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How to Use the IonBloc SDK

Srinidhi Murthy

What is Block Chain?

A blockchain – originally block chain – is a distributed database that is used to maintain a continuously growing list of records, called blocks. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. A blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and a collusion of the network majority. Functionally, a blockchain can serve as "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically."

Blockchains are secure by design and are an example of a distributed computing system with high Byzantine fault tolerance. Decentralized consensus has therefore been achieved with a blockchain. This makes blockchains potentially suitable for the recording of events, medical records, and other records management activities, such as identity management, transaction processing, and documenting provenance.

IonBloc

IonBloc Data flow and usage

IonBloc is our version of Open source Ethereum Blockchain network that can be setup as a public production implementation or a private test implementation depending on client needs.

In an IoT network, the blockchain can keep an immutable record of the history of smart devices. This feature enables the autonomous functioning of smart devices without the need for centralized authority. Thus, blockchain opens the door to a series of IoT scenarios that were remarkably difficult, or even impossible to implement without it.

By leveraging blockchain, IoT solutions can enable secure, trust less messaging between devices in an IoT network. In this model, the blockchain will treat message exchanges between devices like financial transactions in a Bitcoin network. To enable message exchanges, devices will leverage smart contracts which then model the agreement between the two parties.

Using blockchain will enable true autonomous smart devices that can exchange data, or even execute financial transactions, without the need of a centralized broker. This type of autonomy is possible because the nodes in the blockchain network will verify the validity of the transaction without relying on a centralized authority.

Installation:

The IonBloc SDK allows for a seamless connection to our private Blockchain. Here’s how you can do it. You need to have a Raspberry PI 3 with a 16GB SD card and running the latest Raspbian OS. Also, you need to have a stable high speed Internet connection (500 kbps at a minimum)

Download the Zip file from Github or execute a git clone command on our repository.

Extract and Install the SDK using the Installation script.

Some of the necessary support libraries are installed and you are taken to a GETH console.

Once you are in the GETH console,

Create a new account. (Noted down the password)

Provide our Admin Enode address and Pair

That’s it you are connected to our private Block Chain.

Now the possibilities are endless, but to get you started we have given a sample code and procedure to create contracts to blink an LED connected to a GPIO pin on the R-PI.

You can create contracts which have more features, which can read sensors, turn on actuators, monitor sensors etc. IonBloc SDK is just the starting point … the tip of the iceberg. Some of the more advanced use cases can be found in

IonBloc SDK is just the starting point … the tip of the iceberg. Some of the more advanced use cases can be found in

Industrial and manufacturing for improving monitoring and efficient “Just in Time” (JIT) processes.

Connected and Driverless vehicles where every vehicle becomes a node and there can be an efficient vehicle to vehicle communication.

Public infrastructure and smart cities: Smart devices are already being used to track the health of bridges, roads, power grids etc. Blockchains can be used to interconnect these to share efficiencies and to conduct maintenance, forecast usage trends for power usage, pollution etc.

We have given a limited set of features to create a working POC that can be later developed into fully fledged modules. There are many more features that can be added as a part of customization for specific requirements. We can do a lot more with IonBloc (some of the features are present in the data flow diagram).

Please feel free to contact us at the mailto:[email protected] for any information or customization.

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Why Edge Analytics should be part of the IOT strategy of an Organization

Sridhar krishnan

The organizations in today’s ever changing competitive world should be capable of adopting to changes quickly and seamlessly. The organizations should carefully invest in right technologies to align with its strategy to attain maximum benefit. With growing and increasingly disbursed sources of information and the pace of organizational change accelerating rapidly, the ability to filter and analyze only the time-sensitive data both in real-time and historical in edge side and non-time sensitive data in the cloud is invaluable. It is cost effective approach to have central data analytics infrastructure only for non-time sensitive analysis and moving analytics to Edge gives an opportunity to monitor and running stream and batch analytics to get insights to take decisions quickly with speed and simplicity.

Three central value propositions of Edge Analytics:

Real-time response – There are many critical systems that can’t depend on a cloud connection for a decision. A few seconds of latency can make a significant difference for an operation with massive power consumption from multiple sources. And sometimes connections fail entirely, which is far more damaging than simple latency.

Cost of data transmission – Rule-based engines can filter out the noise and send only the interesting information back to the central repositories. Gateways can also batch information into packets with smaller footprints that are more optimal for a given means of transmission.

Information management – Edge processing can make a significant impact by cleaning and be harmonizing data before sending it off to central information management systems. this type of edge processing improves central data mining and analytics capabilities.

Edge Analytics is the game changer in all the industries including industrial IOT, retail, manufacturing, finance, energy and agriculture sectors.

Core benefits of edge analytics and industries where it makes more sense are,

Remote Monitoring in Oil & Gas Drilling, Oil & Gas Refineries, and Wind Turbines industries.

Preventive Maintenance in Factory Robots, Airplane Tires, and Energy Grid industries.

Personnel Safety in Refinery Gas Leaks and Contamination Containment.

Real-time Quality Assessment in Oil Drilling, Manufacturing Cell, Train Repair

Asset Health in Readiness Assessment.

Efficiency Through Digitization & Automation in Smart Meters, Utility Billing, etc.

Cost Reduction Through Better Facilities Management in Energy Management & Reduction.

Business use case examples

Manufacturing Manufacturing organizations must run data aggregation, data preparation and analytic workflows at the source, where the data is generated. When linked to sensors along the path of production, analytic models running on gateway devices at the network edge evaluate and score manufacturing output by parameters such as size, temperature, pressure, color, vibration, and weight. When variances are detected, the embedded sensor, smart device or gateway immediately sends alerts or even stops production to help limit waste. The manufacturing process benefits from the flexibility to monitor and update the model at the point where data is generated and from the network efficiency to send only valuable information like state changes back to the cloud for deeper analysis.

By using machine learning, data mining and advanced analytics at the source of the data to examine thousands of steps per process, manufacturers can catch small, bad batches before they become large, seriously bad batches. One pharmaceutical company discovered that minimizing scrap and wasted resources saved them several hundred thousand dollars. Their Edge analytics implementation combined with a program of statistical process control featuring audit trails and role-based security, allowed them to recover their investment in edge analytics in the first quarter after implementation.

semiconductor manufacturers automatically analyze and classify patterns of failures such as scratches or defects around the edges of silicon wafers. They identify possible root causes, and the specific processing steps and respective tools and machines that require inspection or maintenance.

Retail customer behavior analysis Near instant edge analytics on sales data, images, coupons used, traffics patterns, and videos are created – provides unprecedented insights into customer behavior. This intelligence can help retailers better target merchandise, sales, and promotions and help redesign store layouts and product placement to improve the customer experience. One way this is accomplished is through the use of edge devices such as beacons, which can collect information such as transaction history from a customer’s smartphone, then target promotions and sales items as customers walk through the store.

Banking Edge Analytics helps banks to understand their customers better by providing insights such as location-based suggestions and customer recommendations. Embedded in the bank’s customer channels – online banking or mobile banking, edge analytics delivers transactional behavior and location-based suggestions in real time.

Agriculture We believe Edge Analytics can come into play in sectors such as farming and agriculture largely wherein regardless of the network, analytics can point out equipment failure or irrigation leaks.

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Save the environment – IOT is the way to go

Sridhar krishnan

Saving the environment from pollutants, waste dumps, carbon emissions, contaminated water and contaminated land is very important and must be done to protect the earth for a clean and healthy life. Technology should be used wisely to achieve the same. With advancements in sensor technologies, edge devices, communication protocols, and data analytics, IOT is the perfect solution to save the environment.

Waste collection, segregation, recycling and waste treatment is the standard and established the process in waste management. But the challenge is, executing this process as the amount of waste generated is keep increasing in a faster pace with growing world population. As this is a continuous process, this must be supported by the right government policies, strict measures, auditing, educating people and perfect implementation. A small deviation in the process may cause big damages to the environment. This must be handled with the right technology in all levels, IOT can offer end to end solution to achieve the smart waste management to save the environment.

For smart waste collection, IOT can make the Trace bins as smart Trace bins and connect them to the pickup vehicles and control center. The sensors in the trace bins will notify when the bins are full to the pickup vehicles and the nearest one can collect the waste. This will help to empty the bins as soon as they are full and efficiently allotting pickups to save time and cost. Waste segregation is an important process in waste management. Sensors can be used to automate the segregation process. IR proximity sensors are used in an automation system, Capacitive sensors can be used to segregate wet and solid waste. The segregation process can be connected to waste management IOT system to collect data on diverse types of waste collected from different centers, the data can be used for further analysis to derive useful and meaningful insights. Segregated waste based on the type, can be converted or recycled to other products. The final waste must be treated before dumped in landfills to make sure it will not contaminate land and water. IOT sensors and devices in each level can be efficiently used to collect data and manage the entire waste management process to reduce the damages to the environment.

IOT can also be used for Wastewater treatment. It offers a cost-effective, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solution. The various sensors can be used to measure water temperature, conductivity, pH, turbidity and dissolved oxygen content, as well as atmospheric conditions such as pressure, humidity and solar radiation. After collecting the relevant data, the system can communicate with IOT Gateway to upload the sensor data to the cloud for viewing and analytics. For more details refer http://www.engineering.com/IOT/ArticleID/14925/Wastewater-Treatment-with-the-Internet-of-Things.aspx

Carbon emission is another major spoiler of the environment. IOT can be used to capture real-time emission data from the sensors and feed it to a cloud storage built for Big Data ingestion, Analyze the data in real time and put in place rules that automate actions when limits are exceeded. Apps can be developed to offer visualization of CO2 emissions so that both the culprits and the government can keep a tab on the emission levels, and appropriate remedial measures can be taken.

IOT based smart solutions can be used to save energy in the home, industries, agriculture, transport, city management to save the environment. So IOT can play a key role in the resolution of these global environmental issues. Cheaper bandwidth, greater availability of computing power and reduced storage costs are all driving the adoption of IOT technologies to combat pollution in more and more innovative ways. With information coming in from so many sensors everywhere, IOT can provide more insight into how we use our world’s resources and how we can conserve them in a way that makes sense.

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Smart Transportation and IoT

Srinidhi Murthy

Thanks to laptops and smartphones, human beings are able to stay connected to the Internet more often that ever before, but yet there are still some notable dead spots, particularly in cars, buses, and trains. Anyone with a daily commute can speak to lapses in coverage on the subway or when going through a tunnel.

But the Internet of Things is looking to change all that and keep people connected at every moment of every day. Connected cars, buses, trains, and even planes will allow people to have a stable Internet connection at almost all times.

And the transformation won't stop there, as the IoT will make transportation itself more efficient and help us get from place to place more quickly.

A new term called as "Internet of Transportation" has been coined and it will create the new era of connected transportation and change how we travel.

With Internet of Transportation assets we can:

Reduce congestion by monitoring and controlling traffic lights.

Send alerts to drivers and emergency responders on trip conditions, then offer alternative routes.

Reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.

Provide smart parking solutions that identify and communicate available spaces.

Improve safety for motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

Identify structural issues of bridges, roadways, and tunnels.

Provide smart lighting and security monitoring for city streets.

Let's look at some of the use cases of Smart Transportation and how they are implemented.

Fleet Management: Fleet telematics solutions help businesses, transportation carriers, and governments improve economics, safety, and compliance by intelligently monitoring and controlling their vehicles.

Specific or Generic Smart Applications gather and analyze data from on-board instrumentation and GPS sensors to track vehicle status and location, optimize routing, and monitor driver and equipment performance and productivity.

Connected Cars:

In the last few years, connected cars or smart cars have surged in popularity thanks to the IoT. Today, car companies are connecting their vehicles in two manners: embedded and tethered. Embedded cars employ a built-in antenna and chipset, while tethered connections make use of hardware to let drivers connect to their cars through their smartphones.

On top of this, app integration is becoming more and more standard in the car of today. Google Maps and other navigation systems have started to replace built-in GPS systems in dashboards.

Apps such as GasBuddy show the driver where he or she can locate the cheapest fuel in their area. And music apps such as Spotify have started to away the need for traditional and satellite radio.

Transport Logistics:

Intelligent transport logistics solutions help long-haul cargo operators and last-mile delivery providers efficiently manage the transportation and distribution of freight and merchandise.

Smart applications gather and analyze data from onboard sensors to track containers and packages, and to monitor environmental conditions, ensuring goods arrive on time, at the right place, intact.

Traffic and Parking Management:

Integrated Traffic and Parking Management Systems can reduce congestion and save fuel in Business Districts and City Centers. Sensors built into Parking Meters can indicate to a server when a parking slot becomes available. A car User with a Smart Phone App can request to find a parking space within a designated radius based on the GPS location and the server responds with the available parking spaces. This saves fuel and congestion caused by Simply using visual parking search methods.

Traffic Management systems can use sensors, cameras, to find out intersection that has become congested and Use smart algorithms to determine which direction the traffic needs to be moving too quickly clear congestion. It can also act as an Emergency response systems in case of accidents or emergencies.

PAASMER: Paasmer is an IoT Platform As A Service which can connect any of your IoT devices to the the Paasmer Platform allow for control, visualization and Analytics of Data that are received from the Sensors.

What can PAASMER do for Smart Transportation: PAASMER is a flexible, economical and easy way to connect your IoT devices and it works on a various range of Hardware devices that are available off the shelf. Using Paasmer Building POC for Smart Transportation would be most reliable, fast and economical. Please do visit us at paasmer.co for more details.

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IOT in Renewable Energy - Challenges and Solutions

Sridhar krishnan

Renewable energy business is continuing to grow all over the world as the entire world is looking for clean and alternative energy source to control the pollution.

IOT solutions are helping this business to improve operational excellence, efficiency, cut cost, fix issues proactively, increase productivity and profitability. The effective use of IOT is the differentiator among the competitors. Real-time analytics can make a significant difference to act quickly to identify and fix issues and improve operational excellence. The challenge in the system is the amount of data being collected from the power sources, it is huge. This challenge is common for both wind and solar energy systems where the wind turbines and solar panels are many in number and are spread across various places. As the amount of data being generated is huge from these sources, the cost of sending these data to the cloud and using big data infrastructure are increasing the overall cost of operations. And it impacts the network latency and performance.

Wind energy In a large Wind energy farm, the IOT system is collecting data from sensors that includes Acceleration, Temperature and Vibration data from turbines. These data need to be collected and analyzed in real-time or near real-time for quick analysis and actionable insights for performance optimization to increase productivity and predictive maintenance to avoid downtime.

The challenge with this IOT system is transferring huge data from various locations in real-time to a central location to run queries on the data and perform analytics. This makes the cost of data transfer much higher than the benefits it is giving.

Solar Energy In solar energy infrastructures, the essential data that can be collected from the sensors by IOT system includes Irradiance (Solar panel tilt angle), wind factors. Ambient temperature and location. This data can be used for performing analytics, compute predictive algorithm, calculate the energy that is being generated in all the connected solar energy system, analysis of energy generation pattern, Fault/ Problem detection and Real-time visualization of the solar systems. The data need to be collected and analyzed in real-time

Like IOT system for wind energy, the challenge of transferring huge data in real-time to cloud exists in this IOT system also as the size of the data from each Solar unit is huge.

Decentralization - Edge analytics

Decentralization of data storage, processing and analytics can solve the problem of sending huge data to the centralized cloud. Ability to run queries at any given time can be achieved by Edge analytics. The data generated from the solar panels or wind turbines can be filtered at the edge and send only the meaningful data to the cloud to run queries for analytics, this will help to reduce the data transfer cost. Real-time and post-mortem analytics can also be done completely in Edge gateway or with cloud analytics whichever is the best suitable and cost effective for the specific renewable energy use case.

So, the existing challenges in IOT systems of renewable energy can be handled by implementing a decentralized IOT solution with data filtering, processing, and analytics done in Edge side of the IOT solution.

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IOT will be inherent force behind Wearables

Sridhar krishnan

The capabilities of IOT with the wearable devices like internet connectivity, a device to device communications, lightweight apps, data filtering, local and cloud analytics, etc.., are bringing many opportunities to develop more meaningful solutions for consumers. Here, I would like to talk about few of them.

The wearable devices with the technological innovation of IOT are widely successful in providing the fitness and healthcare related solutions. We have a lot of scope for environmental monitoring also, but the challenge is cost and power. A very few are successful in low cost and low power sensors in wearable devices used for environmental monitoring. These environmental devices can collect data on Air, Light, and Sound. With continuous innovations in sensors, we can expect that the manufacturing and operation cost of these devices will become more affordable and capable of sensing multiple environmental data. The wearable nature of the device gives constant mobility to the device. This opens up an opportunity to crowdsource the more accurate and real-time environmental data with location details. The data collected by the device can be from the sensors embedded in it and from other sensors in reachable distance based on the supported protocols and standards.

Having more accurate and crowdsourced real-time environmental data in the cloud combined with another cloud accessible real-time and forecasted environmental data from static stations set up by governments and institutes brings tremendous opportunities for IOT device manufacturers and solution providers to build innovative, value added, cost effective consumer devices and solutions.

In health care, the environmental data can be used for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of many human pathologies which are influenced or triggered by environmental stimuli. By analyzing the consumers’ health data like health history, medical records and any other health-related data with the environmental and location data, we can develop customized healthcare solutions to help consumers with health advisories and warnings. It can also be used to provide B2B solutions like connecting consumers with doctors for consultation, Pharmacy to order suggested list of things to order, etc.,

The consumer specific health data and location specific real-time and forecasted environmental data can also be used to provide travel advisories and b2b solutions with a list of things to carry based on the mode of transport and travel locations, and option to buy the recommended list of things online. So, with the capabilities of IOT, we still have lot of opportunities that can be explored with the wearable devices in healthcare, travel, city management, traffic management, waste management, disaster management, etc.,

References - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295929/

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Transforming Hydroponics and Aquaponics farming Using Internet of Things

Kavitha Gopalan

With the growth in urban population, the need for more space seems perpetual. Traditional farming techniques are known for the need of large lands and the enormous amount of water. So the need for revolutionary farming techniques which occupies lesser space, consume lesser water and can give larger produce have led to the popularity of farming methods like hydroponics and aquaponics.

Hydroponic farming is a system of growing plants without soil using nutrient-laden solution to deliver nourishment directly to the roots of the plants. In hydroponic farming, the idea is to create a controlled environment for the plants with the right level of temperature, moisture, CO2, pH, water level and nutrients and supplying this solution directly to the plant's roots. This method of creating an optimal environment for plants helps to increase the productivity by 3 folds. It also has other benefits like the re-use of the nutrient solution, reduces the amount of water used for farming by recycling, reduced fertilizer usage and requires lesser space.

Aquaponics is a system which uses aquaculture with hydroponics. In an aquaponics system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponics system where the by-products are broken down by nitrifying bacteria initially into nitrites and subsequently into nitrates, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then recirculated back to the aquaculture system.

While these new techniques promise great results, it has certain inherent challenges which inhibit its widespread adoption.

The biggest hurdle for its adoption is the maintenance of the system. It could be time-consuming and be challenging to understand and constantly monitor the hydroponic or aquaponic systems.

Setting up these systems could be a mammoth task, the number of sensors to be installed, the triggers and the parameter configuring could be time-consuming.

It also requires constant monitoring of the sensors and the system. A hydroponic farm must be regularly attended to by a farmer, to know if there is any blockage in the drainage system, to understand if any system failure/power failure if the pump is on/off. If they must set-up multiple farms then scalability becomes an issue.

IOT will be a key problem solver for hydroponics and aquaponics systems with its ability to connect various sensors in the field to cloud and allowing it to be monitored and controlled from anywhere.

The Union of Internet of Things and hydroponic farming will be the future of demystifying the hydroponic farming and making it easier for adoption.

The internet of things will bring in features like automation, remote monitoring and control and build intelligence into the hydroponic farming system. This helps to prevent the need for the human presence in the farm every time and allows efficient monitoring and control of the farm from a remote location.

Sensors mounted in the farm could be used for monitoring CO2, air current, lighting, fertilizer flow, and the pH of the soil. The readings from these sensors are then analyzed in cloud systems. These readings are monitored continuously and tuned if there is any change in environment. Immediate alerts of the status and action will result in increased yield.

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Basic concepts in a Blockchain transaction

Chandramouli Srinivasan

In this blog, Demir talks about the basic terms used in Blockchain like Hashing, Decentralization, Digital Signature, Share Crypto currency, Minors (Agents), Blockchain (The Ledger). Using Blockchain technology means

All transaction is made over the Internet using P2P communication, thus removing the need for a central authority.

Users can perform anonymous transactions by utilizing asynchronous cryptography and they are identified only by their private key/public key combination.

You have implemented a validated global ledger of all transactions that has been safely copied to every peer in the network.

These decentralized technology fundamentals can be leveraged by any centralized technology currently being used like IoT, Financial systems, insurance systems etc. The increase in computing power requirement for Blockchain is a potential issue for Blockchain implementations. However, there are many types of researchers underway that could change the way a commercial and viable implementation of Blockchain occurs.

More on this blog from Demir here: https://www.toptal.com/bitcoin/cryptocurrency-for-dummies-bitcoin-and-beyond