Intersections between IoT and distributed ledger

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing exponentially. It allows not only humans but also all various devices and objects in the environment to be connected over the Internet to share their data to create new applications and services which result in a more convenient and connected lifestyle. However, the current centralized IoT architecture faces several issues. For instance, all computing operations of all nodes in the network are carried out using a single server. This creates a single point of failure in which if the server goes down, the entire system will be unavailable. Also, the IoT centralized architecture is an easy target of various types of security and privacy attacks, since all IoT data collected from different devices is under the full authority of a single server. Therefore, adopting one of the Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) for the IoT may be the right decision. One of the popular types of DLTs is the blockchain. It provides an immutable ledger with the capability of maintaining the integrity of transactions by decentralizing the ledger among participating nodes in the blockchain network which eliminates the need for a central authority. Integrating the IoT system with the blockchain technology can provide several benefits which can resolve the issues associated with the IoT centralized architecture. Therefore, this chapter provides a discussion of the intersection between IoT and DLTs. It started by providing an overview of the DLT by highlighting its main components, benefits and challenges. The centralized IoT system is also discussed with highlighting its essential limitations. Then, the integration of blockchain with IoT is presented by highlighting the integration benefits. Various application and challenges of integrating blockchain with IoT are also discussed.