Platooning payment system - Flash Channels

This is a Proof-Of-Concept for a payment system based on IOTA Flash Channels for 2+ participants. The use case resembles a platooning scenario.

In Flash Channel a deposit is payed to a multi-signature address on the tangle. The deposit will be split according to the negotiated amounts in the Flash Channel when closing the channel. The image "ApplicationProcessOverview.png" shows a very abstract overview of the process, excluding the sending of proposal and digests, and the resend logic. The application can be run with up to 6 participants.

INSTALL:

$ npm install

RUN:

Start two separate terminals Terminal 1:

$ cd channel
$ node main 0 2 2

Terminal 2:

$ cd channel
$ node main 1 2 2

Start with more participants (in separate terminals):

$ node main (id: 0-5) (participant count: 2-6) (security level: 1-3)

CONFIG:

OFFLINE-ONLINE:

The application is by default set to OFFLINE mode. ONLINE mode can be configured in order to communicate with the IOTA DEVNET:

$ nano channel/communicationLogic.js
const DEBUG_OFFLINE = false

The starting process up to "Channel Is Open" will take several minutes. You can check the transactions in https://devnet.thetangle.org/address/<insert address after "deposit to:">

NETWORK:

It is by default set to loopback mode to be used on a single computer, but it can also be used with separate devices in the same LAN.

$ nano channel/communicationLogic.js
const DEBUG_TWO_PORTS = false

Also, the BROADCAST_HOST in presets{0-6}.js needs to be modified.

CONSOLE

For more verbosity in the console set

$ nano channel/communicationLogic.js
const CONSOLE_VERBOSITY = 3

Advanced configurations are not presented here.

CODE STRUCTURE:

.
├── channel/                            #application logic
│      ├── cache.js       		#stores variables for the application & contains simple functions that dependend on the cached variables
│      ├── communicationLogic.js 	#application logic of the payment system & communication logic
│      ├── constants.js          	#constants
│      ├── flashChannel.js       	#two abstraction layers to use the Flash Channels library conveniently
│      ├── helpers.js            	#static helper functions
│      ├── iota.js               	#iota tangle communication
│      ├── main.js               	#MAIN - represents mocked vehicle client.
│      ├── presets0.js           	#preset file
│      ├── ...          		#preset files
│      ├── varTemplates.js   	        #template for cached variables used throughout the application
├── lib/ 	                        #libraries
       ├──flash/                        #Flash Channels library from https://github.com/iotaledger/iota.flash.js/ (Heavily modified)
       ├──iota/                         #IOTA JS Library from https://github.com/iotaledger/iota.lib.js/
├── ..

OTHER:

The code in pa_visualizations uses the time measurements performed when running the application to create process diagrams of the process and barplots of the performance of the native functions. This will not be explicated here.

xanpj/PlatooningFlashChannels