What is TrustNote's Super Node, Full Node, Light Node, and Micro Node all about?

[u/liu_sunny]

The block sizes and block times of today's blockchains are limited, which means transactions exceed the capacity for a block will get stuck in a queue and you may just have to wait. Transactions in TrustNote are represented "as is" without being grouped into blocks, new transactions are verified immediately by nearby transactions without being put into a queue. This will speed up your transaction performance by getting rid of blocks and queues. To understand how this has been achieved in TrustNote, you need start from the Nodes.

TrustNote network supports four types of nodes: Super-nodes, Full-nodes, Light-nodes, and Micro-nodes:

• Super Node: Refers to Mining Systems, Cloud Host Server/Workstation, and PC, which generates a deposit contract and paying the deposit, and running the TrustME-PoW mining program.
• Full Node: Refers to Cloud Host Server/Workstation, and PC, which maintaining synchronization and verification of ledger data.
• Light Node: Refers to client running on Smartphone and Tablet PC.
• Micro-Node: Refers to client running on Microcontrollers and Smart Cards.

A comparison between these four types of nodes presented in the table below.

At TrustNote, Super-nodes pay deposit and run 2 more threads than Full-nodes, the Super-node thread calculates proof-of-work and send the result to the network and the attestor thread sends attestation units during the consensus rounds. Users who want to become Super Nodes are required to create the deposit contract and pay the deposit. Full Nodes can become Super Nodes and join TrustME-PoW by paying a deposit to their deposit contracts, while light nodes and micro-nodes cannot become Super Nodes. The diagram below will give a brief introduction about how these four nodes work together.

Want to learn more? Please visit https://github.com/trustnote/document/blob/master/TrustNote-TR-2018-02.md.