Internet of Things will bind users to services. Blockchain will help them to be safe

According to the thesis, which Jay Bryan Nash put in his book entitled "Spectatoritis" published in 1932, thanks to technology, humanity has a chance to return to the time of the famous laziness of ancient Greece. This is to be possible due to the fact that users have a large number of technical devices significantly facilitating their lives.

Due to today's technological solutions, this idea begins to take shape before our eyes. Wide access to low-cost programmable hardware devices and efficient wireless networks allows the user not only to enjoy the benefits of technology, but also gives an additional opportunity to create and adapt to their needs.

Are currently developed technological solutions, such as the Internet of Things or Blockchain, the beginning to implement the vision of Bryan Nash? For sure they will give the opportunity to try to co-create this concept for each of us.

What is the Internet of Things?

It is believed that the creator of the term Internet of Things (IoT) is Kevin Ashton. It was then associated with a new concept of using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in supply chains. As a definition of the Internet of Things, a dispersed ecosystem of devices can be cited, in which uniquely identifiable objects can directly or indirectly collect, process or exchange data via various types of data transmission channels.

There is also the term Internet of Everything (IoE). This is the definition of the interconnectedness of the human network, data processing processes and objects that are related to each other via an Internet connection. This term was first used in CISCO's publications, currently it is often used interchangeably with the term IoT.

Solutions in the field of the broadly understood Internet of Things find wider and wider applications. Estimated data say that by 2020, approximately 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. With the number of 3 billion connected devices to the network in 2013, and 5 billion in 2015, this increase is very significant.

Already, households in which a dozen devices are connected to the WiFi network are not uncommon. At the time of writing, my home router supports 12 devices - from laptops and desktops, through smartphones and smartwatches of household members, home air cleaners, temperature sensors, and home automation control and control devices.

Devices used in Internet of Things systems

The development of cheap, one-chip devices that allow communication with external sensors and simultaneously support popular communication protocols used in the Internet allows relatively easy construction of a wide range of Internet of Things systems. One of the first platforms of this type was the Arduino platform. It was created mainly for educational tasks. However, it has gained popularity and is used today in many projects.

The simplicity of this platform allows for easy programming and construction of electronic circuits by people who have little experience with electronics and programming. The possibility of Arduino integration with many sensors and control systems available on the market meant that it is also used in Internet of Things projects. Although the Adruino platform was created in 2003, it has not lost its popularity and is still the basis of many projects.

Another popular platform that is the basis for the construction of Internet of Things systems is Raspberry Pi. This platform allows you to work under the control of the Raspbian operating system. This system is based on the popular version of Linux, which allows you to run well-known applications such as web servers, databases, and the use of high-level programming languages ​​to implement control and device control programs, or measure environmental parameters using external sensors.

The Raspberry Pi device is equipped with a number of interfaces known from traditional PCs. It has USB ports, an interface to work with a wired Ethernet network, as well as supports wireless communication protocols such as popular WiFi or Bluetooth. Raspberry Pi can thus be used not only as a communication device with the control infrastructure and sensor network, but can also be used as a device that works with existing services running on the Internet.

The Raspberry Pi device has an additional 40-pin connector that allows you to connect external devices to it. The presented platforms are not the only devices available on the market that can be used as basic solutions for the projects of information systems operating in the Internet. Other such popular platforms used in the design of Internet of Things systems are:

  • Orange Pi - This is an open hardware platform that operates under the control of the Android operating system. The operating system can be installed directly in the device's Flash memory. One version of this platform also allows the use of a mobile phone network for data transmission.
  • NodeMCU - Device based on the ESP8266 chip. This system was initially created as an extension for Arduino allowing communication through the WiFi network. It is currently used in many Internet platforms of Things. The Node MCU is equipped with 10 general purpose ports that can support a wide range of popular devices. This platform can work with analog and digital sensors, and allows communication with devices via electronic buses such as I2C or 1-wire. Software for NodeMCU can be created in a very simple LUA scripting language.
  • Onion Omega 2 - Is one of the smallest single-chip platforms available on the market that works under the control of the Linux operating system. It was created for hobby applications. The device has a built-in communication module with WiFi networks. It also has an original way of interacting with the user. The device is administered via the embedded web platform. For the owners of this device, the manufacturer also provides its own platform, which can be used for the purposes of data integration and sharing.

NodeMCU, Onion Omega 2 and Orange Pi.

Examples of the use of Internet of Things systems

Thanks to the presence of the presented platforms on the market, the construction and design of Internet of Things Systems has become available to hobbyists and enthusiasts of modern technologies. The education market also reaches for the solutions presented. An example of projects using this type of platform can be educational workshops.

Thanks to modern and easy to use school systems, even with less financial resources, they can familiarize students with the basics of control, automation and communication in Internet networks, and people participating in this type of training can enjoy the effects of their work in a short time. One of such workshops is a series of trainings on the construction and programming of robots at the WSB Academy .

The Internet of Things and open hardware platforms are also used in business projects, community initiatives and research projects. An example of such applications is the hydroagrometeorological data acquisition system implemented by one of Katowice's companies. Thanks to the use of runtime platforms, a series of sensors and a professional meteorological station were integrated.

The resulting system allowed for sharing data and warnings about meteorological threats for research purposes and warning against dangerous weather events. Figure 3 contains a photograph of the elements of this system. The photos have been made available by Info Met Katowice.

The mentioned system is completely autonomous in terms of power supply and allows uninterrupted sharing of measurement data and warnings in the Internet. Thanks to the application of solutions based on devices applicable in the prototyping of IoT systems, the costs of such a project have been significantly reduced.

The Internet of Things system providing hydroagrometeorological information.

The presented examples confirm the fact that the construction of new solutions based on Internet of Things systems has ceased to be the domain of only large companies and organizations, and more and more often becomes an initiative of hobbyists, smaller enterprises and startups. The extensive use of IoT systems also brings threats. Many of today's business initiatives are heavily dependent on the correct operation of data transfer systems.

In the near future, it may turn out that the limitation in the use of new technologies is the architecture of currently used data transfer systems. For this reason, it is necessary to propose new decentralized information systems that guarantee an additional high level of security, such as the Blockchain system.

Development of Blockchain systems

Blockchain, or distributed register system, is a database that allows you to store information on multiple nodes. The data is stored on many devices and thanks to this, it is possible to obtain greater resistance to failure in relation to traditional systems based on a single database server.

Blockchain uses a special structure in the form of a tree to save data, in which subsequent elements providing data space (so-called blocks) are interlinked via cryptographic functions. Blocks are created in the process of extracting, i.e. searching for links between them using cryptographic algorithms.

Blockchain systems due to the use of cryptography methods are characterized by greater resistance to possible attempts to modify data by unauthorized persons. This type of data storage has worked well in cryptocurrency systems such as Bitcoin. This method of data storage also has its drawbacks. One of them is the enormous computing power that is needed to extract more blocks. It is also related to the Bitcoin algorithm itself, which assumed just such a growth in computing power.

In addition to Bitcoin, many other cryptocurrency systems have appeared that use a distributed register to store information. The most popular of these are Ethereum, Ripple, DogeCoin and many more.

Among the new cryptocurrency systems, Ethereum deserves attention. It allows not only to transfer funds in the form of electronic currency, but also to launch programs called smart-contracts. These are scripts written in Solidity language based on the popular JavaScript programming language. Ethereum system allows you to store smart-contracts in the same space based on the block chain, in which information about the status of user cryptocurrency accounts is stored.

Smart-contracts use the distributed computing power of all devices that are connected within a block chain. The architecture of the distributed register means that there is no single point of failure. Even in the case of failure of parts from nodes, the system based on smart-contracts will be able to continue to operate.

Synergy of the Internet of Things and Blockchain Systems

Internet systems of Things increasingly require the integration of many devices and solutions into a whole. However, there are still no communication standards between devices that are accepted by all IoT system manufacturers. The existence of platforms based on the distributed data storage system in the form of Blockchain can facilitate such integration. On the other hand, the excess of computing power in Internet of Things devices can be used to maintain the operation of the distributed data exchange register.

Currently, most Internet of Things systems use technologies known from the traditional Internet, which depend on the continuity of individual servers. Failure of such a server or intermediary device may result in the system being unable to provide services.

The Internet of Things will result in an increasing attachment of users to various types of services. In the future, such failures may have even more severe consequences than at present. For this reason, the requirements for a modern Internet of the future, which will be an element integrating people and objects, should be redefined. In this definition, there must be no requirements for data security and the protection of global information systems from monopolisation by large corporations. Presented IoT solutions and decentralized systems based on block chains can be a significant step towards meeting these requirements.

Those interested in the subject of the article are invited to the WSB Academy for first and second cycle studies in the field of virtual reality systems, telemetry systems and the Internet of Things as well as computer networks and databases .

Paweł Buchwald

Dr inż. technical sciences, research worker at the WSB Academy and academic lecturer. Scientifically he deals with modern issues of computer graphics and the use of mobile devices and data processing systems. Connected with IT companies implementing modern IT solutions. Enthusiast of modern technologies in the field of AR and VR.



Internet of Things will bind users to services. Blockchain will help them to be safe

Comments

  1. The Raspberry Pi may no longer be the king of single-board computers. The Orange Pi Zero has a lot of features that the Raspberry Pi does not have. This can make the Orange Pi Zero more popular with hobbyists, students and DIY enthusiasts.

    The price for this device is around $10, which is much cheaper than its successor, the Orange Pi One Plus which costs $45. The operating system options are also much more limited on the Raspberry Pi than they are on the Orange PI Zero.

    The most attractive feature of this single-board computer is how easy it is to set up and use. It also has a very good documentation that makes it even easier to get started with it.

    ReplyDelete
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