Towards a Framework for Analyzing the Suitability of DLTs for Integration in the IoT

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is marked by the presence of a versatile network of devices employing various forms of communication and data types. Due to their distributed nature and the generation of extensive data, IoT nodes often encounter obstacles such as hardware and storage limitations, security vulnerabilities, and lack of interoperability. To mitigate these challenges, researchers have proposed the integration of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), such as blockchain or Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). To this end, researchers have begun analyzing the applicability of DLTs for IoT applications on a case-specific basis. However, DLTs differ with respect to the consensus protocols implied. Hence, there is a need for developing a framework defining categories for evaluating the integration of different DLT consensus protocols for IoT applications. This research-in-progress paper should be seen as a first approach to a framework that can evaluate the suitability of different DLTs for IoT applications.