Blockchain leveraged decentralized IoT eHealth framework

Blockchain technologies recently emerging for eHealth, can facilitate a secure, decentralized and patient-driven, record management system. However, Blockchain technologies cannot accommodate the storage of data generated from IoT devices in remote patient management (RPM) settings as this application requires a fast consensus mechanism, careful management of keys and enhanced protocols for privacy. In this paper, we propose a Blockchain leveraged decentralized eHealth architecture which comprises three layers: (1) The Sensing layer - Body Area Sensor Networks include medical sensors typically on or in a patient body transmitting data to a smartphone. (2) The NEAR processing layer - Edge Networks consist of devices at one hop from data sensing IoT devices. (3) The FAR processing layer - Core Networks comprise Cloud or other high computing servers). A Patient Agent (PA) software replicated on the three layers processes medical data to ensure reliable, secure and private communication. The PA executes a lightweight Blockchain consensus mechanism and utilizes a Blockchain leveraged task-offloading algorithm to ensure patient's privacy while outsourcing tasks. Performance analysis of the decentralized eHealth architecture has been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the system in the processing and storage of RPM data. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.