Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S6W4 - Internet of Things and the Blockchain

Hello Steemians. I'm very happy to continue writing in this 4th week of season 6 of the engagement challenge and I will be writing on the topic "Internet of things and the blockchain". This is my second post for this week and I know you will enjoy reading with me on the topic.

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Explain in your own words, what is IoT.

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I will start by explaining the internet which means the space of interconnected networks that makes several information available to us when we enquired, the internet has gone beyond just surfing, it is more advanced now that's why we have what is known as the internet of things now.

Internet of things comes from two different words which are internet and things, I have talked about the internet before and things are objects, the ones we operate daily. Internet of things (IoT) simply means the application of the Internet to things in a way that we can use the power of the Internet to power our devices more efficiently and with great convenience.

Furthermore, the Internet of things involves embedding sensors into devices we use at home while we remotely control them through a connection to the Internet. This whole thing saves stress and helps us to maximize the potential of the internet to make life easier for us every day.

_{Internet of things image taken from Flickr}

The Internet of things helps to build smart devices that make our everyday life easier, for example, we can use Alexa as a virtual assistant that can do a lot for us like playing different types of music, just our voice as a control which means we don't have to get in contact with the device physically, remotely we can control it. There are so many applications of IoT which I will be listing below.

Switching on and off household lights by just clapping our hands without having any physical contact with the switches or using voice control.

Used for smart houses to open windows using voice and that means we don't have to stand up to open or close the windows or curtains.

To have an overview of traffic and choose the best route, we can easily connect our smartphones to apps like maps to get traffic conditions in the city and pass the less busy route.

We can use IoT to test the soil condition of a place before determining its suitability with any kind of crops we may like to cultivate and this means IoT is useful in agriculture.

Sensors can be connected to patients in the hospital which allows the doctor to monitor the state of the patient from outside the hospital wall.

The application of IoT is so much that it makes our everyday life easy already and we can get to make good use of our time. For example, if I wanted to switch on the light because it's getting darker in the house when I am reading novels, if I have IoT sensors connected to the lights, I can talk or speak to put on the light and in this way, I don't lose concentration that may occur if I had stood up.

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What impact does the blockchain have on the Internet of Things?

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The Internet of things (IoT) has been able to help us manage our daily activities effectively without having to deal with many time wastages that would have happened if we were open to doing things manually. As much as it is good for us, some things are missing in it and that is where the blockchain comes in to take care of the shortcomings.

Literally, most of the IoT devices are hosted on the internet such that the data and everything are held on a centralized server and can be easily accessed, edited, deleted and many others without any prior notice. These things can cost a user of an IoT device a lot if such situations occur, that is why blockchain now has a very important role to play in the IoT industry.

_{Image of IoT and blockchain taken from PxHere}

Blockchain has a lot of attributes that make the technology safe than most of the earliest technologies we have seen before, blockchain is decentralized which means data stored on it is distributed throughout the network, this makes IoT devices that use blockchain more transparent.

Furthermore, blockchain also has a feature that is known as immutability which means when data is stored, it is permanent and can not be edited, what this means for IoT that uses the blockchain is that an impact is created that no central server or authority can tamper with the data that users have already stored on the IoT device because it is very secured with blockchain.

Another impact of the blockchain on IoT is all time running of the device, the central server can be down at any point in time and this may likely affect the operation of an IoT device, on the blockchain the data is shared among many nodes so that when a system is down, others will be working to ensure IoT devices don't experience a break of connection.

The impact of blockchain on IoT is very much and some of them are using the features of blockchain like decentralization, transparency, immutability, security, scalability, and many others to make IoT devices trustless and effective for their intended works without suffering a delay in the hands of central servers.

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What benefits does blockchain offer to the Internet of Things?

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Blockchain has been applied in a lot of sectors that take advantage of the technology to make their services better, the IoT industry is not an exception. Blockchain has added many benefits to the Internet of things and I will like to talk about them below as I share some of the benefits that have reformed the IoT space.

Trustless: Blockchain in IoT has made the space trustless when data generation and storage are controlled by smart contracts, and the data that are recorded about the usage of an IoT device remains intact and no central power can edit or it's impossible to hack and replace the data. The data is shared between interconnected nodes without exposing sensitive information.

_{Blockchain image taken from Wikimedia commons}

Time-Efficient: IoT that uses the blockchain has cut down the delay that can happen with central servers, data of the IoT is distributed to the systems on the blockchain and when one is down others will be working and in this way, the exchange of data on an IoT device continues likewise other transactions.

Supply Chain: Another benefit of blockchain in IoT is easy supply monitoring that enables companies transacting to sign a smart contract in such a way that with the IoT device on the supply, the location of the supply can be measured in real-time and it gets verified on the blockchain automatically when it reaches the destination and settles the contract without manipulation.

Speedy Data Exchange: One of the things that causes delayed transaction is the hand of intermediaries that get involved in transactions, if the IoT device is routing a query through a central server there will be a delay but with the blockchain, data can be exchanged with smart contracts and gets processed as fast as possible without any delay.

Cost-effective: There is no doubt that blockchain helps to cut down the cost of transactions with IoT devices, this is possible because there is no central authority that tends to charge extra for some transactions, exchanging data with peer-to-peer nodes on the network makes it easy and comes at low cost than it would have been charged with a central body in charge.

These are some of the benefits of blockchain to IoT, we can see how the features of the blockchain have applied to IoT to make sure transparency, speed, reduced cost, better monitoring, and many others are achieved easily, these things are not possible without the blockchain and more complications must have been encountered many times with ordinary IoT.

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Explain two applications of IoT and blockchain

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Yes, there have been many applications of IoT and blockchain, and I will like to discuss their applications in the automobile industry and healthcare industry.

The application of IoT and blockchain in automobile industry is seen in autonomous cars also known as self-driving cars whereby the car takes input from the user, gather information from the environment, process it, and then embark on the journey. This is the power of IoT, and how blockchain makes it more worth it will be explained below.

• The blockchain ensures that when the autonomous car wants to collect information from the surrounding, it's available on the peer-to-peer systems, that is the system is not down on blockchain which is possible in only IoT with central authorities.

• The data about the journey of the owner is stored securely on the blockchain so that outsiders can not hack in and monitor the movement of the person.

• The data of a journey is stored on the blockchain, not editable, and can be used as a preference for another day. For example, going to the office, this is something that is repetitive and former data can work, only the route can change sometimes.

_{Autonomous car image taken from Flickr}

The use of IoT in the automobile industry makes it look like our toy cars that are controlled remotely but now it is more advanced and with the blockchain, the use of autonomous cars becomes more efficient and safe.

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In the healthcare industry, the most use case of IoT are through wearables that are put on patients so that their health behaviors can be monitored by a medical practitioner even when they are not together with the patient. The wearables would give them the condition of the patient and they can act accordingly to the urgency of a needed attention.

Furthermore, it may not make much sense until the blockchain steps in to make it better. So some of the ways the blockchain is used with IoT for health wearables are as follows.

• The condition of a patient is fetched in real-time with no server delay and helps the doctor or any medical practitioner to make decisions timely.

• The health information of the patient is stored securely on the blockchain and can be used to track their health status later without involving paper files.

• Privacy of the health information of the patient on the blockchain is maintained and only experts to attend to the patient will be given access to the information.

_{Internet of the body image taken from Flickr}

These health wearables does not only help to track the health status of a patient but at the same time keep the record securely and not editable, making future treatments for the patient faster, this is how IoT and blockchain are applied in the health industry.

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Explain a blockchain project that relates to IoT

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The world has seen a lot of issues associated with the security of properties and privacy of data and developers are working toward achieving a more secure space.

HYPR is a blockchain-based IoT company that is set up to take care of security for homes, cars, ATMs, locks, other banking details, and many others. The project aims to ensure that properties are secured and safe from cyber attackers and they incorporate blockchain to build IoT devices and present themselves as a blockchain startup.

The approach used by HYPR is known as passwordless authentication which means that users don't have to use keys or passwords for their cars, locks, financial apps, and many others. They know that passwords can easily get compromised and developed other authentication methods like using the voice, palm, and fingerprint for unlocking or gaining access to one's property.

_{HYPR image taken from Wikimedia commons}

Furthermore, all the information about a user is saved on the blockchain and secured, and with that, a user doesn't have to bother about his or her keys being compromised since passwordless authentication is used.

I read that HYPR also developed a distributed ledger technology digital key for homeowners which gives a single point of access to their properties, producing locks, doors, and others that only use DLT digital key for access, in that way the key is secured on the HYPR blockchain and only the owner can use it without complications.

I find this blockchain project very interesting as they take one step further to secure the internet of things better and safe for everyone that wishes to use it for their homes, smartphones, cars, and many others.

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Conclusion

The Internet of things (IoT) has changed our way of life from being manual to fully automated as we can control things in our homes remotely when we are inside the house or even when we are not around. This technology has helped us to manage our time very well and with less stress as we don't necessarily need physical contact before we can get some things done.

Furthermore, many of these IoT devices are centralized which means the data of users can be exposed to others, this is where blockchain comes in to make it better by decentralized storage of data in a way that it can not be hacked. It reduces the time taken to get a data exchange done, helps to monitor supply, and many others. Blockchain and IoT have been used together to make life easier and I am happy to witness the era.

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I'm very happy to participate in this contest and I invite @jasminemary, @yakspeace, and @patjewell to also join.