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INTRODUCTION MMS in a real environment where the blo-
ckchain client runs on devices with limited
With the exponential increase in cyberattacks and computational resources; and
their impacts [1]–[4], nations worldwide seek solutions
to defend their cyber domains. Blockchain technolo- Analyze, through experiments, the system’s
gy, which becomes mainstream in the financial sector overall performance and quantitatively de-
in the last decade due to its wide proved capabilities, termine the blockchain technology overhe-
now is spreading its application to the military, helping ad, evaluating if its performance meets desi-
to leverage security in critical systems [5]. Due to the rable QoS levels.
growing use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the mar-
itime environment, with applications on autonomous RELATED WORK
shipping, navigation, monitoring, and other critical
applications, the need for a secure and reliable com- Different works discuss blockchain technology
munication system is bold [6]. Moreover, data in [7] applications in monitoring systems. Al-Sahan et al. [9]
show an increase of 900% in maritime cyberattacks present a permissioned blockchain implementation on
in the last three years, evidencing the need for security Fabric to build a public national surveillance system,
tools that can help to mitigate cyberelectronic vulner- integrating a heterogeneous array of entities composed
abilities [8]. Blockchain-based systems could play an by public and private stakeholders. This system com-
important role in that matter, leveraging data security bines blockchain decentralized properties with ma-
through decentralization and sophisticated cryptogra- chine learning algorithms designed for facial recogni-
phy mechanisms. tion, allowing the system to precisely identify people
through a surveillance system widely distributed. The
This work focus on the vulnerabilities of a nation- authors emphasize the Fabric’s modular framework as
al scale Maritime Monitoring System (MMS), where a key feature to effectively integrate different surveil-
the sensing devices are isolated and often in dangerous lance subsystems. They also demonstrate that Fabric
environments. In this scenario, attackers could try to deals with large amounts of data, delivering a good
tamper with physical sensors or even modify data from overall performance.
RF (Radio Frequency) communication channels, com-
promising data integrity and authenticity [6]. In an Rahimi et al. [6] develop a solution using an
even worst scenario, they could use tactics similar Ethereum blockchain to secure data in an MMS. Their
to the ones in the SolarWinds hacking [1] to access the system uses buoys and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)
MMS database and put the system availability at risk. to gather maritime sensing data and send it to a Data
Fusion Center ashore through a mesh topology net-
To overcome these risks, we propose a block- work. The authors suggest a Proof of Authority con-
chain-based MMS that could secure the integrity, au- sensus protocol, more energy-efficient and tailored to
thenticity, and availability of sensing data from ves- a permissioned blockchain. Through MATLAB simu-
sel traffic services and relevant for life’s safety at sea. lations, the authors evaluate the performance of the
Permissioned blockchain restrains the access of entities system in terms of delay and throughput. Blockchains
through cryptography mechanisms, being more suit- result in an overhead of 13 18% in delay and 12 16%
able to an MMS. We also evaluate how this solution in throughput, which are acceptable QoS levels.
meets Quality of Service (QoS) requirements in terms
of time response and management of large amounts of Melo et al. [10] present a comprehensive frame-
data. The main contribution of this paper is three-fold: work that describes how to implement a block-
chain-based system to monitor and protect critical in-
Develop a functional permissioned blo- frastructures, securing data availability and integrity.
ckchain MMS prototype, implemented on The authors compare the performance of two distinct
Fabric platform, that receives and stores sen- blockchain implementations using the Ethereum and
sing data; Fabric platforms. Their analysis shows Fabric’s slight
Integrate the prototype to a low-cost Auto- advantage in terms of throughput, modular frame-
matic Identification System (AIS) receiver, work, and better development tools. In turn, Ethereum
developed by the Brazilian Navy, demons- presents a simpler configuration and well predictable
trating the feasibility of a blockchain-based costs.

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