A Lightweight Blockchain Framework With Proof-of-Authority(POA) For Secure And Scalable IOT Communication

Abstract

The exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has intensified challenges in ensuring secure communication, authentication, and scalability due to distributed deployments and constrained computational resources. Traditional centralized security models suffer from single points of failure and limited scalability, making them unsuitable for large-scale IoT networks. This paper presents a lightweight blockchain-based framework utilizing a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism combined with smart contract–driven authentication to enhance data integrity, confidentiality, and decentralized trust. The proposed hybrid architecture leverages off-chain storage to significantly reduce costs and improve performance. Experimental evaluations on a private Ethereum network demonstrate that the system achieves up to 65% lower data management costs, reduced latency under increasing device loads, and stable transaction throughput compared to Proof-of-Work (PoW) approaches. Energy consumption analysis further validates the suitability of the proposed model for resource-constrained IoT environments, making it a viable solution for secure and scalable IoT deployments.