.
Finally, a number of urgent research issues are noted and considered.

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 Table of Contents

Contents Page No.

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4-5

Characteristics of Blockchain Technology for Smart Cities …………….. 5-7

Requirements of Blockchain Technology for Smart Cities ……………… 8-9

Conceptual Architecture ……………………………………………………………….. 9 - 10

Research Challenges ……………………………………………………………………… 11 - 13

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………. 14 - 14

References ……………………………………………………………………………………. 14 - 15

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INTRODUCTION
According to statistics supplied by the United Nations, the alarming increase in the world's urban
population has a significant impact on inhabitants' quality of life [1]. Numerous significant issues,
including as traffic congestion, waste management, and water and air pollution, are detrimental
to the quality of life for citizens.
Researchers are now searching for innovative and practical solutions to enhance individuals'
quality of life in response to this problem. The idea of smart cities was born as a result of these
clever strategies. The most widely accepted definition of smart cities is that they are "approaches
that utilize the services of modern advanced information and communication technology for
developing sustainable urban cities to improve the living standards of the masses [2]," despite
the fact that the term has many other meanings. Blockchain technology's unchangeable
decentralized ledger, which is nearly difficult to tamper with, makes it appropriate for protecting
smart cities. This decentralized ledger has a block header, transaction counter, and transaction.
It is made up of related blocks that link together to build a chain structure [3]. on the context of
smart cities and blockchain technology, a "transaction" is defined as verifiable data or
information kept on a blockchain. Applications based on smart cities need to secure the
authorization and integrity of transactions through transparent transactions, no single point of
failure, autonomous decision-making, and data security. For instance, establishing a transparent
government in smart cities is a task that necessitates the accessibility of all processes and official
records in order to effectively report on and satisfy needs for accountability, transparency, good
governance, and anticorruption. By using blockchain technology inside smart cities, the
aforementioned difficulties can be resolved. Understanding the key elements of smart cities,
such as smart database systems, smart control systems, smart interfaces, and smart carriers, is
crucial when using blockchain technology. Information gathered by sensors and other pertinent
sources is stored in smart database systems. Resources are scheduled and organized using
intelligent control systems. The goal of smart interfaces is to give citizens access to information.
Each of these components may be enhanced using blockchain technology to safeguard data. For
instance, smart database systems can use blockchain technology to secure gathered data across
all platforms. The following are some other major benefits of implementing blockchain
technology in smart cities. First, blockchain gives each participant access to the database in terms
of access control. Due to the burdensome nature of data creation brought on by the engagement
of so many devices in smart cities, blockchain technology may offer partial, full, or no access to
the vast amounts of data contained in a single database without posing any security or privacy
risks. The second benefit of blockchain technology is the creation of an incentive system that can
be used to encourage people to utilize various applications built for smart cities. Third, people
who attempt to modify data may be seen by blockchain technology, which aids in the
identification of unusual individuals. Blockchain technology and smart cities have received little
research attention. research on the integration of blockchain technology with Internet of Things
(IoT) and smart city applications are included in some of these research [2, 4–7]. Reyna et al.'s [4]

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analysis of the potential advantages of blockchain for IoT and probable topologies of their
integration. In a similar vein, the writers reviewed solid solutions for pressing IoT security issues
and blockchain technology. Sikorski et al. [8] offered a case study of an electricity firm that used
machine-to-machine interactions to integrate blockchain technology in a smart city.
Blockchain technology is being used in an architecture that Rifi et al. [9] designed for IoT security.
They concentrated on securing applications for smart cities that demand constant data
generation and essential monitoring.
Our work focuses on the criteria for the successful adoption of blockchain technology in smart
cities, as well as the major difficulties in meeting such needs, in contrast to other cutting-edge
research. For researchers and application designers who are interested in blockchain technology
and smart cities, this study will be a great resource.
The following are the contributions of this work:
• The main features of blockchain technology are displayed.
• The necessary conditions needed to integrate blockchain technology with smart cities are listed
and explored.
• A proposed conceptual design for smart cities is based on blockchain technology.
• Three case studies of smart cities based on blockchain are presented.
• Future research problems related to the use of blockchain technology in applications for smart
cities are noted and considered.
The contributions mentioned above are described further below.

Characteristics of Blockchain Technology for Smart

Cities
To realize the full potential of the technology and define its potential applications, the properties
of blockchain technology (Fig. 1) should be understood. The following are brief summaries of
each quality.

Robust
The Internet has been recognized as a reliable communication tool since its inception. Similar to
how a system cannot be brought down unless every component is turned off, so too with
blockchain technology. Because data is kept in blocks that are identical across the network,
blockchain technology is rarely governed by a single institution. Although hacking is a possibility,

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the fundamental ideas guiding blockchain technology are unaffected. Lack of a centralized
approach, which means that no single point of failure can impair standard functionality, is
another aspect that makes blockchain technology strong.

Incorruptible and Secure

It is therefore nearly impossible to corrupt or change throughout the whole network. Massive
computer resources will be needed to override the entire network in the event that outside
attackers try to change the data. Consider the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as an example. If the
mechanism for recording bitcoins is overridden, the value of all bitcoins will be destroyed, making
them useless.

FIGURE 1. Characteristics of blockchain technology.

Consensus
The act of coming to an agreement is referred to as consensus. Prior to engaging in any legally
binding transaction, parties should come to an agreement. A leader is needed in every central
organization to make choices. Blockchain, on the other hand, does not need a leader because the
choice is dynamic. Only after an agreeable agreement or a satisfactory resolution is reached by
all parties can the transaction go through. A variety of approaches have been suggested for
blockchain consensus. Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance
(PBFT), Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), Proof of Importance (PoI), Delegated PoS
(DPoS), Tangle, Proof of Burn (PoB), Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET), and Proof of Burn (PoB) are
among the most well-liked. These consensus processes, which are all governed by protocols,

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serve the function of confirming the validity of transactions. The type of applications used in
smart cities will determine whether permission-based or permission-less distributed ledgers are
needed for consensus. PoW is the most often utilized technique for bitcoins. The work of [10, 11]
has the specifics on consensus procedures. A list of popular consensus protocols may be found
in Table 1.

Consensus protocol Advantages Suitability

Proof of Work (PoW) High latency; relies on hard disk capacity Not suitable

Proof of Elapsed Time Low latency and high throughput, but

Suitable
(PoET) dependent on Intel

Proof of Stake (PoS) Low computational power requirement Not suitable

Depends on monetary concepts

Delegated Proof of Stake Higher throughput and latency
(stakes) when selecting witnesses
(DPoS) compared with PoS
and delegates and is thus unsuitable

Leased Proof of Stake Based on monetary concepts,

Improved security relative to PoS
(LPoS) hence, not suitable

Low computational power requirement, Suitable, but dependent on

Proof of Importance (PoI)
high throughout and low latency monetary concepts

Proof of Activity (PoA) Higher delay Not suitable

High network overhead and thus

Practical Byzantine Fault High throughput, low latency, and low
suitable for low-scale smart city
Tolerance (PBFT) computational overhead
networks

Scalable, high throughput, low latency,

Tangle and low computational power Suitable
requirement

TABLE 1. List of popular consensus protocols.

Transparency and Validation of Information

A blockchain's digital data is dispersed over the network so that users can independently verify
it without the aid of a centralized authority. All participants can see any changes made to the
data. As a result, the transparency of the data present in the blockchain is achieved, and worries
about potential manipulation are dispelled.

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Requirements of Blockchain Technology for Smart Cities
This section outlines the essential conditions that must be met in order to properly implement
blockchain technology in smart cities, as depicted in Fig. 2. The major enablers that must be met
in order for blockchain technology to be successfully and effectively used in smart cities are those
conditions.

Privacy of Citizens
Personal information about citizens is necessary for notary services as well (such as identity,
family information, postal address, and asset information). By storing, processing, and
disseminating such private data in a public blockchain, anyone can be quickly identified. Because
a user can control, update, edit, or otherwise manipulate the data recorded in the blockchain if
they have access to more than 50% of the computing power, a few flaws (such as this one) render
blockchain technology extremely vulnerable to privacy breaches. Therefore, one of the most
crucial criteria for blockchain technology in smart city applications is to protect citizens' privacy.

Legalization of Office Technology in Office Matters

Blockchain technology has legal ramifications that call for legalization when used in various
government services (such as notary services, e-voting systems, and digital identification).
Blockchain technology still lacks international laws and regulations, which limits the use of
blockchain-based applications in the public sector. In local government affairs, the issuing and
verification of legal papers as well as the supply of other official services are governed and legally
governed by the government's established laws and policies. Therefore, deploying blockchain-
based applications for the aforementioned government-related activities without any
legalization will neutralize the technology's effects and generate legal issues.

FIGURE 2. Requirements of blockchain technology for smart cities

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Fast & Real-Time Processing of Transactions
Blockchain applications in smart cities include handling thousands of transactions each hour.
Depending on the application, different transactions require different amounts of processing. the
heavy real-time transaction processing. Due to the distributed nature of blockchain technology
and the intensive processing needed for block loading and block verification, processing delays
may happen. Therefore, quick and effective transaction processing will be necessary for the
successful application of blockchain technology in smart cities. In order to create the requisite
low-cost mechanisms for the quick processing of transactions required by applications for smart
cities, extensive research activities are also needed.

Trust Models for Blockchain Technology

related to how well users are received. The acceptance and adaptation of any new technology
heavily depends on trust. User acceptance is necessary for the successful implementation of
blockchain technology in smart cities, and user trust in these apps is a key component. Security
and privacy are among the key elements impacting consumers' trust, according to numerous
recent research [12, 13]. Due to their dispersed and open nature, blockchain technologies
confront a significant difficulty when it comes to privacy. Therefore, it is important to create user
trust models that are effective before using blockchain-based apps in smart cities.

Conceptual Architecture
There are three layers in the suggested architecture (Fig. 3). Layer 1 includes all possible
applications like payroll and healthcare management systems. Information is transported by
Layer 2 using a variety of IoT devices and communication methods. The blockchain protected
storage is the final layer, which is used to store confirmed blocks of data (i.e., transactions) when
a group of trusted nodes have come to an agreement. The choice of particular consensus
mechanisms and the explanation of smart contracts [14] for data exchange across devices are
outside the purview of this investigation. The main goal of this research is to give a broad
overview of data security in smart cities using blockchain technology. A smart contract, which
specifies precise guidelines for information exchange, is included for each participating node. The
smart contract is broadcast throughout the network if a node rejects the rules in it up until a
predetermined number of acknowledgments have been received. Following an information
exchange, layer 3 stores the record. An example of energy analytics is given to illustrate how the
suggested design works.
This program aims to remotely assess each household's energy usage in a smart city.
• Using various IoT devices (such as sensors), data from all the energy meters installed in every
home within a city radius is gathered.

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• The sensors use appropriate communication technologies (such as 4G and WiFi) to transfer the
created data block to layer 3 through layer 2 in accordance with a smart contract.
• Following a prior consensus procedure, the generated information block in tier 3 is safely stored
in a blockchain-based ledger. This ledger also contains the various blocks of data for the houses
in the smart city.
• An application is created to analyze each household's energy usage on the interface side. Real-
time monitoring of energy use and an open billing system are two major benefits of this
technology.

FIGURE 3. Proposed architecture for blockchain technology in smart cities.

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Case Studies on Blockchain-Based Smart Cities
The practical applications of blockchain technology in smart cities are presented in this section.
Following a description of these uses, three case studies are presented.
French City Brain:
This IoT/AI-based platform was created by 15 French enterprises as part of their smart city
initiative (https://frenchcitybrain.com/en/). The platform offers management services for air
quality, safe city monitoring, and energy storage (such as solar and biogas). The project's goal is
to gather data from sophisticated microsensors and make it possible to monitor the listed
services in real-time. The interoperability of raw data raises security concerns, which blockchain
technology.
Smart Dubai:
The Smart Dubai office and Dubai Future have been working together on this project
(https://www. smartdubai.ae/) for a while now. By 2020, Dubai will be one of the first smart cities
powered entirely by blockchain, according to the project's aim. In order to establish trust,
traceability, and transferability, information (such as real estate purchasing and selling, passport
and visa information, bank information, and Dewa registration) is safeguarded utilizing
blockchain-based solutions.
Limestone Network, a new Singapore company:
This smart city project (https://theBlockchainland. com/2019/08/16/building-smart-city-heart-
cambodia-capital-overview/) intends to make Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, a smart city.
Phnom Penh is a city of around 100 ha. There are about 190,000 residents and 10,000 commercial
tenants in the city.

Research Challenges
Table 2 provides an overview of the major obstacles standing in the way of safeguarding smart
cities using blockchain technology.

Privacy
Due to its many advantages, blockchain technology is appropriate for many smart city
applications. However, privacy problems arise because of the distributed and open access nature
of blockchain, which enables users to access or read any stored data on the blockchain. Four
other categories of privacy are location, report, inquiry, and identification. It's difficult to protect
the privacy of blockchain users. Leaks of personal information cause several social and legal
problems. Applications for smart cities based on blockchain will not be accepted by citizens

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because of privacy concerns. Numerous recent researches have put up numerous suggestions for
ways to protect blockchain users' privacy. The majority of the solutions [15] are, however,
presented in other cryptocurrencies, such Zcoin and Zcash. Since these systems demand a lot of
compute, storage, communication, and energy, implementing them in actual smart city
applications is difficult. It takes the creation of effective and dependable outside-the-box
solutions to meet this problem.

Challenges Causes Guidelines

Open and distributed nature of (a) Minimum personal data

Privacy blockchain technology; (b) personal data storage in public chains; (b)
leakage; (c) 51 % attack anonymity of user data

(a) Non-availability of regulations; (b) (a) New international mutual

conflict between blockchain legislations; (b) trade-off between
Legislation
characteristics and international laws for privacy leakage and quality of
data protection services

(a) New user trust models; (b) user

Acceptance of (a) Lack of user trust; (b) complex
friendly interfaces (ease of use); (c)
blockchain technology operations; (c) privacy issues
strong privacy preservation

(a) High cost; (b) high processing, storage,

Robust blockchain Smart, reliable, fast, scalable, and
and communication requirements; (c)
architecture resource-efficient architecture
lack of scalability; (d) complex operations

TABLE 2. Open challenges and guidelines.

Legalization
Any nation's successful adoption and deployment of new technology depends entirely on local
regulations that have been enacted by the government being followed. As diverse applications
continue to progress through numerous development phases (such as design, implementation,
testing, and deployment), blockchain technology is still in its infancy.
Legislation is a significant obstacle that can prevent the adoption and deployment of these
technologies in the real world. For various blockchain applications, there are distinct regulations.

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For instance, a consistent cryptocurrency law for international financial transactions is
conceivable. These laws for the acceptance of cryptocurrencies are being developed by
numerous international financial organizations. Additionally, several applications demand the
storage of extremely private personal data. Blockchain elements like immutability—the inability
to be erased—contravene user privacy laws that are applied in many nations, including the EU
countries, in such applications. Few [2] alternatives have been put out to address these issues
(e.g., using multiple centralized database systems controlled by the local government to store
user data outside the chain in the case of a smart city scenario). These solutions, however, still
contradict with the distributed nature of blockchain and have substantial energy, processing, and
storage costs. Therefore, to overcome this problem, reasonable and adaptable solutions should
be put forth.

Acceptance of Blockchain Technology

The successful adoption and use of any new technology depend on user acceptability. Because
there are so many variables that affect user behavior, user adoption is a significant issue for new
technology. Due to two key criteria, privacy and ease of use, blockchain technology is also up
against this obstacle. The public nature of blockchain technology creates privacy concerns since
it enables users to examine the private data that other users have stored. Users typically favor
technology that strongly protect user privacy. However, there is no model for user acceptance
and no research has been done on how well people are accepting of blockchain technology. To
ensure the successful integration of blockchain technology in smart city applications, further
research efforts should be made.

Robust Blockchain Architecture for Smart Cities

A blockchain-based application for smart cities should be able to manage the complicated
blockchain operations, such as consensus, exchanging smart contracts, managing numerous
transactions concurrently, efficient mining, a fair reward system, and quick processing of
heterogeneous data types and formats. Depending on the nature of the application, each smart
city requirement is unique. Therefore, creating a solid blockchain architecture for applications in
smart cities is a difficult undertaking. In terms of cost, processing, storage, communication, and
energy usage, the blockchain architecture should be intelligent, dependable, quick, scalable, and
resource-efficient. To create a robust blockchain architecture that is highly secure, less
complicated, and privacy-preserving, more study is required.

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Conclusion
According to this report, blockchain technology meets four criteria that make it appropriate for
smart cities. The four essential conditions that must be met in order to use blockchain technology
in smart cities are listed. Also suggested and debated is a smart city architecture based on
blockchain. We present three active blockchain-based smart city projects in the real world. A
discussion of research challenges is also included. Smart city blockchain technology is still in its
infancy. It will be challenging to secure smart cities with blockchain technology if the necessary
conditions aren't met. Future research will examine the use of blockchain in various types of
devices as well as significant interoperability issues.

Acknowledgement
Through research group project number RG-1435-051, the Deanship of Scientific Research at King
Saud University is supporting this effort to some extent.

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