Assignment Crypto Academy Season 04 - Week 01 | Advanced Course -Blockchain Technology and the Internet of Things (IoT)[@yohan2on]
This is my submission for the Assignment provided by Professor @yohan2on. The session was on IoT and Blockchain technology and both technologies are my favorite.
1 - Explain why the future Internet of Things depends on Blockchain.
Before we figure out why IoT is dependent upon blockchain let's understand what IoT is.
This is my favorite topic which is an amazing emerging technology having a great scope to transform our life to bring automation into our day-to-day life. IoT stands for the Internet of things that allows technology to connect with humans in order to share data, establish communication, and easy control over all the devices connected with the Network.
IoT made of two words Internet which means Networks and Things which is all the devices that are Embedded with certain kind electronics, software, chips, sensors also can be connected with the Network. Here is the some of IoT- Fitness Band, Smart Home Appliances, Voice Assistance, Smart home security system, Biometric cybersecurity scanners, Health-related Smart devices.
I am pretty sure we all are familiar with Fitness bands even I have one that measures my Heart Rate, calories, Steps and sends all the data to the mobile app. IoT has great use in our Smart Home security system like Biometric System and Smart Camera system that helps us to monitor who is going in out to the house from sitting anywhere in the world.
IoT has a great use case in the Medical industry let's suppose there is a patient who has a heart problem and he is wearing IoT devices that measure the heart and pulse rate of the Patient. If any kind of sudden moment happens this device sends the notification to the Doctor and his family members on the App no matter what the time is. In this case, we can take quick action to save the patient.
Features of IoT
1. Unique Identify: Every IoT device has its own unique identity so that our ecosystem can identify which commands it needs to give to the device for example in the house we have Smart lights, window, cameras etc so the system won't confuse for that we need a unique identity.
2. Dynamic & Automation: IoT devices are dynamic in nature as it has sensors that observer the nature or your preferred settings to make things as per your need. For example, the light automatically turns on when someone entered in the room or any particular place or even you can also create a setting to turn on/off the lights in the evening and morning. Smart ACs are a great example of Home automation that manages its temperature as per the outside environment.
3. Self Adopting and Configuring: IoT devices are self adopting as per the environment also they have the ability to configure automatically. We can see the Smart cameras are in the normal mode in the daytime but in the evening night mode gets activated automatically also it can bring more focus on any abnormal activity. IoT devices are self-configuring with Minimal human intervention.
4. Integrated to information: To understand this concept I would like to give the example of the Weather monitoring system where many sensors or nodes are placed in different locations and these sensors can be called nodes. Nodes send the data to the Central System to monitor and analyze it to predict the future and parent state.
Benefits of IoT
a) Efficient Resource Utilization
b) Saves time
c) Eliminate Human Effort and errors
d) Security
e) User Friendly
Now let's understand how IoT is depends upon Blockchain to enhance and make sure IoT ecosystem.
Before I jump to the topic of how Blockchain is useful for IoT let's understand the block in simple words. As the names suggest Blockchain is the Chain of Blocks and every block contains some transactions details. In each transaction there would be My address, Receiver's address, amount also every block has a different unique Hashrate just like Fingerprint. The blockchain works really really great to protect the data using Cryptography Algorithms and that is the power of blockchain. In the blockchain, each block has the Hash of the previous block so this is how it is connected and creating a chain so if any hacker wants to hack the data of the 5th block then he needs to break the Algorithm of other previous blocks which is almost impossible.
Features:
a) Handle large amount of data (Multi Ledger Tech)
b) Conceptual Architecture
c) Key Issued address
As we all know the importance of data privacy and the data is wealth currently. The big companies social media, surveys, Shopping are collecting your unknowingly to use for their benefits. The data can se sued for creating a recommendations system and suppose it your personal data gets hacked by Hackers then they can use it for bad purposes.
In the IoT devices, we have a lot of data that may be private or public that we never would like to get compromised with any third party. In this case what could be a better solution than blockchain to store all the data at the most secure place and establish communication with the Trust of Blockchain. Decentralized technology has a great use case in IoT however since this is a bit complex create such an ecosystem but this is the most secure way to Establish a safe IoT ecosystem. They are many platforms working to bring a feasible, scalable and easy-to-use ecosystem, and Filament is one of them.
Let's see how blockchain can enhance the IoT Ecosystem-
Decentralization: This is very important because on the blockchain there is no centralized system that is storing or even monitoring your data. Once the data are written on the blockchain no one has the ability to modify it or steal it.
Managing Entities: As the number of devices is increasing it would be difficult for the centralized ecosystem to manage but storing the Unique identity on the blockchain is easy as all the unique stored will on a single network blockchain.
Autonomy: The IoT blockchain-enabled devices will be able to communicate with each other without the need of large server firms.
Security: This is the main part why we need Blockchain enable IoT Ecosystem to make communication secure.
2 - Research and create content on the following IoT Blockchain use case - Filament
The filament is a US-based started founded by Allison cliff-Jennings in the year 2012 having aims to develop an Infrastructure for the Industries IoT devices to take the next level. The company is using Blockchain backed ecosystem for the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) in their software and hardware to create a secure scalable ecosystem for Industries. As they are working on the Decentralized technology this startup was successfully funded by Investors. Also in the Company has many partnerships and is still in the growing phase. Recently they have announced a partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno on autonomous vehicle research in which they will work to create a Blockchain-based Infrastructure for the IoT that can be integrated with the Self-driving Car.
As we are aware of the Security issue in the centralized system with the blockchain-based technology the company can develop a super secure, scalable, and reliable ecosystem for the Self-driving car.
Filament launches Blocklet Kit (Chip) that is designed for the Developers who work on the embedded system to get the experience of Filament IoT Ecosystem so they can understand how the data is stored using smart contracts and distributed technology and can create a module that can be integrated with the Filament blockchain IoT.
Challenges with IoT
a) Economic Value: IoT devices and the ecosystem is not cheap yet and usable for everyone.
b) Security: Security is of the major issue here as the number of devices are growing rapidly so it would a bit difficult to get a secure ecosystem. Well, this the issue that blockchain can solve.
Conclusion
The IoT and blockchain both are emerging and growing still there are a lot of things to be done. Blockchain-based IoT Ecosystem will bring a secure and reliable ecosystem for all the devices connected with the Internet. It will be robust, fast, and will transform our lifestyle. The session conducted by the professor was really awesome and I enjoyed doing this assignment.
Hi @amar15
Thanks for participating in the Steemit Crypto Academy
Feedback
This is average work. You did not go provide an in-depth account on the integration of Blockchain and IoT. More was expected from you. You therefore need to put more effort into your work.
Total| 5/10