مقاله انگلیسی بلاک چین و ادغام آن با اینترنت اشیا (2018 الزویر)

Introduction

The rapid evolution in miniaturization, electronics and wireless communication technologies have contributed to unprecedented advances in our society. This has resulted in an increase in the number of suitable electronic devices for many areas, a reduction in their production costs and a paradigm shift from the real world into the digital world. Therefore, the way in which we interact with each other and with the environment has changed, using current technology to gain a better understanding of the world. The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a set of technologies from Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN) to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), that provide the capabilities to sense, actuate with and communicate over the Internet [1]. Nowadays, an IoT device can be an electronic device from a wearable to a hardware development platform and the range of applications where it can be used encompass many areas of the society. The IoT plays a central role in turning current cities into smart cities, electrical grids into smart grids and houses into smart homes, and this is only the beginning. According to various research reports, the number of connected devices is predicted to reach anywhere from 20 to 50 billion by 2020 [2] mainly due to the vast number of devices that the IoT can place on the scene. The IoT visualizes a totally connected world, where things are able to communicate measured data and interact with each other. This makes possible a digital representation of the real world, through which many smart applications in a variety of industries can be developed. These include: Smart homes, Weareables, Smart cities, Healthcare, Automotive, Environment, Smart water, Smart grid, etc. IoT solutions are being deployed in many areas, optimizing production and digitizing industries. IoT applications have very specific characteristics, they generate large volumes of data and require connectivity and power for long periods. This, together with the limitations in memory, computer capacity, networks and limited power supply pose a high number of challenges. The huge expansion of the IoT has to be supported by standard mechanisms and protocols in order to reduce the existing heterogeneity in the field. This heterogeneity leads to vertical silos and reduces the adoption of the IoT. However, aside from the heterogeneity and integration challenges present in the IoT, the trustworthiness of its data is also an important issue to bear in mind. Nowadays, we trust in the information of financial entities and the government among others, but can we be sure that the information provided by them and by other external entities, such as IoT companies, has not been tampered/altered/falsified in any way? This is a difficult question to answer in centralized architectures. Untrusted entities can alter information according to their own interests, so the information they provide might not be completely reliable. This brings about the need to verify that the information has never been modified.