Many developmental barriers are slowing the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT).
First, the market for IoT devices and platforms is fragmented, with many standards and multiple vendors. There has been uncertainty about technology, vendors, and solutions offered.
Second, there are doubts about interoperability, because the built-up solutions are often prone to new data silos.
The data in the cloud is usually stored securely. However, based on the cloud security configuration method, devices that are compromised by integrity cannot protect your data, and data from the source cannot be prevented from being tampered with.
Finally, the centralized architecture of most IoT solutions means that there may be a serious lack of resiliency. When dealing with all transactions in the cloud, the unavailability of cloud resources may freeze your business operations.
What is a blockchain?
Blockchain is an emerging technology that can help improve system resiliency.
The basic concept of a blockchain is very simple: it is a distributed database, called a distributed general ledger, which maintains a constantly updated list of ordered records.
The media usually associates the term 'blockchain' with transactions, smart contracts or cryptocurrencies, but the technology itself has greater potential. This is why we need to move blockchains from things like Bitcoin. Separated from concrete constructions such as Ethereum.
For example, Walmart and Ford are using blockchain technology to improve supply management without cryptocurrency. In fact, the integration of blockchain and IoT has been on the agenda of many companies. There have been specific installations in several areas outside of the Internet of Things and financial services, solutions and innovations have moved.
According to IBM, the three major benefits of blockchain for the Internet of Things are building trust, reducing costs and accelerating transactions:
Use blockchain cryptography to establish trust between parties and devices, and reduce the risk of collusion and tampering. Reduce costs by eliminating overhead associated with middlemen and agencies. Reduce time to settlement from days to Almost instantaneous, thus speeding up the transaction 20180507_blockchain_NT31P1
How to achieve?
How does a blockchain-based system accomplish this? From IBM's point of view, all devices in the blockchain should have resources to execute blockchain software. Each element in the IoT system can process blocks. Chain data, all of a sudden blockchain has become the solution to all problems! Yes, but not exactly.
A key element of decentralized books is that they are open; they are not usually 'owned' by any entity. Any computer connected to a decentralized book is called a 'node'. Most nodes are featherweight. (Or at least with respect to the capacity of the cloud server, it is featherweight), so they will not save the full book. The maximum capacity of each 'block' in the account book is 1 MB. Small desktop computers can easily save full books, but most IoT devices do not. Any blockchain system requires at least some 'full nodes' that contain full books.
Another problem is that you need correct security authentication to view transactions. Therefore, when using this technology, IoT security problems still exist. Device startup operations and security key management are still a persistent problem for IoT devices. Blockchain solution.
Assuming these restrictions are solved, then the blockchain will add a compelling business dimension to the IoT. A block contains transactions, but it can also include contracts. Therefore, an IoT device can be used from another device. Or another system purchases data or sells data to it. And this can create a trading system that is less likely to have elasticity problems.
Blockchain Fusion IoT Challenge
However, despite these benefits, the blockchain model is not without its drawbacks. Specifically, it includes:
Scalability. Blockchains have not yet been well scalable. This may lead to a recursive regression that does not reflect the purpose of a decentralized book.
Processing power. For all objects involved in the blockchain-based ecosystem, small devices do not have the capabilities needed to perform encryption. It is expected that billions of IoT devices will be mass-produced at very low cost, and these devices Most of them will not be able to perform the required encryption algorithm at the desired speed.
Store. Although blockchain eliminates the need to use a central server to store transactions and device IDs, ledgers must also be stored on nodes. Over time, the size of the books will increase, and this will exceed a lot of intelligence. Device capabilities, such as sensors, have very low storage capacity (whether internal flash memory or external NOR or NAND flash memory).
Lack of expertise. Few people understand the working principle of blockchain technology. The fusion of blockchain and IoT technology will add enormous complexity to the system.
Interoperability issues. As we all know, when you can integrate data sources together, the value of the Internet of Things will increase. We originally lacked a lot of vertical market data model standards, and the integration of blockchain will only make this problem more difficult. , not to mention the legal and legal issues that such transaction management will cause.
The convergence of blockchain and billions of IoT devices is not something that will happen in the near future. From a computational perspective, blockchain processing tasks are difficult and time consuming; while the capabilities of IoT devices are still relatively inadequate and lack of direct Participate in the processing power of the blockchain. There is a good reason for this limitation: Heavy computations help protect integrity.
As Salil Kanhere, an associate professor and researcher at the University of New South Wales, puts it: 'Standard IoT devices can't do this kind of heavy computing, just as you can't do bits on a standard notebook computer. Coin mining is the same. 'So, initially this type of application will be seen first in high-level gateways.
Now, industry media reports that artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are accelerating the development of the Internet of Things, but I think the opposite is true. The Internet of Things is now able to provide an architecture in which the blockchain can play a role. For the vast majority For edge nodes, the blockchain function is initially implemented in the gateway, which is a hardware device that acts as a transaction processing point. This adds an extra layer of complexity because it means that the edge node responsible for the transaction It will not be the device that records the transaction. The edge node will be the peripheral device of the gateway.
Although the combination of the Internet of Things and the blockchain is not yet ready, it is time to start thinking about this kind of convergence. Blockchain services that respond to the Internet of Things may trigger open data exchange between users. And to make it possible to resolve the problem of silos that restrict access to useful data. We have seen that the application of these new technologies has started, and the IoT system required to promote the deployment of blockchain continues until the low-cost processors with sufficient resources become widespread. Improvement is only a matter of time.
Filament is a good example. Filament is a start-up company that provides new types of chips. The chips enable networked devices and devices to complete transactions on their own, and create records on the blockchain based on rules and procedures set by operators. contract.
In addition, Hyperledger, a global partner organization hosted by the Linux Foundation, also offers an open-source version of blockchain technology.