Streamlined Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocols, such as HotStuff [PODC'19], and weighted voting represent two possible strategies to improve consensus in the distributed systems world. Several studies have been conducted on both techniques, but the research on combining the two is scarce. To cover this knowledge gap, we introduce a weighted voting approach on Hotstuff, along with two optimisations targeting weight assignment distribution and leader rotation in the underlying state replication protocol. Moreover, the weighted protocols developed rely on studies proving the effectiveness of a specific voting power assignment based on discrete values. We generalise this approach by presenting a novel continuous weighting scheme applied to the Hotstuff protocol to highlight the effectiveness of this technique in faulty scenarios. We prove the significant latency reduction impact of weighted voting on streamlined protocols and advocate for further research.

翻译：流线型拜占庭容错（BFT）协议（如HotStuff [PODC'19]）与加权投票是分布式系统领域中改进共识机制的两种潜在策略。已有研究分别对这两种技术进行了探讨，但将二者结合的研究尚显不足。为填补这一知识空白，我们在HotStuff协议中引入了一种加权投票方法，并针对底层状态复制协议中的权重分配分布与领导者轮换提出了两项优化。此外，所开发的加权协议基于离散值特定投票权分配有效性的相关研究。我们通过提出一种应用于HotStuff协议的新型连续权重方案，对该方法进行了推广，以凸显该技术在故障场景下的有效性。我们证明了加权投票对流线型协议具有显著降低延迟的作用，并呼吁开展进一步研究。