Thesis Defence: Byzantine-Tolerant Erasure Coding for Blockchains
September 25 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Saeid Yazdinejad, supervised by Dr. Chen Feng, will defend their thesis titled “Byzantine-Tolerant Erasure Coding for Blockchains” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering.
An abstract for Saeid Yazdinejad’s thesis is included below.
Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Please email chen.feng@ubc.ca to receive the Zoom link for this defence.
ABSTRACT
This thesis proposes two novel solutions, Aurora and Phoenix, to address the file downloading problem in distributed networks vulnerable to Byzantine faults—scenarios where network components may fail or behave maliciously. Both solutions employ advanced erasure coding and cryptographic schemes to ensure reliable data transfer and integrity verification. Aurora utilizes Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes paired with vector commitments like KZG, optimizing for robust data redundancy and secure verification processes. Phoenix, conversely, leverages rateless codes alongside homomorphic commitments, offering greater flexibility and efficiency in data recovery under varying network conditions. Implemented within the HotStuff protocol—a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus algorithm—Aurora demonstrates enhanced synchronization efficiencies, significantly reducing the overhead in networks with up to 10% faulty nodes. This work contributes to robust and efficient data dissemination protocols that optimize bandwidth and storage utilization, essential for maintaining integrity and performance in critical network infrastructures.
