Hello everyone! I hope you will be well and good. I am going to explain Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) as required by the @crypto-academy contest in which we have to explain any blockchain consensus or any blockchain term. So I have selected proof of elapsed time.

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I have selected to write about the algorithm of Proof Of Elapsed Time but before writing about this i want to explain Consensus Algorithm. The word "Consensus" meaning a general agreement and the word "Algorithm" has the meanings of calculations done by the computers by using specific rules and regulations.

So Consensus Algorithm is defined as the agreement in which computrized calculations are done by following specific rules and regulations.

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Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

Proof of Elapsed Time is a type of consensus algorithm and it is used in the permission blockchain networks to decide the mining rights as well as the winners of the mined blocks in that blockchain network. This consensus mechanism algorithm reduces the use of the high resources and energy use. This consensus mechanism algorithm makes the whole system completely fair because it works on the lottery system and selects the winners and decide the mining rights. Due to this fair system the chances of winning are equally distributed to every node and in this way the participants are also increased.

Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) is governed by a trusted code which is visible to all menas to say it makes the system more transparent and everyone can see the lottery results and anyone can verify it.

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Explanation And Importance

I am going to explain Proof of elapsed time in detail and the importance of the proof of elapsed time by explaining it's different aspects. Except to give importance advantages I will also mention some of the disadvantages of proof of elapsed time.

Working of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

Working of PoET is very simple and easy. As there are many nodes which are connected to the blockchain network. And each participating node in the network has to wait for the randomly chosen time and that node which completes the required/announced waiting time wins the next new block.

Each node in the blockchain network produces an unknown and random wait time and that specific node goes to sleeping mode for the specific duration of time. So the nodes become dormant and after that specific time that node which wake up firstly carries out the new block on the blockchain network. And to run this process the same procedure repeats all the time and in this way this process of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) works and new blocks on the blockchain network are discovered. In the working of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) there are two main and important elements which counts greatly and these are given below:

• In order to run this process fairly the mechanism make sure that the participating nodes have selected the really random time. The system also verifies that the nodes have selected the time fairly and no to select the short time just for the sake of winning.

• The second most important factor to track is that the winning node has successfully completed the waiting time.

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Invention of Elapsed Time (PoET) in The Blockchain Technology

The concept of Proof of Elapsed Time was invented by the famous chip manufacturing company named Intel Corporation in the start of 2016. At that time there were many of computing problems and this fastest and full of technology tool was introduced to solve these computing problems. This tool and mechanism on which it works allows applications to run in a protected environment by providing protected and highly secured code. And this is the tool which make it easy to ensure the requirements of Proof of Elapsed Time which are necessary to proceed next as i have mentioned both the requirements in the above section of Working of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET).

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Security & Verification in Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

As Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) is designed for the permissioned blockchain network so a special verification is required when one node tries to join the network. This security verification is done by using Intel’s Software Guard Extension (SGX) technology. It creates a separate and unique code for the verification and protects it from the external access. The complete procedure is given below:

• The node which tries to join the network downloads the Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) code and then it generates the verification key for that code to join that network by using Intel’s Software Guard Extension (SGX).

• The node which tries to join the network forward that verification key to the other existing nodes and those existing nodes verify it.

• After the verification the new node has also become the part of the network and now it has its own timer object which is referred to a random value and this random value is offered by the Intel’s Software Guard Extension (SGX).

• In this process all the nodes are started with the new random time and that node which expires firstly becomes the winner. It means that that node create a block firstly and then it go to its sleeping mode and again these nodes are initialized by the random time.

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Advantages of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

Everything has its own advantages similarly Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) has also its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of its advantages are given below:

It is very well and most efficient and scalable consensus and block generation algorithm. It works fastly. It is the perfect system to apply for the private blockchain networks.

Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) is similar to the proof of work of bitcoin but there is also a great difference in the energy consumption. In the proof of work of Bitcoin more energy is consumed but in case of Proof of Elapsed Time less energy is consumed as compare to the bitcoin's process of proof of work.

Basically this system of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) was introduced to overcome the consumption of high energy. Because in other Consensus Algorithm energy was highly consumed so in order to overcome this issue this was invented and it worked amazingly. So Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) controls the cost of the consensus process.

This Consensus Algorithm provides high security to the codes and remains them in the safe environment. And due to this mechanism the external unverified participants cannot participate in it as to participate they have to get verified themselves firstly. In this way the transparency of work is enhanced.

This Consensus Algorithm is completely decentralized so everyone has equal control and opportunity to mine (generate) new blocks in this system.

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Disadvantages of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

It is the universal rule that everything cannot be perfect. It has benefits but on the other hand it also has dark aspects. Similarly, Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) has also its own dark aspects some of them are given below:

As we know that Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) works on the Intel technology so it becomes dependant. Although it provides a free software to use but the changes to the system may make it incompatible to use.

Conceptually this consensus algorithm is very secure but due to the use of the third party Intel processors it may be fail because the processors used in it are generally not of good quality. These are the known facts but has not been fixed yet.

As we know that there are no any hardware or software which is bug free so Intel has also faced this issue for the last 10 years and these bugs and problems directly affect our computer systems.

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Application of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)

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Everything has its own application and Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) has also its wonderful application. It finds its application in the HyperLedger project. In this project PoET is the default algorithm to solve the problems by using HyperLedger Sawtooth framework. Basically, Sawtooth is the initiation and development of PoET. HyperLedger project uses the lottery system as it is not based on the computational and puzzle solving mechanism. And this lottery system is controlled by the Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) fairly without any scam.

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Do you think that the existence of the blockchain would be possible without this concept? Is there an alternative or similar term?

As i have explained that proof of elapsed was introduced to make the working of the blockchain fast. It was introduced to replace the working of proof of work. It reduced the energy used in the proof of work and make the blockchain work easy and cheap. But without this concept blockchain can exist and can work on the basis of proof of work. But it's existence is a blessing for the blockchain as it has reduced the energy cost.

Do you think it is possible to improve this term in some way? Explain us how

As I have mentioned earlier that this consensus use processors of the third party intel organizations and these processors are not of good quality. They may create any problem at any time because these processors are facing some issues in their working. So if we increase the quality of the processors and the company should make its own processors except to use third party processors and softwares, we can make this more effective and the working more better.

Conclusion

With the development of the blockchain technologies and with the rise in the issues in the mechanism of this technology different mechanisms and Consensus Algorithms are introduced to make it easy. Similarly, in order to reduce the use of energy in the used in the consensus algorithm proof of Work this consensus algorithm of Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET) was introduced. It has done a good job as it was introduced by the Intel Corporation so it works with their software extension Intel’s Software Guard Extension (SGX). But it has a dark side that its processors are not well and create problem sometimes. But over all it has changed the working process and reduced the energy used in the Proof of Work (PoW).

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