Performance analysis of a private blockchain network built on Hyperledger Fabric for healthcare. Issue 2 (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Al-Sumaidaee, Ghassan; Alkhudary, Rami; Zilic, Zeljko; Swidan, Andraws
• Is Part Of: Information processing & management. Volume 60:Issue 2(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: Blockchain -- Healthcare -- Hyperledger fabric -- Hyperledger caliper; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Periodicals; Information science -- Periodicals; Systèmes d'information -- Périodiques; Sciences de l'information -- Périodiques; Information science; Information storage and retrieval systems; Periodicals; 658.4038
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2022.103160
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4573

Abstract

Abstract: The healthcare industry suffers from poor interoperability due to its fragmented communication systems. Each medical institution has a communication system that is not necessarily compatible with the other systems on the same network. Poor communication has serious implications for patients, resources, and costs. The literature proposes blockchain technology as a governance data management system that optimizes the flow of information between multiple organizations by providing a trust component. However, much of the literature is conceptual and addresses blockchain in healthcare in a very general way. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the use of Hyperledger Fabric in healthcare to improve information flow and solve the fragmentation problem between two medical institutions. In addition, two rate controllers on Hyperledger Caliper are used to evaluate the performance of our network: fixed and linear. We believe that our work will be useful for those working in value chains in healthcare and academia. Highlights: A Hyperledger-based blockchain testing network for the healthcare industry is proposed. To evaluate the performance of the designed network, two rate controllers are used: fixed and linear. The number of workers has a considerable impact on the latency of the system. Transaction per Second (TPS) has a considerable impact on the overall throughput of the network. By changing the rate control, the number of workers has a moderate effect on network latency.