The 6th International Workshop on BLockchain Enabled Sustainable Smart Cities (BLESS 2023) (in conjunction with ICCCN 2023 Conference)

July 24 – July 27, 2023, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, HI, USA

Paper Submission: March 24th, 2023

Enabled by the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), edge-fog-cloud computing, and interconnected networks, smart cities are capable of innovative solutions to change the lifestyles of their residents. Unavoidably the potential benefits come along with new challenges and concerns related to information security and privacy. Blockchain technology is a platform that would provide tamper-proof storage for data derived from smart cities and ensure that access to the data is tracked and provided to authorized users. The resultant chain of custody will provide an interoperable platform that would facilitate decisions in smart cities that would impact the communities. The transparency of the platform would provide citizens would go a long way in building trust and ensuring that the businesses will be held to high standards of accountability.

Scope:
BLESS’2023 will bring researchers and experts together to present and discuss the latest developments and technical solutions concerning various aspects of blockchain technology in the context of smart cities. BLESS’2023 seeks original unpublished papers focusing on theoretical analysis, emerging applications, novel system architecture construction and design, experimental studies, and social impacts of blockchain. Both review/survey papers and technical papers are encouraged. BLESS’2023 also welcomes short papers that summarize speculative breakthroughs, work-in-progress, industry-featured projects, open problems, new application challenges, visionary ideas, and preliminary studies.
The topics include but are not limited to:

– Blockchain-based cyber-physical systems for smart cities
– Blockchain based information hiding/encryption in smart cities
– Blockchain based lightweight algorithms and protocols for IoT
– Blockchain based security and privacy solutions for smart cities
– Blockchain enabled novel applications and services in smart cities
– Smart contract and distributed ledger for smart cities
– Security, privacy, and trust of blockchain-based decentralized systems
– Blockchain in critical infrastructure resilience (power grid, oil, and gas, etc)
– Blockchain for supply chain protection
– Blockchain for networked identity management
– Scalability of Blockchain
– Secure Blockchain-based identity management systems
– Interoperable Blockchain systems
– Blockchain infrastructure for public transit management
– Blockchain for social impact
– Blockchain based voting systems for urban and regional planning decisions
– Blockchain for universal data storage
– Keyless signature interfaces

Instructions for Authors:
Submitted manuscripts must be formatted in standard IEEE camera-ready conference format (double-column, 10-pt font) and must be submitted via Easychair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icccn2023) as PDF files (formatted for 8.5×11-inch paper). The manuscripts should be no longer than 7 pages. No extra pages will be allowed. Submitted papers cannot have been previously published in or be under consideration for publication in another journal or conference. The workshop Program Committee reserves the right to not review papers that either exceed the length specification or have been submitted or published elsewhere. Submissions must include a title, abstract, keywords, author(s), and affiliation(s) with postal and e-mail address(es). Detailed info can be found in each workshop’s Call for Papers (http://www.icccn.org/icccn23/workshop/list-of-workshops/). For any questions or additional information, please contact the Workshop General or Workshop Program Chairs.

Review and Publication of Manuscripts:
Submitted papers will be reviewed by the TPC and judged on originality, technical correctness, relevance, and quality of presentation. An accepted paper must be presented at the conference venue by a registered author at the full registration rate. Each full registration covers up to two conference papers authored by the registered author. Accepted and presented papers will be published in the conference proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. IEEE reserves the right to exclude a paper from distribution after the conference, including IEEE Xplore® Digital Library, if the paper is not presented by one (the registered) of the authors of the accepted paper at the conference.

ICCCN 2023 Paper Submission Terms and Conditions:
1. Authors understood that the submission is original and has not been submitted to other venues or under consideration by other venues.
2. Paper titles and/or author names cannot be changed and/or added to the papers once papers are submitted to ICCCN 2023 for review (and in the final camera-ready manuscript if accepted).
3. If the paper is accepted, at least one of the authors must register/pay at the full rate and present it in person at the conference. Please check the ICCCN conference site for more publication requirements.
Important Dates:
Paper Submission:                 March 24th, 2023
Notification of Acceptance:    April 25th, 2023
Camera-Ready Paper due:     May 4th, 2023
Workshop Date:                      July 27th, 2023

Please refer to “Author Information” posted on the conference website for more info on paper submission and related rules/policies.

Workshop Co-Chairs:
Dr. Yu Chen, Binghamton University – SUNY, USA (ychen@binghamton.edu)
Dr. Sachin Shetty, Old Dominion University, USA (sshetty@odu.edu)

Technical Program Committee:
Amin Hassanzadeh – Accenture Technology Labs
Hisham Kholidy – SUNY Polytechnic Institue
Xueping Liang – Florida International University
Yaoqing Liu – Fairleigh Dickinson University
Seyed Yahya Nikouei – Kar Global
Shantanu Pal – Deakin University, Australia
Danda Rawat – Howard University
Ali Tekeoglu – Johns Hopkins University
Deepak Tosh – University of Texas at El Paso
Mohammad Wazid – Graphic Era Deemed to be University
Xiaonan Zhang – Florida State University
Ronghua Xu – Bingahmton University