BaaS Architecture for DApps and Application for Veterinary Medicine Case Study in Ireland

Abstract

Blockchain technology provides promising solutions to problems where trust between participants is a significant concern. Blockchain technology eliminates centralised trusted authorities and provides decentralised trust assessments and improved transparency and immutability for transactions. Blockchain platforms have tightly connected decentralised consensus mechanisms and distributed ledgers. However, within DApps(decentralised applications), blockchain platforms should easily communicate with other systems, including data storage systems and front-end applications. Blockchain is not for storing big data. The transactions cost is a primary concern when developing DApps for commercial use. This paper proposes a BaaS(Blockchain as a Service) architecture enriched with a loosely coupled service API(Application Programming Interface) connecting IPFS(Interplanetary File System) as the information storage and smart contracts to govern the business logic. We realised the proposed architecture for prescriptions management in a veterinary medicine case study in Ireland. The solution DApp continuously monitors the updates of prescriptions, medicine dispenses, and medicine administrations while restricting the overuse of prescription and the use of counterfeit drugs. The traceability improves the transparency of treatment activities and information retrieval for users. Moreover, the proposed architecture is easily adaptable and maintains low-cost transactions with the support of IPFS and smart contract events.