Dynamic-EC: A New Approach to Reducing Storage Overhead in Blockchain Systems
Research led by Minyi Guo, published in Frontiers of Computer Science, has made significant strides in reducing storage overhead in blockchain systems while maintaining data consistency and tolerating malicious nodes. Traditional blockchain networks often use full replication, where each node stores a complete copy of all blocks, leading to storage-intensive requirements as the blockchain grows. Previous approaches have utilized erasure codes to store blocks more efficiently by breaking data into smaller fragments with redundant parities distributed across multiple nodes.
The research team’s innovation lies in dynamically adjusting the encoding schema to more efficiently tolerate malicious nodes. By adapting the encoding schema based on the actual number of malicious nodes present, unnecessary storage overhead associated with maintaining redundant parities can be reduced. This advancement could have far-reaching implications for improving the efficiency and scalability of blockchain networks as the technology continues to evolve and find applications in various fields.
The team’s proposed method, Dynamic-EC, aims to reduce storage overhead in permissioned blockchain systems by dynamically adjusting the total number of parities based on the risk level of the system, determined by the number of perceived malicious nodes. Divided into three modules – Node Classification, Dynamic Erasure Coding, and Adaptive Fragment Placement – Dynamic-EC offers a comprehensive approach to enhancing the reliability and efficiency of blockchain systems.
This research, published in Frontiers of Computer Science, provides valuable insights into the potential of dynamic erasure coding methods for improving the performance of blockchain networks. As blockchain technology continues to advance, innovations like Dynamic-EC could play a crucial role in shaping the future of this rapidly evolving field.
