Hyperledger-powered Internet of Things applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is driving an array of new distributed technology models and applications. The potential for pairing IoT and blockchain is increasingly a hot topic. This month, as part of #HypereldgerIoT, we take a look at some productions examples where the technologies are already working together. 

Read on for more about Hyperledger-powered IoT applications at work across a mix of use cases:

Norwegian Seafood Traceability Network

A recently launched Norwegian seafood traceability network leverages IBM Blockchain, which is built on Hyperledger Fabric, to share supply chain data throughout Norway’s seafood industry. The goal is to provide safer, better seafood to consumers worldwide. The network uses IoT sensors to report key environmental parameters. Starting with aquaculture, the sensors will monitor and report on the conditions required to produce high quality fish, such as water temperature, oxygen levels, and water quality, and when the fish are transported, IoT sensors will track and report factors such as the length of journey, temperature, and movement in transit. Several Norwegian seafood companies are now in the process of putting data onto the network.

My Sensor

My Sensor is an IoT device developed by Movistar that detects minute concentrations of Radon gas in the surroundings. Radon is a naturally occurring gas which may build up in your property in enclosed spaces, particularly in the basement and on lower floors. If Radon levels exceed certain thresholds, it can affect people’s health.

Leveraging Telefonica’s TrustOS MQTT module, My Sensor tracks and certifies the historical series of Radon gas concentration. The user can get a certification with full proof that guarantees the concentration did not exceed the thresholds in a period or did it during n measurements in a raw. The sensor sent the measurements through TrustOS to a Hyperledger Fabric network where some chaincodes are monitoring and certifying that the measures are in the expected range (or eventually are out of the range). The network itself certifies the series of measurements and anyone can verify it without any doubt avoiding the participation of a trusted expert third party.

VideoCoin Network

The VideoCoin Network is a decentralised video infrastructure that provides developers with video processing services that are simple to use and inexpensive compared to centralised providers. Developed by the VideoCoin Development Association Ltd. and implemented by services provider Live Planet, Inc., the VideoCoin Network runs on the Public Mint platform and is enabled by a native protocol token, the VideoCoin (VID). 

Powered by a large-scale, distributed video infrastructure, the VideoCoin Network marshals under-utilised computing resources from around the world, including IoT devices, to revolutionise enterprise-grade video services with blockchain technology. 

“Public Mint provides a revolutionary and first of its kind money system that lets us use real USD as programmable currency  allowing us to pay tens of thousands of participants on our network. This satisfies our needs to pay anyone whether they’re running a datacenter or a Raspberry Pi IoT device.” – Devadutta Ghat, CTO at LivePlanet Inc.

Backed by Hyperledger Besu distributed ledger technology, Public Mint fosters a marketplace of Smart Services that can run on top of Public Mint’s programmable fiat platform. Anyone can use the current Smart Services or build new ones, using Public Mint’s Open APIs and open-source wallet.

IoT devices integrity service

This service is an extra feature of the Hyperledger Fabric-based TrustOS product. A part of Telefonica’s TrustOS software, this library is provided to be executed by IoT devices in the secure boot. It adds as an additional HTTP header including a checksum of the secure boot for each request sent by the devices.

The first time a device sends this header, TrustOS creates an asset to track any variation in the device behaviour (including besides detecting new checksum, an IA assessing pace and frequency of the requests). Any request is registered and, if something unexpected is detected, a warning is triggered to quickly act over the affected device.

This service can’t avoid unauthorized tampering or unexpected updates but helps in identifying problems earlier and without any doubt. The result: it adds extra trustworthiness-proof beyond KPII.

Join the conversation about blockchain-based IoT applications with #HyperledgerIoT this month on social channels. 

Cover image by Tumisu from Pixabay