On the Performance of PBFT-based Permissioned Blockchain Networks in Constraint Environments
Venkatesh Ramaswamy, David Penny · 2021
In this paper we propose and develop a simple analytical model to study the performance of permissioned blockchain networks in a constraint environment with intermittent connectivity and limited resources. We assume that a Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerence (PBFT) consensus process is used as the endorsement policy. We use the model to study several important performance metrics such as the average number of attempts to reach consensus, the average amount of time to reach consensus, and the average number of messages transferred before a transaction is committed. We also present a non-exhaustive set of numerical results that can provide valuable insights into the design of permissioned blockchain platforms, and establish a link between the performance and system parameters including size of network, packet loss rates, and average link bandwidth.