By Solomon Odunayo
Due to the importance of consensus protocols in the blockchain industry, VeChain and the University of Oxford have jointly proposed an evaluation framework for blockchain consensus protocols.
This collaboration between the University of Oxford and VeResearch team brought about a technical paper titled, “AlphaBlock: An Evaluation Framework for Blockchain Consensus Protocols” for the evaluation of blockchain consensus protocols.
According to the report, the “overall performance of Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus and Nakamoto Consensus (NC) is compared through the AlphaBlock framework.”
Prior to this recent collaboration, VeChain and the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford have been working together as close partners to carry out research and provide independent scientific advice to support the blockchain industry at large.
The Purpose of the Joint Research Work between VeChain and University of Oxford
There is a need for this joint research work between VeChain and the University of Oxford because there are no established means to calculate the actual performance of a specific consensus design, which has contributed to the significant problem in the effort to push for the adoption of blockchain technology.
According to the report, the joint research work is targeted at providing a framework for the evaluation of blockchain performance, adding that the proposed framework will serve as a highly potent tool for the blockchain industry and the academic world. It’s expected to evaluate the performance of a particular consensus algorithm using various algorithm settings and network conditions.
With AlphaBlock, a proposed research work between VeChain and Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, blockchain experts would be able to test their consensus designs without absolute implementation.
The report reads in part as follows:
“In AlphaBlock, the topological graph model is used to represent blockchain nodes and communications among them. Based on the model, the researchers are able to quantify the communication cost and delay of each new block.
“After that, they evaluate the throughput by analyzing how efficient the bandwidth is used and the latency according to the message delay, the block interval, and the number of rounds before the confirmation of a block. These two quantities are used as the main factors to evaluate the performance of a consensus design.”
The report also added that the recent collaborative effort is one of the examples of VeChain’s leadership in the blockchain ecosystem.
Conclusively, VeChain aims at extending the scope of Alphablock and further collaborate on other topics such as DeFi and blockchain economic models in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
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