[Paper Review] Real time Smart Contracts for IoT using Blockchain and Collaborative Intelligence based Dynamic Pricing for the next generation Smart Toll Application

Misha Abraham, Himajit Aithal+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 28, 2020

Blockchain Technology Applications and Security13 references4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a real-time smart contract system for IoT-based smart toll applications using blockchain and collaborative AI-driven dynamic pricing. By integrating multi-agent systems with Quorum blockchain, vehicles and tolls autonomously negotiate lane usage and settlements in real time, achieving instant transactions, enhanced privacy, and optimized resource use through distributed learning and incentive-based decision-making.

ABSTRACT

The confluence of Internet of Things(IoT) , Blockchain(BC) and Artificial Intelligence(AI) acts as a key accelerator for enabling Machine Economy. To be ready for future businesses these technologies needs to be adapted by extending the IoT capabilities to Economy of Things (EoT) capabilities. In this paper we focus on one such implementation experience for Smart Toll Transaction application in the domain of mobility. Our paper showcases a possible solution by leveraging negotiations, decision making, distributed learning capabilities at the devices level using AI-enabled Multi-Agent Systems and the real-time smart contracts between the Cars and Tolls using Blockchain. This solution also showcases the monetization of real time data coming from various IoT devices which are part of vehicles and infrastructure. While blockchain secures the privacy of the participants it also acts as an economic transactional layer and governance layer between the devices in the networ

Motivation & Objective

• To address inefficiencies in traditional toll systems by enabling real-time, automated, and secure transactions between vehicles and tolls.
• To leverage blockchain for data integrity, privacy, and trustless economic settlements in IoT-based mobility systems.
• To implement collaborative intelligence and dynamic pricing using multi-agent systems that learn from real-time and historical data.
• To demonstrate instant settlement and monetization of IoT data through smart contracts in a real-world demonstrator.
• To validate a hybrid optimization model combining global (long-term) and local (short-term) decision-making for fair and efficient toll usage.

Proposed method

• Deployed a Quorum blockchain network using quorum-maker to enable secure, permissioned peer-to-peer communication between vehicle and toll agents.
• Implemented vehicle and toll agents using Python, enabling autonomous negotiation based on user preferences and real-time conditions.
• Developed smart contracts in Solidity to automate and enforce economic transactions, including instant ether transfers upon lane selection.
• Integrated web3.js to interface with the blockchain and execute transactions, with results visualized via a React.js-based UI dashboard.
• Utilized distributed learning techniques where agents updated pricing strategies based on historical transaction data and real-time vehicle density.
• Applied a coopetitive multi-agent framework where agents collaborate locally (e.g., for emergency vehicle routing) while competing globally for optimal outcomes.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can real-time smart contracts between IoT devices and infrastructure enable instant, trustless toll transactions?
• RQ2 In what ways can collaborative AI and multi-agent systems improve dynamic pricing and resource allocation in smart toll systems?
• RQ3 How can blockchain technology ensure data confidentiality, immutability, and security in a decentralized IoT mobility ecosystem?
• RQ4 What is the impact of combining global (historical) and local (contextual) optimization on system fairness and efficiency?
• RQ5 Can autonomous agents negotiate and settle toll payments in real time while maximizing user incentives and infrastructure utilization?

Key findings

• The system achieved instant settlement of toll transactions through blockchain-based smart contracts, eliminating multi-day settlement delays.
• Dynamic pricing was successfully implemented using real-time data and historical transaction patterns, enabling adaptive lane pricing based on vehicle density and user preferences.
• The demonstrator confirmed that vehicles could autonomously negotiate lane selection (fast vs. economic) based on user-defined incentives, with outcomes recorded immutably on the Quorum blockchain.
• The integration of multi-agent systems enabled localized decision-making, such as prioritizing emergency vehicles by incentivizing traffic signal adjustments.
• The user interface, built with React.js, provided real-time visibility into wallet balances, transaction history, and lane conditions, enhancing system transparency.
• The architecture demonstrated that IoT data monetization is feasible through secure, privacy-preserving, and incentive-driven mechanisms enabled by blockchain and AI.