Performance Analysis of Proof-of-Elapsed-Time (PoET) Consensus in the Sawtooth Blockchain Framework
Amie Corso
Committee: Joe Sventek
Masters Thesis(Jun 2019)
Keywords: Blockchain, Sawtooth, Hyperledger, Caliper, Performance Analysis, Distributed Ledger, Proof-of-Elapsed-Time, PoET

Blockchains are distributed ledgers that use a tamper-sensitive, append-only data structure in conjunction with a consensus protocol to enable mutually distrusting parties to maintain a global set of states. A primary barrier to adoption of blockchain technology by industry is the current performance and scalability limitations of these systems, which lag far behind incumbent database systems. Of particular interest are "lottery-style" consensus algorithms, which are relatively scalable to many participants but suffer from low throughput (performance). Proof-of-Elapsed-Time (PoET) is one such algorithm with great promise for use in industry, though the parameters that govern its performance have not been well studied. This thesis explores, through simulation, key performance outcomes in PoET blockchain networks implemented with the Hyperledger Sawtooth framework. A better quantitative understanding of the interactions among these system parameters will be crucial for efficiently optimizing real world blockchain networks and facilitating adoption by industry.