A Cyber Range Based Method for Digital Twin Construction of a Blockchain Network

In recent years, with the rapid development of blockchain technology, researchers have placed increasing emphasis on the performance and security of blockchain networks. However, conducting experiments on existing blockchain networks always consumes significant hardware resources and time costs. Therefore, the mainstream approaches involve either developing custom blockchain network simulation platforms or deploying blockchain networks through automated systems. Nevertheless, existing blockchain network simulation platforms tend to over-look the underlying structural characteristics of blockchain networks, and blockchain automation deployment systems suffer from issues such as distorted blockchain network traffic data. In this paper, we propose a cyber range based method for digital twin construction of a blockchain network. It utilizes cyber range virtualization to address the issues of physical resource consumption and the simulation of underlying blockchain network structural features. It involves the addition of probe nodes in the original blockchain network for traffic data collection and real-time analysis, thereby resolving the issue of traffic data distortion. Furthermore, we explore the application of this method in three original blockchain network scenarios: small-scale, large-scale, and borderless. To overcome the limitations of probe nodes in large-scale original blockchain network scenario, we introduce a reverse tracing strategy to optimize the selection of probe node locations. finally, we conduct experimental evaluations to assess the effectiveness of the reverse tracing strategy and the accuracy of method for digital twin. We anticipate that the technological approach proposed in this paper will assist scholars, institutions, and developers in their research endeavors within the blockchain field.