Research paper

An Architecture Using Payment Channel Networks for Blockchain-based Wi-Fi Sharing

The authors derive a comprehensive collection of 14 design principles for workable Wi-Fi sharing networks and propose a reference architecture combining a blockchain (for trust and immutable records) with payment channel networks (for fast, cheap micro-payments), augmenting current approaches with adequate accounting mechanisms.

Paper

Overview

Publication metadata and narrative from the current library record.

Authors: Christian Janiesch, Marcus Fischer, Florian Imgrund, Adrian Hofmann, Axel Winkelmann
Year: 2023
Venue: ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems 14(1), Article 1 (2023)
Methodology: Design science research; requirements from a survey of risks/threats; scenario-based evaluation and workshop; proposed testable propositions.
DOI: 10.1145/3529097
Design knowledge: View design knowledge on GitHub

architectureblockchaindesign-science-researchpayment-channelssharing-economytelecommunicationswifi-sharing-payment-channels

Summary

Artifact

A multi-layer reference architecture for Wi-Fi sharing based on blockchain and payment channel networks.

Methodology

Design science research; requirements from a survey of risks/threats; scenario-based evaluation and workshop; proposed testable propositions.

DSR grid

Six dimensions represented in the current paper record.

Problem description

Wi-Fi sharing needs adequate accounting and security: trust-based approaches require intermediaries and cannot prevent malicious behavior, while security-based approaches lack accounting mechanisms and coverage.

Input knowledge

Prior Wi-Fi sharing approaches (e.g., Leroy et al., Cao et al., Seufert et al.); the market engineering framework (Notheisen et al.); blockchain and payment channel networks.

Research process

Design science research: requirements derived from a survey of risks, threats and related work; development of a multi-layer reference architecture; scenario-based evaluation and a workshop; formulation of testable propositions.

Key concepts

Wi-Fi sharing, blockchain, payment channel networks, reference architecture, accounting mechanisms.

Solution description

A multi-layer reference architecture combining a blockchain (trust, immutable records) with payment channel networks (fast, cheap micro-payments) and adequate accounting. Solution-space representation: Instantiation (reference architecture) plus fourteen design principles (design theory).

Output knowledge

Fourteen design principles for secure, reliable Wi-Fi sharing networks with adequate accounting.

Paper design map

The default semantic design map canonicalizes stored design relationships; Raw links retains the complete technical Markdown-link view.

Design-knowledge map

24 stored concepts / 38 canonical semantic relationships

Concept types

Show relationship labels

Design knowledge

Directly linked concepts, grouped by their represented design-knowledge category.

14 Design Principles

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp1

DP1 - Host bandwidth management module

Provide the system with a module for hosts to manage and organize the provided bandwidth in order for the system to provide access to the Internet.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp2

DP2 - Private-network module without shared secret keys

Provide the system with a module for users to initiate and maintain a private network without sharing secret keys in order to prevent decoding of the connection.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp3

DP3 - Route users to their private network

Provide the system with a module that provides only bandwidth to the user while users are routed to their private network even if their identity is known, in order to prevent users from conducting fraudulent actions.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp4

DP4 - Restrict user access to the host's infrastructure

Provide the system with a module to restrict user access to the host's private network infrastructure even if the user's identity is known, in order to prevent fraudulent actions.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp5

DP5 - Clear access-point identification

Provide the system with a module to identify access points clearly in order to prevent security-related threats such as eavesdropping or DNS-server phishing.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp6

DP6 - Tamper-proof transaction history via trusted intermediary

Provide the system with a mutually trusted intermediary requiring a transaction history that records a user's data traffic, resource consumption and incurred costs, in order to ensure that connection data cannot be manipulated or corrupted.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp7

DP7 - Minimize transaction costs

Provide the system with a module to keep transaction costs to a minimum in order to prevent large numbers of micro-payments.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp8

DP8 - Fee-free instant payments

Provide the system with a module to forgo transaction costs for the execution of instant payments in order to regulate the duration of the connection.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp9

DP9 - Mutually agreed usage cost

Provide the system with a module to set up the transaction in order to enable host and user to mutually agree on the usage cost.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp10

DP10 - Pre-payment mechanism

Provide the system with a module for pre-payment in order to increase quality of service and prevent risks of overcharging and repudiation.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp11

DP11 - Dynamic trust-score accounting

Provide the system with accounting mechanisms using a dynamic trust-score in order to facilitate cooperative host behavior and ensure high service levels by rewarding hosts for cooperation or high availability.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp12

DP12 - Platform-independent protocol

Provide the system with a protocol that is platform-independent in order to avoid lock-in effects and facilitate user adoption and scalability.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp13

DP13 - Incremental bandwidth with instant payment

Provide the system with a protocol that incrementally increases provided bandwidth together with instant payment functionalities that transfer outstanding payments immediately to unlock further resources, in order to prevent fraudulent behavior.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dp14

DP14 - Multiple simultaneous connections and billing

Provide the system with a protocol for users to initiate any number of connections and for hosts to simultaneously bill users with multiple connections, in order to ensure connections without the risk of overcharging or repudiation.

architecturedesign-principlepayment-channelssharing-economy+2

10 Design Requirements

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-ar-ro

AR#RO - Risk of overcharging

A Wi-Fi sharing network must prevent the risk of overcharging users through failure of service invoicing.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-ar-rr

AR#RR - Risk of repudiation

A Wi-Fi sharing network must prevent the risk of user repudiation emerging from service downtimes.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-au-ac

AU#AC - Application confinement

A Wi-Fi sharing network must limit functionalities, rules, and restrictions that point to application confinement and potentially hamper user adoption.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-au-as

AU#AS - Accessibility of subscribed services

A Wi-Fi sharing network must regulate the accessibility of subscribed services that are made available unintentionally through the Internet Protocol of the access point.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-au-lt

AU#LT - Legal risks and tarnished reputation

A Wi-Fi sharing network must address the risks imposed by illegal actions of network users, which can yield losses in reputation or legal implications for hosts.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-s-b

S#B - Blacklisting

A Wi-Fi sharing network must prevent hosts' access points from becoming blacklisted by external service providers as a result of malicious user behavior.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-s-fa

S#FA - Fraudulent access points

A Wi-Fi sharing network must account for the risks imposed by fraudulent access points emulating a fake Service Set Identifier (SSID), which can be used to intercept connections between users and access points.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-s-ia

S#IA - Infrastructure attacks

A Wi-Fi sharing network must prevent network infrastructure attacks conducted by users against the host's network.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-s-re

S#RE - Resource exhaustion

A Wi-Fi sharing network must discourage users from conducting malicious actions using resource exhaustion against the host's shared bandwidth.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

design-knowledge/wifi-sharing-payment-channels-dr-s-upt

S#UPT - User profiling and traceability

A Wi-Fi sharing network's data processing must comply with data protection laws that prohibit techniques for user profiling and activity tracing.

architecturedesign-requirementpayment-channelssharing-economy+2

Publication metadata

Additional metadata represented in the current library record.

Show additional metadata

{
  "type": "paper",
  "title": "An Architecture Using Payment Channel Networks for Blockchain-based Wi-Fi Sharing",
  "description": "The authors derive a comprehensive collection of 14 design principles for workable Wi-Fi sharing networks and propose a reference architecture combining a blockchain (for trust and immutable records) with payment channel networks (for fast, cheap micro-payments), augmenting current approaches with adequate accounting mechanisms.",
  "resource": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3529097",
  "authors": "Christian Janiesch, Marcus Fischer, Florian Imgrund, Adrian Hofmann, Axel Winkelmann",
  "year": 2023,
  "venue": "ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems 14(1), Article 1 (2023)",
  "methodology": "Design science research; requirements from a survey of risks/threats; scenario-based evaluation and workshop; proposed testable propositions.",
  "dsr_grid": true,
  "dsr_solution_space": "Instantiation (reference architecture) plus fourteen design principles (design theory).",
  "tags": [
    "wifi-sharing-payment-channels",
    "sharing-economy",
    "telecommunications",
    "payment-channels",
    "architecture",
    "design-science-research",
    "blockchain"
  ]
}