Blockchain Papers

Shimin Liu, Yuqian Lu, Jie Li, Xingwang Shen · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Mohammad Darabseh, João Poças Martins

No abstract is available for this record.

Ana Balan, Sînică Alboaie, Alexandrina Rata

This article presents human-centric healthcare solutions that could revolutionize the medical sector by creating trust with the help of blockchain technologies. This article summarizes the experience of creating a blockchain platform and a Digital Trust Ecosystem in a private-public partnership between research entities and ten big pharma companies. This partnership builds on a previous research project that pioneered the OpenDSU blockchain technology. This article summarizes the research results obtained in blockchain technologies under the influence of the pharma industry culture and regulations.

In Bae Chung, Carlos Caldas, Fernanda Fernanda Leite

Significant changes in the construction industry have been brought about by Building Information Modeling (BIM). While BIM has improved team collaboration and workflow efficiency, the model still faces multiple challenges. These are related primarily to the security, transparency, and reliability of the data shared in the model. A potential way to mitigate these problems, according to many studies, is blockchain technology. This paper reviews the recent literature on the integration of BIM and blockchain technology. Using a rigorous search-and-selection process, the authors conducted a systematic literature review by analyzing 70 studies relevant to BIM-blockchain integration. The state-of-the-art review explains how studies have implemented blockchain technology and provides an overview of different levels of adoption. Various application areas within the BIM process are explored to understand the ongoing research trend. The authors discuss limitations and offer recommendations on how best to implement future work in BIM-blockchain integration.

Ümit Cali, Md Sadek Ferdous, Enis Karaarslan, Sri Nikhil Gupta Gourisetti · 5 authors

As the global industrial complex gears toward fulfilling the tenets of Industry 4.0 and beyond, technologies such as distributed ledger technologies, digital twins, and artificial intelligence become pivotal enablers. In the last decade, metaverse as a concept and technology found its place among crucial enablers for technology and digital advancement across several engineering domains. Metaverse has the potential to combine the elements from distributed computing platforms, the digital evolution of physical systems, and advanced learning systems to unearth a fully digitized world of comparative properties of the real world. We should ensure the privacy, integrity, and confidentiality of personal data. These requirements will lead to proper identity management in the metaverse. Given the complex nature of the metaverse, traditional centralized systems may not offer a viable identity management solution. Therefore, this study explores a decentralized identity management system called the Self-sovereign Identity (SSI) as a logical alternative to traditional centralized identity management systems. The proposed holistic framework aims to ignite new ideas and discussions related to the combined deployment of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology), SSI, and metaverse to inspire new implementation areas within the Industry 4.0 environment. The paper also discusses various opportunities, enablers, technical & privacy aspects, legislation requirements, and other barriers related to SSI implementation.

Rui Zhao, Zhe Chen, Fan Xue

No abstract is available for this record.

Wei-Yang Chiu, Weizhi Meng, Chunpeng Ge

The advancement of information technology allows the creation of smart devices that not only are programable, but also can perform machine-to-machine communication in order to reach a flexible large-scale manufacturing strategy in Industry 4.0. However, as more components are connected to the Internet, cyber-criminals can perform malicious actions remotely. As one lasting threat, sabotaging smart devices' execution integrity can cause a large financial loss, i.e., causing malfunctioning. Hence, it is important to secure the execution integrity of smart devices in Industry 4.0. Motivated by the emerging blockchain technology, in this paper, we focus on how blockchain can help Industry 4.0 application protect execution integrity and propose a blockchain-based execution protection scheme namedNoSneaky, which is low-cost and can be easily integrated into the current production systems. In the evaluation, we demonstrate its performance and effectiveness in securing the execution integrity.

Xuling Ye, Ningshuang Zeng, Markus König

Abstract Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides an excellent opportunity to digitally document and visually display construction projects’ information throughout their whole lifecycle. Another recent technology that fosters the digital transformation of the construction sector is blockchain-based smart contract. In combination with BIM models, such smart contract can be used for delivery, acceptance, and payment (DAP) process automation in the construction industry. The DAP process can be modelled by using smart contracts and securely stored via a blockchain. Since smart contracts are programming codes, for stakeholders it is difficult to understand what is exactly written in them. Therefore, it is necessary to visualize the state and executed transactions of the deployed smart contracts. In this paper, a framework is highlighted to record and visualize the status of the DAP processes by combining BIM with smart contracts using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) to develop a smart contract system. With the help of suitable visualization concepts, the individual transactions of the blockchain can be displayed in a comprehensible way. The feasibility of the framework is presented through an illustrative implementation of the smart contract system. The proposed framework can help project participants better understand the current state of a smart contract.

Mubashir Hayat, Herwig Winkler

Blockchain technology has disrupted traditional business processes and hence gained significant attention and popularity in recent years. Consequently, a number of blockchain-based platforms are available today that offer vast applications across multiple sectors and industries. Implementing these blockchain-based platforms as an alternative to traditional product lifecycle management systems (PLMs) is one of the applications. However, before any platform is adopted, its nature, functionalities, and adaptability need to be clearly defined, evaluated, and verified. In this context, the proposed work explores the available blockchain-based platforms that can be used for the purpose of product lifecycle management. We then apply one of the multi-criteria decision-making techniques, i.e., the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to select the best possible blockchain-based platform for PLM. As transaction speed, data privacy, and scalability are our prime concerns in PLM, we only considered the permissioned (private) blockchain platforms as available alternatives in the final selection process. Results achieved on the basis of considered criteria show that Hyperledger Fabric is the top-ranked among available alternatives to be used for PLM. Furthermore, as blockchain is a new technology, a clear comparison of the available platforms based on the performance-based metrics and key performance indicators is not completely matured and is still in the development stage. However, our proposed approach can be considered an attempt to create a procedure for evaluating blockchain-based platform implementation in any sector.

Sarah Qahtan, Khaironi Yatim, Hazura Zulzalil, Mohd Hafeez Osman · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Sebastiano Gaiardelli, Stefano Spellini, Michele Pasqua, Mariano Ceccato · 5 authors

Products and materials traceability is essential in modern manufacturing, where the production must meet certain standards that range from Quality Control (QC) to the quality of the used materials. In this environment, blockchain applications allow certifying data provenience and subsequent modification, offering trust and security along the entire supply chain. Nonetheless, the design and the development of such applications are usually performed manually and, thus, subject to errors.In this paper, we propose a methodology allowing to automatically generate smart contracts starting from a SysML model. This approach allows easing the integration of blockchain applications in a production system: by abstracting the implementations with models, it is possible to generate smart contracts for different blockchains, connecting to multiple production environments.We applied the proposed methodology on a real manufacturing system, assessing the quality of a case-study production.

Peter Waher, Kristjan Araoz, Pablo Pulgar, Daniel Mostrom

Tokenization is a new means to monetize assets in new decentralized economies. New types of tokens allow for the tokenization of physical assets and real-world projects. They can also be used to monetize digital assets in Cyber-Physical Systems, as well as provide a decentralized means to authorize access to such devices and systems. This paper describes one such effort, where this new type of tokens acts as the basis for financing the construction of sustainable real estate (smart buildings), as well as provide a means for private investors (owners) and other interested third parties to gain access to revenue, as well as cyber-physical systems and digital twins within the constructed smart buildings, in an interoperable and transparent manner. Inter-operability with underlying systems and equipment is performed using IEEE P1451.99 IoT Harmonization interfaces. Monetization of underlying resources allows for advanced optimization of the process, in accordance with principles defined within Industry 4.0, smart cities, sustainability and quality of life for citizens.

A. Dulaimi, R. Hamida, M. Naser, M. Mawed

Abstract. The scarcity of energy is one of humanity's most pressing issues in the twenty-first century. These problems can be found in various areas, including energy supply, exchange, and consumption. Population growth, rising global energy demand, natural resource shortages, and environmental concerns contribute to energy scarcity. Furthermore, energy shortage needs the expansion of renewable energies and energy efficiency, a major concern for all governments and organisations. Building energy efficiency is a crucial concept to consider when it comes to smart cities. Buildings are the greatest energy consumers, accounting for 40% of total energy consumption. Recent advances in machine learning within a big data context have paved the way for more efficient building energy management. Building energy consumption may be successfully managed by a real-time measurement procedure, allowing the economy to shift from a linear to a circular consumption model. This will tackle the issue of late notice of failed energy-saving initiatives and allow for immediate correction to restore the energy management system to ultimate performance.The energy hub might be as small as a single home energy system or as large as an energy system for the city. This paper will present a case study on developing a smart energy hub called Hubgrade 4.0 that relies on connected products using digital twin as a significant enabler for energy-saving initiatives. Hubgrade 4.0 provides an innovative approach to successfully implementing energy efficiency improvement using artificial intelligence and real-time data. Hubgrade 4.0 is the name of Enova by Veolia smart energy hub; Enova is the regional leader in integrated energy and multi-technical services, delivering performance-based energy and facilities management solutions. The energy hub digital twin is a link between a physical platform that administers the energy hub's IoT and a virtual platform that can derive services that are valid for the energy hub. Successful enterprises are using several new technologies to achieve the goals of Industry 4.0: efficiency, speed, agility, and customer-centricity. This paper concluded and highlighted lessons learned from the successful implementation of innovative energy management, which relied on a dedicated organisation, effective adoption of digital technologies, and embracing new business models, resulting in power savings of 254 million kW and water savings of around 3 million cubic meters, as well as financial savings of about 138 million AED in 5 years since Hubgrade 4.0 started operations its first energy-saving contract in 2017.

Abdullah Lakhan, Mazin Abed Mohammed, Jan Nedoma, Radek Martínek · 6 authors

Cybersecurity issues such as malware, denial of service attacks, and unauthorized access to data for different applications are growing daily. The Industrial Internet of Healthcare Things (IIoHT) has recently been a new healthcare mechanism where many healthcare applications can run on hospital servers for remote medical services. For instance, cloud medical applications offer different services remotely from home. However, the existing IIoHT mechanisms can not handle critical cybersecurity issues and incur many medical care application processing and data security costs. The processing costs associated with security and deadline are the main findings of this proposed work. This work devises a cost-efficient blockchain task scheduling (CBTS) cyber-physical system (CPS) with different heuristics. All tasks are sorted, scheduled, and stored in a secure form in the IIoHT network. The performance evaluation proves that the CBTS framework outperforms the simulation results for the IIoHT application and reduces the cost by 50% of security execution and 33% of cybersecurity data validation blockchain costs compared to existing scheduling and blockchain schemes.

Fuqiang Zhang, Lei Wu, Weichen Liu, Kai Ding · 7 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Jinlong Wang, Yumin Shen, Xiaoyun Xiong, Xu Wang · 5 authors

The existing multi-person collaborative design scheme of Building Information Modeling (BIM) integrated with blockchain faces problems such as poor reliability of BIM drawing, inconsistent drawing information, redundant information, and inaccurate protection of copyright interests. This paper proposes a multi-person collaborative design model for BIM drawing that combines blockchain and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). This model uses blockchain to store drawing design information to protect the copyright interests of designers and combines IPFS to ensure the reliability of drawing. A cycle division mechanism is designed to solve the problem of drawing information synchronization when multiple people collaborate in design. The Semantic Differential Transaction (SDT) method is used to achieve incremental update of drawing and reduce the information redundancy of the blockchain. Finally, a comparative analysis and validation evaluation of the scheme is carried out, and the usability of the scheme is illustrated with an illustrative example. The results show that: (1) proposed scheme is feasible for multi-person collaborative design; (2) proposed scheme can effectively ensure the reliability of drawing and reduce the redundancy of blockchain information, so as to achieve copyright protection for designers.

Jonas Lopes de Vilas Boas, Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues, Antônio Marcos Alberti

No abstract is available for this record.

Mengmeng Wang, Yang Yang

Building a flexible supply chain can enable the firms to manage their supply chains to adapt effectively to dynamic market demand changes and thus guarantee their accelerated growth in the future. In this vein, this study aims to address several important issues in supply chain management by considering two characteristics of blockchain technology (i.e., information transparency and security of blockchain technology) and exploring the specific conditions under which firms are likely to develop trust in supply chain management. Furthermore, we argue that such supply chain trust is vital to the success of achieving and increasing supply chain flexibility. In addition, we propose that top management teams' digital leadership within the firms plays a vital role in moderating the contribution of each dimension of blockchain technology to supply chain trust. Using data from a large sample of 338 firms in China, we perform structural equation modeling to examine our conceptual framework empirically. Our results highlight and support the idea that blockchain technology's information transparency and security influence the trust-building in a supply chain and supply chain flexibility and articulate the particular importance of digital leadership in explaining the contribution of different blockchain technology characteristics to trust-building. Our study advances the theoretical, empirical, and managerial analysis of critical factors to build trust and achieve flexibility in supply chains.

Jiewu Leng, Ziying Chen, Zhiqiang Huang, Xiaofeng Zhu · 7 authors

Resilient manufacturing is a vision in the Industry 5.0 blueprint for satisfying sustainable development goals under pandemics or the rising individualized product needs. A resilient manufacturing strategy based on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks plays an essential role in facilitating production and supply chain recovery. IIoT contains confidential data and private information, and many security issues arise through vulnerabilities in the infrastructure. The traditional centralized IIoT framework is not only of high cost for system configuration but also vulnerable to cyber-attacks and single-point failure, which is not suitable for achieving the resilient manufacturing vision in Industry 5.0. Recently, researchers are seeking a secure solution of middleware based on blockchain technology integration for decentralized IIoT, which can effectively protect the consistency, integrity, and availability of IIoT data by utilizing the auditing and tamper-proof features of the blockchain. This paper presented a review of secure blockchain middleware for decentralized IIoT towards Industry 5.0. Firstly, the security issues of conventional IIoT solutions and the advantages of blockchain middleware are analyzed. Secondly, an architecture of secure blockchain middleware for decentralized IIoT is proposed. Finally, enabling technologies, challenges, and future directions are reviewed. The innovation of this paper is to study and discuss the distributed blockchain middleware, investigating its ability to eliminate the risk of a single point of failure via a distributed feature in the context of resilient manufacturing in Industry 5.0 and to solve the security issues from traditional centralized IIoT. Also, the four-layer architecture of blockchain middleware presented based on the IIoT application framework is a novel aspect of this review. It is expected that the paper lays a solid foundation for making IIoT blockchain middleware a new venue for Industry 5.0 research.

Benjamin Teisserenc, Samad M. E. Sepasgozar

Blockchain technology (BCT) can enable distributed collaboration, enhance data sharing, and automate back-end processes for digital twin (DT) decentralized applications (dApps) in the construction industry (CI) 4.0. The aim of this paper was to propose a software architecture and to develop a framework of smart contracts for blockchain-based digital twin (BCDT) dApps throughout the lifecycle of projects in CI 4.0. This paper leveraged the existing literature and action research interviews to identify and validate the critical industry problems, functional requirements (FRs), and non-functional requirements (NFRs) to be addressed by BCDT dApps in CI 4.0. Basic use cases were developed to design a framework of smart contracts for BCDT dApps throughout the lifecycle of projects. The analysis of an online survey was used to identify the key requirements and enablers to propose a software architecture for BCDT applications and to validate the requirements for developing the framework of a smart contract for BCDTs. The findings were: (1) The identification of key problems in CI 4.0 for each BIM/BCDT dimension (3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, 8D, and contractual (cD)) and the related FRs and NFRs for BCDT applications. Additionally, key use cases were designed to address the problems identified. (2) The proposed BCDT architecture permitted us to narrow gaps in the literature on blockchain-based decentralized digital twins. Moreover, the proposed BCDT architecture and smart-contract framework addressed the main requirements in the literature on BCDTs. (3) The study leveraged the non-fungible token (NFT) standard to develop a framework for smart contracts that addressed the key use cases and the related industry problems and functional requirements that were identified. The study also considered the contractual dimension (cD) as an overarching dimension in relation to the other BCDT dimensions. (4) We also compared the costs of several public blockchains for executing the proposed smart-contract framework throughout the lifecycle of a medium-sized building project. The cost analysis permitted the development of criteria to evaluate the suitability of blockchain networks for BCDT applications in CI 4.0 depending on the principal blockchain networks’ properties (security, decentralization, scalability, and interoperability). Finally, this study resulted in a novel framework that included software architecture, smart-contract use cases, and selection criteria among blockchain networks for BCDT dApps in CI 4.0.

Abdelhak Belhi, Houssem Gasmi, Assam Hammi, Abdelaziz Bouras · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Qiuhong Zheng, Jinghan Wang, Shen Yun, Peng Ding · 5 authors

The combination of digital twin technology and the application of IoT(Internet of things) has been widely used. It manages the whole life cycle of IoT data by establishing a digital twin system of physical system. However, extracting effective insights from the collected data requires an infrastructure that can ensure the credibility of the data. We propose a data security sharing architecture based on dual Blockchain to solve the storage and security problems when data is invoked by third-party services. The architecture is applied to the Internet of things system based on digital twin to solve the data security transmission between physical system, digital twin system and IOT application system.

Mauro Isaja

This chapter will introduce the reader to the FAR-EDGE Reference Architecture (RA): the conceptual framework that, in the scope of the FAR-EDGE project, was used as the blueprint for the proof-of-concept implementation of a novel edge computing platform for factory automation : the FAR-EDGE Platform. Such platform is going to prove edge computing’s potential to increase flexibility and lower costs, without compromising on production time and quality. The FAR-EDGE RA exploits best practices and lessons learned in similar contexts by the global community of system architects (e.g., Industrie 4.0, Industrial Internet Consortium) and provides a terse representation of concepts, roles, structure and behaviour of the system under analysis. Its unique approach to edge computing is centered on the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts – better known under the collective label of Blockchain . The FAR-EDGE project is exploring the use of Blockchain as a key enabling technology for industrial automation, analytics and virtualization, with validation use cases executed in real-world environments that are briefly described at the end of the chapter.

Yasin Çelik, Ioan Petri, Masoud Barati

The management of construction projects requires adequate techniques to support the continual exchange of information across disciplines. Recent advances in Building Information Modelling (BIM) have exposed new ways for process and data integration with open data formats, process mapping, and terminology. In construction projects where multiple disciplines produce and share BIM data, mechanisms for defining information priority, provenance and suitability become necessary in order to have consistent and traceable use of data. This includes objects or collection of attributes for data objects that are associated with a discipline or organisation including clear identification of the transaction that has introduced the information. Blockchain can be used to record metadata of BIM objects such as the issuing discipline, object version and responsibility/ liability associated with the data. Blockchain can offer the capability to apply levels of “trust” to individual BIM objects and a more secured framework of collaboration across stakeholders. This paper proposes a Blockchain-based BIM data provenance model to support information exchange in construction projects. By testing the solution in a real-world bridge construction scenario, it has been shown that the approach can recognise the levels of competence and can improve the process of BIM implementation. The proposed approach gives stakeholders more confidence when sharing their BIM data, reduces costs, and improves risk contingencies in construction projects. The paper provides a cost analysis to evidence the implications of using Blockchain for BIM data provenance through an experimental framework supported by an Ethereum public test network. A front-end web page has also been created to facilitate interaction with smart contracts and to monitor the BIM data provenance process.