Adapting blockchain’s proof-of-work mechanism for multiple traveling salesmen problem optimization

Abstract

Abstract The blockchain network uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism to validate transactions and keep the blockchain growth safe against tampering, but it is hugely energy-consuming with no benefit to the peer-to-peer network participants. In this paper, we propose a blockchain network for distributing products to different locations based on the use of the Proof of Useful Work (PoUW) mechanism, in which miners use computing resources to optimize the travelling salesman problem (TSP) as an alternative to solving mathematical problems that represent the basis of the traditional PoW mechanism to get a new block. According to this proposed blockchain, it not only receives and securely stores the distribution locations but also improves the paths for salesmen when travelling between different locations. This strategy aims to take advantage of the miners’ efforts to minimize the distance travelled by salesmen by applying the clustering technique and computing the shortest path by Guided Local Search (GLS) for each cluster at the same time. According to the tested results on TSP-LIB instances, the used technique works efficiently with an average of 0.08 compared to the rest of the meta-heuristics, and the proposed architecture reduced total distances with an average of 0.025.