A BLOCKCHAIN TESTBED FOR DOD APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Although initially introduced to support the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, many blockchain technology applications have been envisioned. As a result, blockchain platforms have been created and others are under development. The Department of Defense (DoD) needs blockchain platform testbeds so that applications beyond cryptocurrency can be explored. To solve this problem, we decided to construct a small blockchain testbed. We developed criteria to aid in selecting a blockchain platform for use in a testbed. Then, we evaluated a set of blockchain platforms against our criteria, selected the highest-ranking platform, and used it to create the testbed. We installed and exercised applications provided by the platform’s developers to test its behavior. Study of the services provided by the platform allowed us to propose the design of an application that could be tailored for DoD use. The selected blockchain platform, Hyperledger Fabric, was hosted in lightweight virtual machines called Docker containers and can be used for design and experimentation on applications and blockchain networks. This lowered the effort and resources required to configure and set up blockchain networks. Hyperledger Fabric is an example of a blockchain platform that can support more use cases beyond cryptocurrency.