Blockchain-enabled participatory incentives for crowdsourced mesh networks

Abstract

Crowdsourced mesh networks are built, maintained and used by several participants that cooperate to provide and consume connectivity. Providers of infrastructure want to get compensation for their investments and earn tokens; users or consumers want the network to expand for improving the coverage of connectivity and stability. How do we collect funds from consumers and distribute them to providers, guaranteeing satisfaction of every participant? For that, we need of a system that coordinates the flow of economic value in mesh networks in a way that is not only transparent, automated, decentralized and secure, but also beneficial to all. We designed a new economic protocol called Fair to compensate providers for their investments. The key point of our model is that each provider will be paid with different prices for the forwarded traffic: the more devices a provider has, the higher its price/MB forwarded is, up to a certain limit. We implemented the model using MeshDApp, a local blockchain platform for mesh networks. Simulations show how our proposal ensures a win-win situation where the network grows and the providers are compensated for their investment. Also, continuous growth is incentivized while centralization due to few large providers controlling the network is avoided.