Blockchain-Based Method for Pre-Authentication and Handover Authentication of IoV Vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is an important supporting technology for intelligent transportation systems that connects traffic participants, such as vehicles, pedestrians, and roads, through wireless networks and enables information exchange to enhance traffic safety and improve traffic efficiency. The IoV is a unique network that involves many network security risks, which must be controlled through authentication, encryption, and other protective measures. To solve problems, such as high computing overhead and low handover authentication efficiency of the existing vehicle access authentication of the IoV, a compact consensus pre-authentication and handover authentication method was designed based on blockchain features such as decentralization and security. The proposed method is based on ensuring authentication security and reduces the consensus time, saves computing resources, and effectively solves the problems of high computing cost and high communication cost arising from frequent vehicle authentication handovers. A performance and security analysis demonstrates that our approach can reduce the computational overhead by up to 88.14% for a vehicle and by more than 60% for a roadside unit (RSU). The overall communication overhead of the solution is reduced by up to 71.31%. The data illustrate that the proposed method can safely and significantly improve the efficiency of vehicle handover authentication.

Automated summary

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a crucial technology for intelligent transportation systems, connecting vehicles, pedestrians, and roads through wireless networks to enhance traffic safety and efficiency. However, IoV faces significant network security risks, which can be controlled through authentication and encryption measures. To address the challenges of high computing overhead and low handover authentication efficiency in the existing IoV vehicle access authentication, a compact consensus pre-authentication and handover authentication method based on blockchain features was proposed. The method ensures authentication security, reduces consensus time, saves computing resources, and effectively solves the problems of high computing and communication costs. Performance and security analysis show that the proposed method can significantly reduce computational and communication overhead, improving the efficiency of vehicle handover authentication.