Blockchain and IoT based inventory monitoring system

Abstract

Blockchain Technology has certain inherent characteristics that can prove particularly useful to the field of IoT. It has the potential to add a layer of trust and transparency to the data reported by IoT based applications due to its decentralized and immutable nature. An application that utilizes these aspects of Blockchain has been explored in this paper. A smart inventory monitoring system that focuses on shipped goods was developed. The proposed system monitors the temperature and humidity of the goods' container. It also keeps track of whether the lid of the container was opened at a certain point or not and the duration for which it was left opened. These details are periodically uploaded to Ethereum Blockchain's Rinkeby Test Network along with a timestamp and location history. These details can then be retrieved from the Ethereum Blockchain and monitored for signs of tampering or undesirable conditions. The system was implemented on a Raspberry Pi 4. Details such as transaction construction and upload times have also been reported in the paper. The proposed system was able to provide an immutable and decentralized historical log of the shipped inventory as it passed through different stages of the delivery process.