Blockchain-Based Middleware for Distributed Management IoT Resources and Services

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Blockchain-Based Middleware for Distributed Management IoT Resources and Services Facing unprecedented environmental challenges, there is an urgent need for smart solutions that reduce our environmental footprint. The rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) that enables us to connect the physical and digital world is arguably one of the best technologies to help us achieve this goal. Ericsson, Forbes and other IoT market observers predict that the current 8+ billion connected IoT devices in the world will reach 18.5 - 22.3 billion in 2024 and 50-125 billion in 2030. Using 5G networks, it will be possible to connect the billions of IoT devices with edge & cloud-hosted services and build novel IoT systems that use machine learning and advanced data analytics to minimize resource-usage, carbon emissions and waste. People that are eager to reduce the footprint of their households can deploy Smart Home technology to connect utility consumption meters, thermostats, appliances and consumer electronics with cloud-hosted backend services. The cloud-hosted backend services analyze the various streams of data from households and combine them with other data sources to extract valuable insights that can be used to optimize resource usage e.g. change settings on appliances and inform decision-makers. As a result, a household with Smart Home technology can reduce resource consumption, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. However, people are becoming increasingly concerned about their privacy and security. Who has access to the data streams of my household? How is my data used? Do I still control my home? Similar concerns regarding ownership and control of services, equipment and data emerge in organizations eager to deploy climate-smart solutions for sectors like industry, energy, commerce and agriculture. Enabling people and organizations to manage the access and usage of their collected data is therefore essential for the successful adoption of Smart technologies and the wide-scale deployment of IoT-based systems. However, the enormous scale, interconnectivity and dynamic changes of IoT networks present novel management challenges. IBM was the first of a growing number of major IT companies to realize the need for a blockchain-based management of IoT resources and services. This research program is focused on how Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts can be used to: - manage access IoT data? - enable shared control of the data analytics and machine learning results? - control how data is used? - define if and how equipment can be re-configured? - perform audits in regards to access, usage and configuration, while preserving propriety algorithms of machine-learning and data-analytics ? Providing solutions to these questions will empower people and organizations to control the access and the usage of their data, devices and services within IoT-based smart solutions that help reduce resource consumption, waste and greenhouse emissions.