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Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 38341

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. François Verdier

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Guest Editor

Laboratory LEAT UMR CNRS 7248, University of Cote d’Azur, 06103 Nice, France
Interests: architectural IoT modifications for blockchains; smart contracts and wallets implementation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Xing Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada
Interests: blockchain and IoT integration and applications; smart objects; embedded software development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the arrival of the Bitcoin blockchain in 2008, we have seen a large number of distributed ledger technology or blockchain solutions that have helped solve a number of problems that were impossible with previous approaches. The advances of this technology are impressive and are essentially due to the distributed, decentralized, immutable and secure nature of a digital ledger. Many electronic and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies have incorporated blockchain with varying degrees of success.

The purpose of this Special Issue is therefore to provide an opportunity for researchers and industrialists to showcase their state-of-the-art research on the subject of IoT and blockchain integration. Papers addressing blockchain applications for IoT architectures are particularly welcome. Examples of research include but are not limited to the following:

- Industrial case studies of blockchain and IoT;

- Industrial case studies on SoC solutions that access blockchain under the communication constraints imposed by IoT;

- Novel designs of IoT architectures or software solutions that facilitate blockchain and cryptography implementation, such as light-weight cryptography, attack avoidance, speedy consensus algorithms, reduction of data traffic on blockchain, and data storage in close proximity of the DLT;

- Experimental results on the performance measurement of DLT or blockchain solutions;

- Smart contracts integrated in IoT, languages of such smart contracts, and solutions that interconnect different blockchains;

- Methodologies from software engineering that model, test, and validate blockchain/IoT application cases, formal verification of DSLs (domain-specific languages) for smart contracts;

- Eco-systems for IoT and blockchain applications;

- Blockchain development frameworks suitable for integration with IoT.

The aim of this Special Issue is to solicit papers from academic and industry researchers with original and innovative works on all aspects of blockchain for IoT integration which review and report on the start-of-the-art, highlight challenges, and point to future directions.

Prof. Dr. François Verdier
Dr. Xing Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Related Special Issue

Blockchain for Internet-of-Things Applications-2nd Edition in Sensors (1 article)

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 3684 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Blockchain-Based Product Traceability System with Off-Chain EPCIS and IoT Device Authentication

by Lulu Li, Huan Qu, Huaizhen Wang, Junyu Wang, Bozhi Wang, Wei Wang, Jinfei Xu and Zhihui Wang

Sensors 2022, 22(22), 8680; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22228680 - 10 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2508

Abstract

Blockchain-based traceability systems are a promising approach because they are decentralized, transparent, and tamper proof; however, if all traceability data are uploaded to a blockchain platform, it may affect the efficiency or even lead to data explosion. Additionally, it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of the original data source of massive Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Furthermore, when different enterprise nodes adopt different data storage structures, the costs that are associated with data sharing will increase. In this paper, we have proposed a trustworthy product traceability system that is based on hyperledger fabric and Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS), which is not only capable of making products traceable, but it can also authenticate and authorize the IoT devices that are used for data collection. First, we adopted the on-chain and off-chain collaborative management mechanism in order to alleviate data explosion on the chain. Second, we proposed a scheme to authenticate and authorize devices based on blockchain. Third, we complied with EPCIS and Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) standards and provided the EPCIS location discovery service in order to improve the interactivity. Finally, we implemented and tested the proposed traceability system and compared it with the existing research. The proposed solution provides product information traceability, data tamper proofing, data confidentiality, and data source reliability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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23 pages, 3488 KiB

Open AccessArticle

VBlock: A Blockchain-Based Tamper-Proofing Data Protection Model for Internet of Vehicle Networks

by Collins Sey, Hang Lei, Weizhong Qian, Xiaoyu Li, Linda Delali Fiasam, Seth Larweh Kodjiku, Isaac Adjei-Mensah and Isaac Osei Agyemang

Sensors 2022, 22(20), 8083; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22208083 - 21 Oct 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2512

Abstract

The rapid advancement of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has led to a massive growth in data received from IoV networks. The cloud storage has been a timely service that provides a vast range of data storage for IoV networks. However, existing data storage and access models used to manage and protect data in IoV networks have proven to be insufficient. They are centralized and usually accompanied by a lack of trust, transparency, security, immutability, and provenance. In this paper, we propose VBlock, a blockchain-based system that addresses the issues of illegal modification of outsourced vehicular data for smart city management and improvement. We introduce a novel collusion-resistant model for outsourcing data to cloud storage that ensures the network remains tamper-proof, has good data provenance and auditing, and solves the centralized problems prone to the single point of failure. We introduced a key revocation mechanism to secure the network from malicious nodes. We formally define the system model of VBlock in the setting of a consortium blockchain. Our simulation results and security analysis show that the proposed model provides a strong security guarantee with high efficiency and is practicable in the IoV environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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14 pages, 1341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Trust Model Concept for IoT Blockchain Applications as Part of the Digital Transformation of Metrology

by Kruno Miličević, Luka Omrčen, Mirko Kohler and Ivica Lukić

Sensors 2022, 22(13), 4708; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22134708 - 22 Jun 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2188

Abstract

Trends for the digital transformation of metrology and regulation of metrology through IT have some keywords in common with the main properties of the blockchain, such as traceability, immutability, and machine-readable documents. The possible applicability of the blockchain as an innovative IT solution for metrology regulation is known in the scientific community. Still, blockchain implementation must consider the entire metrology pyramid—the technical aspects and the legal framework intrinsic to metrology. This is also valid for possible IoT blockchain applications. In resolving the issues, this paper applies a bottom-up approach, starting from IoT devices analyzed as oracles and building up to the sole definition of measurement units, thereby discussing technical aspects concerning relevant standardization documents. The resulting trust model concept encompasses the vertical and horizontal traceability of the measurement results (oracle data), where normative standards and legal requirements are crucial for building trust. Conclusively, for practical implementations, it will be necessary to analyze blockchain properties and applicability with a view to the standard requirements, as shown for WELMEC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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18 pages, 724 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Next-Generation Payment System for Device-to-Device Content and Processing Sharing

by Fatih Kihtir, Mehmet Akif Yazici, Kasim Oztoprak and Ferda Nur Alpaslan

Sensors 2022, 22(7), 2451; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072451 - 23 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1566

Abstract

Recent developments in telecommunication world have allowed customers to share the storage and processing capabilities of their devices by providing services through fast and reliable connections. This evolution, however, requires building an incentive system to encourage information exchange in future telecommunication networks. In this study, we propose a mechanism to share bandwidth and processing resources among subscribers using smart contracts and a blockchain-based incentive mechanism, which is used to encourage subscribers to share their resources. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method through two use cases: (i) exchanging multimedia data and (ii) CPU sharing. We propose a universal user-to-user and user-to-operator payment system, named TelCash, which provides a solution for current roaming problems and establishes trust in X2X communications. TelCash has a great potential in solving the charges of roaming and reputation management (reliance) problems in telecommunications sector. We also show, by using a simulation study, that encouraging D2D communication leads to a significant increase in content quality, and there is a threshold after which downloading from base station is dramatically cut down and can be kept as low as 10%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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28 pages, 3180 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Blockchain-Based Security Mechanisms for IoMT Edge Networks in IoMT-Based Healthcare Monitoring Systems

by Filippos Pelekoudas-Oikonomou, Georgios Zachos, Maria Papaioannou, Marcus de Ree, José C. Ribeiro, Georgios Mantas and Jonathan Rodriguez

Sensors 2022, 22(7), 2449; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072449 - 22 Mar 2022

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 4157

Abstract

Despite the significant benefits that the rise of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) can bring into citizens’ quality of life by enabling IoMT-based healthcare monitoring systems, there is an urgent need for novel security mechanisms to address the pressing security challenges of IoMT edge networks in an effective and efficient manner before they gain the trust of all involved stakeholders and reach their full potential in the market of next generation IoMT-based healthcare monitoring systems. In this context, blockchain technology has been foreseen by the industry and research community as a disruptive technology that can be integrated into novel security solutions for IoMT edge networks, as it can play a significant role in securing IoMT devices and resisting unauthorized access during data transmission (i.e., tamper-proof transmission of medical data). However, despite the fact that several blockchain-based security mechanisms have already been proposed in the literature for different types of IoT edge networks, there is a lack of blockchain-based security mechanisms for IoMT edge networks, and thus more effort is required to be put on the design and development of security mechanisms relying on blockchain technology for such networks. Towards this direction, the first step is the comprehensive understanding of the following two types of blockchain-based security mechanisms: (a) the very few existing ones specifically designed for IoMT edge networks, and (b) those designed for other types of IoT networks but could be possibly adopted in IoMT edge networks due to similar capabilities and technical characteristics. Therefore, in this paper, we review the state-of-the-art of the above two types of blockchain-based security mechanisms in order to provide a foundation for organizing research efforts towards the design and development of reliable blockchain-based countermeasures, addressing the pressing security challenges of IoMT edge networks in an effective and efficient manner. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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17 pages, 3422 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Empirical Performance Analysis of Hyperledger LTS for Small and Medium Enterprises

by Dodo Khan, Low Tang Jung, Manzoor Ahmed Hashmani and Moke Kwai Cheong

Sensors 2022, 22(3), 915; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22030915 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3139

Abstract

The massive success of blockchain technology in Bitcoin is taking the world by storm by attracting vast acceptance from both the public and private sectors. Blockchain allows digital transactions between two parties without a third party as a broker. Blockchain is now applicable beyond fintech to various other industries. Among these, Hyperledger fabric has emerged as the most popular blockchain-based open-source permissioned platform targeting business applications. It has been used in over 400 proofs-of-concept blockchain and is well proven in applications, such as supply chain, healthcare, and so on. Despite the many obvious benefits observed in blockchain-enhanced platforms, there still exist technical challenges in scalability, causing performance deficiency, which includes latency and throughput. There is an exigent need to improve the current blockchain-based applications to have the blockchain nodes be scalable without compromising the blockchain performance. In this study, we present the impact of workload variance of up to 1000 transactions with the setup of 20 blockchain nodes in the Hyperledger LTS platform. The evaluation metrics are transaction success and failure rate, throughput, and latency in the blockchain. The transaction throughput was found to be consistent with the increasing workload on a constant number of nodes. However, it showed a declining trend with an increasing number of nodes. As far as the latency, it was in tandem with the increased workload and the number of nodes. We, therefore, conclude that the LTS version is suitable for small and medium enterprises that do not scale up. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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15 pages, 552 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating the IoT and Blockchain Technology for the Next Generation of Mining Inspection Systems

by Miguel Pincheira, Mattia Antonini and Massimo Vecchio

Sensors 2022, 22(3), 899; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22030899 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4123

Abstract

Inspection of mining assets is a crucial part of the maintenance process and is of interest to several stakeholders (e.g., OEMs, owners, users, and inspectors). Inspections require an inspector to verify several characteristics of the assets onsite, typically using legacy and poorly digitized procedures. Thus, many research opportunities arise from the adoption of digital technologies to make these procedures more efficient, reliable, and straightforward. In addition to cloud computing, the ubiquitous presence of modern mobile devices, new measurement tools with embedded connectivity capabilities, and blockchain technologies could greatly improve trust and transparency between the stakeholders interested in the inspection. However, there has been little discussion on integrating these technologies into the mining domain. This paper presents and evaluates an end-to-end system to conduct inspections using mobile devices that directly interact with constrained IoT sensor devices. Furthermore, our proposal provides a method to integrate constrained IoT devices as smart measuring tools that directly interact with a blockchain system, guaranteeing data integrity and increasing the trustworthiness of the data. Finally, we highlight the benefits of our proposed architecture by evaluating a real case study in a mining inspection scenario. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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29 pages, 1753 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deep Learning Based Homomorphic Secure Search-Able Encryption for Keyword Search in Blockchain Healthcare System: A Novel Approach to Cryptography

by Aitizaz Ali, Muhammad Fermi Pasha, Jehad Ali, Ong Huey Fang, Mehedi Masud, Anca Delia Jurcut and Mohammed A. Alzain

Sensors 2022, 22(2), 528; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22020528 - 11 Jan 2022

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 5316

Abstract

Due to the value and importance of patient health records (PHR), security is the most critical feature of encryption over the Internet. Users that perform keyword searches to gain access to the PHR stored in the database are more susceptible to security risks. Although a blockchain-based healthcare system can guarantee security, present schemes have several flaws. Existing techniques have concentrated exclusively on data storage and have utilized blockchain as a storage database. In this research, we developed a unique deep-learning-based secure search-able blockchain as a distributed database using homomorphic encryption to enable users to securely access data via search. Our suggested study will increasingly include secure key revocation and update policies. An IoT dataset was used in this research to evaluate our suggested access control strategies and compare them to benchmark models. The proposed algorithms are implemented using smart contracts in the hyperledger tool. The suggested strategy is evaluated in comparison to existing ones. Our suggested approach significantly improves security, anonymity, and monitoring of user behavior, resulting in a more efficient blockchain-based IoT system as compared to benchmark models. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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Review

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23 pages, 759 KiB

Open AccessReview

Enabling Blockchain Services for IoE with Zk-Rollups

by Thomas Lavaur, Jérôme Lacan and Caroline P. C. Chanel

Sensors 2022, 22(17), 6493; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22176493 - 29 Aug 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4161

Abstract

The Internet of Things includes all connected objects from small embedded systems with low computational power and storage capacities to efficient ones, as well as moving objects like drones and autonomous vehicles. The concept of Internet of Everything expands upon this idea by adding people, data and processing. The adoption of such systems is exploding and becoming ever more significant, bringing with it questions related to the security and the privacy of these objects. A natural solution to data integrity, confidentiality and single point of failure vulnerability is the use of blockchains. Blockchains can be used as an immutable data layer for storing information, avoiding single point of failure vulnerability via decentralization and providing strong security and cryptographic tools for IoE. However, the adoption of blockchain technology in such heterogeneous systems containing light devices presents several challenges and practical issues that need to be overcome. Indeed, most of the solutions proposed to adapt blockchains to devices with low resources confront difficulty in maintaining decentralization or security. The most interesting are probably the Layer 2 solutions, which build offchain systems strongly connected to the blockchain. Among these, zk-rollup is a promising new generation of Layer 2/off-chain schemes that can remove the last obstacles to blockchain adoption in IoT, or more generally, in IoE. By increasing the scalability and enabling rule customization while preserving the same security as the Layer 1 blockchain, zk-rollups overcome restrictions on the use of blockchains for IoE. Despite their promises illustrated by recent systems proposed by startups and private companies, very few scientific publications explaining or applying this barely-known technology have been published, especially for non-financial systems. In this context, the objective of our paper is to fill this gap for IoE systems in two steps. We first propose a synthetic review of recent proposals to improve scalability including onchain (consensus, blockchain organization, …) and offchain (sidechain, rollups) solutions and we demonstrate that zk-rollups are the most promising ones. In a second step, we focus on IoE by describing several interesting features (scalability, dynamicity, data management, …) that are illustrated with various general IoE use cases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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Other

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19 pages, 2026 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Hybrid Blockchain Platforms for the Internet of Things (IoT): A Systematic Literature Review

by Ahmed Alkhateeb, Cagatay Catal, Gorkem Kar and Alok Mishra

Sensors 2022, 22(4), 1304; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041304 - 09 Feb 2022

Cited by 44 | Viewed by 6773

Abstract

In recent years, research into blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown rapidly due to an increase in media coverage. Many different blockchain applications and platforms have been developed for different purposes, such as food safety monitoring, cryptocurrency exchange, and secure medical data sharing. However, blockchain platforms cannot store all the generated data. Therefore, they are supported with data warehouses, which in turn is called a hybrid blockchain platform. While several systems have been developed based on this idea, a current state-of-the-art systematic overview on the use of hybrid blockchain platforms is lacking. Therefore, a systematic literature review (SLR) study has been carried out by us to investigate the motivations for adopting them, the domains at which they were used, the adopted technologies that made this integration effective, and, finally, the challenges and possible solutions. This study shows that security, transparency, and efficiency are the top three motivations for adopting these platforms. The energy, agriculture, health, construction, manufacturing, and supply chain domains are the top domains. The most adopted technologies are cloud computing, fog computing, telecommunications, and edge computing. While there are several benefits of using hybrid blockchains, there are also several challenges reported in this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain for Internet of Things Applications)

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