Secure and Fast Emergency Road Healthcare Service Based on Blockchain Technology for Smart Cities

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper proposes blockchain to solve the problem of data sensitivity and data security in tackling road accidents to save people life. The topic of the paper is interesting since road accidents are a problem for all of us human beings in the world to a large number of people injured or died. The emergency vehicles and medical staff should arrive asap at the occurrences of accidents. However, there are still some problems needed to be addressed in the following.

1. The abstract is too long to grasp the key points of the paper for readers.

2. The paper should make clear its motivation as well as its contribution to the research field.

3. The authors just conduct a simulation of the proposed system that involves the processing of data manipulated via blochchain technology. I think it is not enough considering the large volume of data needed to be transmitted in the road accidents. Why we should use bockchain technology here? for privacy protection? Is blockchain capable to handle this prolem? I donot think so. Please conduct a real case study to further improve the paper not just a simulation.

The paper cannot convince the reviewer in its current stage and it needs a major revsion.  

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper. The improvements made are in blue color in the text of the article. Please find below the details.

Comments to the Author

This paper proposes blockchain to solve the problem of data sensitivity and data security in tackling road accidents to save people life. The topic of the paper is interesting since road accidents are a problem for all of us human beings in the world to a large number of people injured or died. The emergency vehicles and medical staff should arrive asap at the occurrences of accidents. However, there are still some problems needed to be addressed in the following.

1. The abstract is too long to grasp the key points of the paper for readers.

Author response: We thank the reviewer for pointing out the comment to enrich our paper for better readability. In this abstract we started with the general context, namely the detection of road accidents, and then we presented the existing solutions as IoV and IoMT technologies. Then we mentioned our solution which consists in merging blockchain technology with IoV and IoMT to overcome the problems mentioned before. That's why the abstract is a bit long and we can't reduce it.

2. The paper should make clear its motivation as well as its contribution to the research field.

Author response: Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. In order to properly present our contribution and motivations, we have discussed these two points in more detail in the introduction section.

3. The authors just conduct a simulation of the proposed system that involves the processing of data manipulated via blockchain technology. I think it is not enough considering the large volume of data needed to be transmitted in the road accidents. Why should we use blockchain technology here? for privacy protection? Is blockchain capable to handle this problem? I don’t think so. Please conduct a real case study to further improve the paper not just a simulation.

Author response: Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. You are right about your comment. In this article we have designed the proposed system. Then we used simulations to test and validate our approach. These simulations lead to efficient results. The real application of our platform is divided into several sub-systems containing each party separately. We are in the process of finalizing the total system which will soon be the subject of another scientific article.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors proposed road healthcare service based on blockchain, IoV and IoMT. Here use of blockchain is not necessary. Once ambulance reaches in accident spot after that condition of the injured person is communicated to nearby hospital through blockchain. Why blockchain? Blockchain takes time.

Besides these I have following comments about this paper.

1. In Page no:5 section 3.1 the abbreviation are missing for RSU, ITS, BCASVADN, PSEV

2. On page no:12 Table 4 RBAC and ABAC. Abbreviation of these are not given. 3. On page no:8 section 3.2 the sentence is not completed 4. On page no:9 section 4.1 what is the meaning of "itinerary" 5. Idea is straightforward no particular novelty is present.

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper. The improvements made are in red color in the text of the article. Please find below the details.

Comments to the Author

Authors proposed road healthcare service based on blockchain, IoV and IoMT. Here use of blockchain is not necessary. Once ambulance reaches in accident spot after that condition of the injured person is communicated to nearby hospital through blockchain. Why blockchain? Blockchain takes time.

Besides these I have following comments about this paper.

1. In Page no:5 section 3.1 the abbreviation is missing for RSU, ITS, BCASVADN, PSEV.
2. On page no:12 Table 4 RBAC and ABAC. Abbreviation of these are not given.

Author response: We thank the reviewer for pointing out the comment to enrich our paper for better readability.  You are totally right about your comment. So, we add the missing abbreviation as follows:

• RSU: Roadside Unit
• ITS: Intelligent Transportation System
• BCASVADN: Blockchain-enabled Certificate-based Authentication Scheme for vehicle Accident Detection and Notification.
• PSEV: Blockchain IoV solution for payment.
• RBAC: Role based access control.
• ABAC: attribute-based access control.

3. On page no:8 section 3.2 the sentence is not completed.

Author response: Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. We check the sentence, and we complete the missing part to satisfy this remark.

4. On page no:9 section 4.1 what is the meaning of “itinerary”.

Author response: “Itinerary” is defined as a detailed plan or route.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper proposes a BC-based system allowing emergency vehicles combining IoV and IoMT. The main weaknesses of the paper are:

w1: The main contributions in section 1 are not strong as a research paper, items are not in details. Combine existing technologies are not novel enough.

w2: Section 2 lost state-of-the-art works of ledger database when introducing blockchain. The paper utilizes tamper resistance and smart contract features in blockchains, however, ledger database can solve the tamper resistance and automatic stored procedures more efficient in a centralized manner, which can be added in the blockchain introduction or related work.

w3: More evaluations should be added in section 5, including system performance.

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper. The improvements made are in blue color in the text of the article. Please find below the details.

Comments to the Author

This paper proposes a BC-based system allowing emergency vehicles combining IoV and IoMT. The main weaknesses of the paper are:

1. The main contributions in section 1 are not strong as a research paper, items are not in details. Combine existing technologies are not novel enough.

Author response: Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. In order to properly present our contribution and motivations, we have discussed these two points in more detail in the “Introduction” section.

2. Section 2 lost state-of-the-art works of ledger database when introducing blockchain. The paper utilizes tamper resistance and smart contract features in blockchains; however, ledger database can solve the tamper resistance and automatic stored procedures more efficient in a centralized manner, which can be added in the blockchain introduction or related work.

Author response: Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. We address this point in “Blockchain technology” section to satisfy this remark.

3. More evaluations should be added in section 5, including system performance.

Author response: Dear sir, you are totally right regarding your comment. We have enriched our paper with new the system performance to satisfy this comment in the “System implementation and results” section.

 

Reviewer 4 Report

The subject of the article is completely different from both the issue of the journal and the issue of the special supplement. I read the content thoroughly and did not find even the slightest connection. I also believe that the article has no scientific value. The content of the study is an interesting analysis for government structures responsible for road rescue. Unfortunately, the article does not provide cognitive values of a scientific nature.

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper.

Comments to the Author

The subject of the article is completely different from both the issue of the journal and the issue of the special supplement. I read the content thoroughly and did not find even the slightest connection. I also believe that the article has no scientific value. The content of the study is an interesting analysis for government structures responsible for road rescue. Unfortunately, the article does not provide cognitive values of a scientific nature.

 

Reviewer 5 Report

Based on smart contracts, the authors propose a system for the treatment of road accidents.
This system is composed of two subsystems. The first one includes an IoV part that takes
care of the search for the nearest available ambulance and the nearest emergency service.
On the other side, the second sub-system deals with the transfer of the vital signs of injured people to the appropriate emergency service staff.

In my opinion, this is excellent work. I hope that someday this system will be implemented on the country's highways.

Therefore I recommend this one for publication.

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper.

Comments to the Author

Based on smart contracts, the authors propose a system for the treatment of road accidents.
This system is composed of two subsystems. The first one includes an IoV part that takes
care of the search for the nearest available ambulance and the nearest emergency service.
On the other side, the second sub-system deals with the transfer of the vital signs of injured people to the appropriate emergency service staff.

In my opinion, this is excellent work. I hope that someday this system will be implemented on the country's highways.

Therefore, I recommend this one for publication.

 

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks a lot for the authors' effort to improve the paper. Now, all the problems are addressed in the revision. However, I am not fully satisfied with the authors' reply because it is too short. The authors need a thorough consideration on the reviewers' problems.

Author Response

Please accept my sincere thanks for your valuable comments. We have tried our best to answer all of the questions and concerns you raised, even if some of the answers were somewhat brief.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors proposed road healthcare service based on blockchain, IoV and IoMT. Here use of blockchain is not necessary. Once ambulance reaches in accident spot after that condition of the injured person is communicated to nearby hospital through blockchain. Why blockchain? Blockchain takes time.

Above question was not answered in response.

 

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper. Please find below the details.

Comments to the Author

Authors proposed road healthcare service based on blockchain, IoV and IoMT. Here use of blockchain is not necessary. Once ambulance reaches in accident spot after that condition of the injured person is communicated to nearby hospital through blockchain. Why blockchain? Blockchain takes time.

Author response: The vital signals of injured people are communicated by the sensors of medical objects to the nearest emergency health center. The management of medical data poses security and privacy issues. Due to the high connectivity, these systems are prone to malicious attacks. In addition, it is difficult to ensure confidentiality due to the exchange of sensitive data. In order to overcome these challenges of decentralization, automation, security and trust management of transferred data, the application of blockchain technology is used. Based on smart contracts and RBAC and ABAC access control techniques, the proposed solution removes the central authority (CA) to reduce maintenance costs and eliminate legacy threats from centralized systems.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors didn't discuss state-of-the-art ledger databases in the related work like Oracle blockchain table, Alibaba LedgerDB, Microsoft SQL Ledger, etc.

Author Response

Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. We address this point in “Blockchain technology” section to satisfy this remark.

 

Reviewer 4 Report

Accepted 

Author Response

Thank you Sir

 

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

In this round of review, the authors reply the reviewer as "Please accept my sincere thanks for your valuable comments. We have tried our best to answer all of the questions and concerns you raised, even if some of the answers were somewhat brief." This is reviewing a research paper. We do not need apology but high-quality paper. For this reason, the paper cannot be accepted.

Author Response

Dear reviewer;

Please let us know if you have any suggestions or comments for improving the quality of our paper

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors improved state-of-the-art discussion about ledger database, but there are several problems:

w1: 'A ledger database, also known as a distributed ledger or blockchain database, is a type of database that is designed to...' This is incorrect, ledger databases are not distributed ledgers, but centralized databases with tamper-resistance functionality.

w2: authors discuss about oracle blockchain table, alibaba ledgerdb, etc, but without references added, which would help readers to understand.

 

Author Response

Firstly, we would like to thank the Reviewer for their constructive comments and the efforts they have put to improve our article. We have addressed the issues based on the suggestions and we have improved our paper. The improvements made are in red color in the text of the article. Please find below the details.

Comments to the Author

1. Author response: Dear sir, firstly we want to thank you for these constrictive comments. You are correct. I apologize for the mistake in my previous response. Ledger databases are centralized databases that incorporate tamper-resistance functionality to ensure the integrity and immutability of the data stored within them. They are not the same as distributed ledgers or blockchain databases, which are decentralized and operate on a peer-to-peer network. So, we overcame this fault.

 

2. Author response: Dear sir, you are totally right regarding your comment. We have

enriched our paper with these references: [22], [23], [24], [25], [26] and [27] to satisfy this comment.