Blockchain and Internet of Things integration innovation to achieve high-quality development [full text]

As a new generation of information technology, security exhibition network technology dynamic blockchain is accelerating the breakthrough application, and the world is entering a period of economic development led by the information industry. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the new generation of information technology industry. In recent years, industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, 5G and other technologies have ushered in a wave of development. "Blockchain + Internet of Things" as an important trusted infrastructure, in all fields of economic society The project is accelerating, and it is expected to become an important driving force for the construction of Digital China, and it will make an important contribution to promoting the transformation and upgrading of China's real economy and building a modern economic system. Regarding this, the Chinese Institute of Electronics carried out relevant research and countermeasure suggestions as follows:

At present, the emergence of a new round of information technology revolution and industrial transformation will have a profound impact on the global economic and political landscape, industrial organization, production and lifestyles, and the competitive landscape of world powers has been quietly reshaped. The Internet of Things and blockchain are at the forefront of the development of a new generation of information technology, and its importance is becoming more and more prominent. The recent Forbes survey of 500 global corporate managers shows that the Internet of Things ranks among important emerging technologies. In January 2019, the Ali Darma Academy released the 2019 Top Ten Technology Trends and proposed that in the process of digitization in various industries, the Internet of Things will support the trusted mapping of off-chain world and on-chain data, and blockchain technology will promote the transfer of trusted data Reorganization and optimization. The Internet of Things naturally has distributed genes, which are highly matched with the distributed and heterogeneous blockchain system network. The integration of the two has promoted the gradual acceleration of the integration of blockchain and Internet of Things in recent years, and the development prospects are worth looking forward to.

1. Features and trends of the integrated development of blockchain and Internet of Things

As an important information portal in the era of the Internet of Everything, the Internet of Things equipment is expected to connect the blockchain and the physical world and solve the blockchain landing problem. The decentralized nature of the blockchain provides a way for the Internet of Things to self-govern, which can help devices in the Internet of Things understand each other, and let the devices in the Internet of Things understand the association between different devices, so as to achieve distributed control of the Internet of Things . Driven by multi-link, multi-scenario and multi-field applications, the integration of blockchain and Internet of Things technology is constantly accelerating, and it is expected to accelerate the application in many fields of economic society.

(1) The Internet of Things has gradually become the physical world and blockchain network connector to solve the problem of blockchain real data uploading

At present, the core problem of the blockchain that has not yet been implemented is the problem of the "hard link" of the blockchain, that is, it is difficult to establish a solid, reliable between the digital assets within the blockchain and the physical or virtual assets outside the blockchain. Trusted link binding relationship. Whether it is manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, or finance, media, medical and other industries, the Internet of Things provides a very convenient entry for all types of information and data on the chain, and is expected to solve the problem of anchoring the assets on the blockchain and the physical objects off the chain. The key issue becomes an important tool for anchoring information, assets and off-chain objects on the blockchain of the future digital society. The explosive growth of IoT hardware devices in the future, the rapid increase of information and data transmission speed, and the continuous expansion of the IoT ecosystem will continue to inject fresh blood into the blockchain industry and continue to expand the application scenarios of blockchain technology.

Figure 1 Internet of Things equipment "fidelity" data on the chain through digital signature

Source: collated by the Chinese Institute of Electronics

(2) Blockchain provides safe and trusted services for the Internet of Things, helping accelerate the landing of "Internet of Things +" applications

The data of the Internet of Things comes from the physical world. The security of these data is directly related to the security of the physical equipment and even the physical world. Once the data is violated, maliciously tampered with, and illegally stolen, the catastrophic consequences It is more severe than the virtual world, so the issue of IoT application security is getting more and more attention. Blockchain has the functions of decentralization, non-tampering, shared ledger, asymmetric encryption, smart contract, etc. For example, as the underlying platform of IoT security applications, it can provide trusted storage, data encryption, access control, identity for IoT security Support for services such as authentication consensus. For example, non-tampering can ensure the authenticity of the information on the chain, share the ledger to build a trust foundation to ensure business transparency and traceability, asymmetric encryption can guarantee the security of IoT information, and smart contracts support automatic transactions of IoT devices to improve the efficiency of the system and thus improve Networked data flow, network openness and intelligence level promote the Internet of Things to truly realize multi-domain, large-scale and high-level applications.

Figure 2 Blockchain-based IoT end-to-end security framework

Source: collated by the Chinese Institute of Electronics

(3) With the help of the consensus mechanism and incentive model, the blockchain innovates the business model of IoT applications

The relationship between equipment providers, software service providers, operation managers, and various users in the IoT ecosystem is intricate. If you want to establish a good data provision, service acquisition, transaction confirmation, and payment mechanism among multiple parties, you need to rely on more innovation. Incentive mechanism and business model. On the basis of the interconnection of people, things and platforms on the Internet of Things, the blockchain can help thousands of nodes to establish a production relationship that automatically forms business connections based on procedural rules, and participate in contributions and transactions for multiple parties of the Internet of Things. Provide a decentralized platform, and at the same time use the consensus mechanism and incentive system to automatically pay the corresponding amount of remuneration for the contributing parties. In this process, equipment service providers, software service providers, operation managers, and users can participate in community and platform governance together, which is expected to achieve the rate and large-scale collaboration of multiple parties in the ecosystem.

Figure 3 Blockchain provides new business models for IoT applications

Source: collated by the Chinese Institute of Electronics

2. Challenges facing the integrated development of "Blockchain + Internet of Things"

The privacy and security issues of the Internet of Things are becoming more and more serious. The blockchain can be used as the underlying architecture to build a credible and secure distributed Internet of Things network, which can effectively solve the data management, trust, security and privacy issues facing the development of the Internet of Things. However, to truly realize the idea of ​​connecting the blockchain system to the ultra-large-scale Internet of Things, it is necessary to achieve fast, low-cost, and secure communication and transactions between heterogeneous devices. In practice, technology maturity, infrastructure construction, business models, etc. There are still many challenges.

(1) The Internet of Things technology is becoming more mature, and the development of key blockchain technology is relatively lagging behind

In recent years, the rapid development of sensor technology, information technology, communication technology, etc. at home and abroad, the Internet of Things has gradually matured in terms of sensors, system architecture, operating system, software platform, network construction and other technical aspects, or standard system construction. . In 2015, blockchain technology began to be accepted in a true sense. It is still at an early stage of development. The current blockchain project represented by Ethereum can already carry the development of some industry applications, but in view of private key encryption, smart contracts, Sharding, cross-chain, side chain and other technologies, consensus mechanisms such as DAG and DPOS, and economic incentive models are still in the trial or trial stage. Blockchain systems have problems with programs and code vulnerabilities, computing power attacks, and low transaction efficiency. Moreover, the scalability is low, the efficiency is low, the handling fee is high, and the economic model design is unreasonable. It cannot meet the large-scale commercial application of multi-domain distributed applications. The integration and development of the Internet of Things and blockchain are severely restricted.

(2) The infrastructure construction of "Blockchain + Internet of Things" is still not perfect, and the scale application of the industry will take time

In terms of infrastructure construction, the operation of the blockchain system involves many synchronization optimization and real-time conversion problems. The current response speed and computing power of the blockchain system and Internet of Things devices cannot yet meet the requirements of industry applications for real-time processing transaction speed; The transaction records and related information are recorded on the blockchain and Internet of Things devices. Multi-party participation and data synchronization are required. The construction of related hardware and software still takes a long time. The ultra-large-capacity storage system is not yet available. In terms of large-scale applications, with the rapid increase in the number of blockchain nodes in the Internet of Things, large-scale transmission of broadcast messages in the blockchain system will occupy a large amount of network bandwidth, which is likely to cause broadcast storms, which will lead to the paralysis of the Internet of Things. At the same time, the rapid landing of the blockchain in the real economy requires a high level of informationization, digitization, networking and intelligence. The current development goals and paths of "Blockchain + Internet of Things" have not yet been fully determined, and there are certain technical barriers. Due to the dilemma of integration with the industry, and the many solutions of the blockchain are still in an ideal state, it still needs to accumulate, feedback and optimize the operational experience of the pilot demonstration.

(3) Pilot implementation of integrated applications, but the business model still needs further exploration

The integrated application of blockchain and Internet of Things has created a trust-based business model. The Internet of Things blockchain projects represented by IOTA and IoTeX are undergoing pilot applications in supply chain, energy, logistics and other fields. rich. However, most of the current IoT business applications have not yet achieved sustained and stable income. How to fully realize the advantages of blockchain consensus mechanism, incentive mechanism, smart contract and other advantages in multi-agent and cross-industry services in IoT applications, Effectively promote the commercial value of blockchain technology in the Internet of Things, how to create a safe, sustainable business operating environment in multi-domain and cross-industry applications, and other issues are increasingly highlighted. Mature business of the integrated development of the Internet of Things and blockchain The model is still being explored.

3. Next steps and suggestions

One is to strengthen basic theory and technology research in the field of blockchain. Overall planning at the national level, the establishment of a blockchain R & D fund, focusing on supporting the development and application of key technologies such as blockchain storage, encryption, consensus and cross-chain, and focusing on promoting interdisciplinary basic research and cross-cutting involving blockchain technology Discipline applied research. At the same time, we should attach great importance to the ecological cultivation of blockchain technology, fully respect the law of "growth structure, adaptive evolution" of technological development, and jointly develop a suitable environment for the development of blockchain technology with governments, enterprises, universities, and third-party organizations. And atmosphere, continue to promote the technological innovation, scene application and industrialization process of blockchain technology in China.

The second is to accelerate the construction of blockchain and Internet of Things infrastructure. In terms of data, in view of the more prominent issues such as the internalization of information and information silos of traditional enterprises, we have effectively promoted business dataization, and gradually increased the construction and investment of intelligent infrastructure such as the Internet of Things, intelligent terminals, big data, and cloud platforms. To fully tap data resources and lay the foundation for big data for the application of "blockchain + Internet of Things". On the network side, accelerate the integration and development of 5G, blockchain, and Internet of Things technologies, give full play to the low latency, high rate, and low cost characteristics of 5G to improve the information transmission efficiency of blockchain software systems and Internet of Things hardware systems. In terms of hardware, accelerate the construction of distributed data storage and blockchain system nodes to provide a hardware foundation for large-scale blockchain applications. In terms of software platforms, the public chain will affect the industry's right to speak and benefit distribution. It is recommended to build a blockchain public information infrastructure independently guided by the state to enhance the technology's right to guide and platform's autonomous control.

The third is to accelerate the penetration of the Internet of Things and blockchain technology innovation into various fields of the economy and society. Formulate universal and perfect IoT and blockchain fusion technology standards and application standards, support third-party organizations to release the "White Paper on the Integration of Blockchain and Internet of Things Application", and promote the development of the Internet of Things and blockchain industry standards. At the same time, continue to explore suitable industrial scenarios and business models, establish a number of "blockchain + Internet of Things" technology application pilot demonstration cities, and effectively promote blockchain and Internet of Things in the industrial Internet, government services, finance, certificate, supply chain management Pilot applications in the fields of copyright protection, traceability, etc. have gradually formed a brand-new development model, helping "blockchain +" and "Internet of Things +" to realize the value transfer, and helping to increase the salary of China's industrial transformation and upgrading, quality and efficiency.