Fast Cycle Multiple Entry PBFT Consensus

Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) is widely used despite its limitations. In this paper we extend a previously described multiple entry version of PBFT with fast cycle capability. In this approach, multiple data blocks are proposed by different nodes or replicas, but instead of choosing only one to undergo the consensus procedure, replicas collect and order the proposals which are then accepted through a simplified consensus cycle. We analyze the operation of this scheme using a probabilistic model and show that consensus performance actually improves over that of the original PBFT as the traffic load increases. In this manner, the proposed scheme appears to be well suited for blockchain-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications.