The current peer-to-peer network is facing several challenges, such as net neutrality, net utilization inefficiency, and the deficiency of today’s SDN (Software Defined Networks), NKN revolutionizes networking and its business model by tokenizing network connectivity and bringing it to the blockchain. It aims to create a ‘New Kind of Network’.

NKN brings forward the concept of the third pillar — networking — of the blockchain infrastructure, just as Bitcoin and Ethereum to the computing power, and as IPFS / Filecoin to the decentralized storage. Regarding itself as an emerging D-SDN (Decentralized Software Defined Network), NKN performs dynamic routing for network operators and enterprises (nodes) to efficiently control traffic according to the real-time performance. Let’s take a closer look at NKN’s elementary components to understand how it transmits network data without central servers, but with millions of nodes.

NKN Tech Layer

NKN Components

Network Layer: Based on the rules of cellular automata (CA) and a dynamic topology of the network which is created to transmit data. CA is the foundation of NKN network and will be defined below.

Consensus Layer: The consensus NKN uses is called Proof of Relay (PoR), which is also driven by CA, proving how much data a node relayed and is directly related to token rewards.

Incentive Layer: NKN encourages users to share their connectivity and bandwidth by tokens.

Application Layer: NKN provides a networking toolkit for developers to build dApps faster and more scalable.

About Cellular Automata (CA)

CA is a mathematical model that each unit is governed by simple rules for replication and destruction. The CA implemented in NKN network is a state machine, where nodes have defined local rules that depend on neighboring nodes. The only requirement for reaching a global consensus is through the communicating iterations between several neighbors. While each node continuously update its current state, the neighboring nodes will also change dynamically, hence, improving the whole network upon itself without any change on its core programming.

Recently, NKN has released the testnet V0.5 Koala, and Portal Network will deploy our BNS standard, and develop NKN Name Service (NKN-NS) on the application layer. That is, users will be able to transfer and manage their digital assets on NKN, access dApps or dWebs, bind the smart contracts with a simple and straightforward name.

More about NKN-NS.