Steemit Crypto Academy – Season 4 - Week 1 - Post for @yohan2on

Question 1 - Explain why the future Internet of things depends on Blockchain

The internet of things or IoT for short is a term that is basically used to refer to a system of the interconnection of computing devices and other devices like personal devices, home appliances and devices and more, that is connected to the internet, allowing the devices to share, send and receive data. Back in the days and before the introduction of the internet of things, only computing devices like computers, smartphones tablets. However, with the internet of things, any device can be connected to the internet and users can have access to the devices remotely from anywhere at any time through the internet.

Internet of Things is gradually becoming a smart way of living as it continues to grow, meaning that anyone can have access to their data, insights of things. When it comes to the use case of the internet of things, a smart home is a typical example as users can have access to and control the devices and appliances in their home from anywhere remotely through the internet. Some devices and appliances that are part of the internet of things use case are AC, water heater, doorbell, smoke detector, cameras, alarms, televisions, sound system, lights and more. With the internet of things, users can control any of these devices remotely or receive insights from anywhere using a mobile application.

Back then, only humans can communicate with one another via the internet from anywhere, now, with internet of things, things like devices, appliances and more can communicate and interact with one another. Take for instance, in a smart home that utilizes internet of things, the system could be programmed in which when the camera sensors detect the owner of the house from the outside door, it instantly opens the door, opens the curtains, opens the wardrobe closet, puts the living room in the theme and settings of the owner based on the time of the day, like turning the TV and sound system on, turning the lights on, playing specific songs and many more.

Why Internet of things depends on Blockchain

The future of the internet of things greatly lies in blockchain technology in many ways. Even though the internet of things solves a lot of problems in the everyday life, standing on its own would become problematic as technology continues to advance. This is where blockchain technology can come into play to be the base technology that powers the internet of things. Like I said above, blockchain technology has been around for a few years now and is continuing to grow at a massive rate and constantly gaining adoption.

Blockchain is simply a digital immutable and distributed ledger which processes and records data through decentralization. By immutable, it means that the stored records or data cannot be compromised or altered, making it very secure when as far as storing information, data, and transaction records is concerned. Every transaction on the blockchain creates a new block that is chronologically added to the chain. Looking at the benefits of blockchain technology, we can see how the internet of things can benefit from it.

While the internet of things is an amazing idea that can make life easier and improve the standard of living, there are also problems and disadvantages that are associated with it, the two main problems are security and privacy issues and scalability issues. A smart home that is fully powered by the internet of things technology is at huge security and privacy risk when in contact with highly technical and skilled hackers who can hack the system and take control of the system. Because of the problems and disadvantages of internet of things, it has become somewhat of a limitation to the growth and adoption of internet of things technology. This is where blockchain technology comes into play and can help solve these main issues that are associated with internet of things.

How Internet of Things can Benefit From Blockchain Technology

Increased and improved security

This is one of the main benefits of blockchain technology. Security is crucial for the future of internet of things. Because of the vast number of devices and applications that are connected, sending and receiving data and information between one another, it can lead to security issues, especially in situations where the devices are connected through centralized servers. Blockchain is a powerful technology that can offer the high-level security that is needed to make internet of things a viable solution to everyday life. Since it is extremely difficult to hack blockchain, it means that using blockchain technology as the base technology for internet of things makes it difficult for hackers to manipulate and hack into the system.

Improved Privacy

This is another way internet of things can benefit from blockchain technology. Privacy issues is one of the main drawbacks of internet of things. There is always a privacy risk when there is an interaction and transmission of data and information from one device to another and between devices. Since internet of things allows different things like devices, appliances etc, to interact and send and receive data, information between one another, it can serve as an attraction for malicious actors to intercept, steal or capture user data, private information that are being transferred from one device to another.

Blockchain helps to solve the privacy issues of internet of things. Privacy is one of the main benefits of blockchain and even though blockchain is transparent at its core, a lot of blockchains are designed for privacy in mind. Also, blockchain uses a special algorithm and methods to prevent malicious actors from intercepting or stealing private data or information carried out on the blockchain. Internet of things can benefit from this, meaning that all the private data, information and signals that is sent and received from one IoT device to the other, is safe and cannot be intercepted or stolen.

Speed

This is also another way internet of things can benefit from blockchain technology. Blockchain technology can offer a lot of transactions per second which means that transactions on the network are very fast. Yes, some might say that speed is one of the characteristics of internet of things, however, because of the way the system is in IoT, it can become a bit of an issue when there are too many congestion or devices sending and receiving information and data in the IoT network. Blockchain can help solve this. At the moment, we are already seeing some blockchains handling a lot of transactions at a time with high speed without any problems whatsoever, making blockchain technology a great solution when it comes to handling and processing large volumes of transactions faster.

High-level Encryption

This is another way internet of things can benefit from blockchain technology. When it comes to high-level encryption, then blockchain technology is up there as one of the best. This is also tied with the privacy issues of IoT I discussed above but because of the weight it carries, it is better to discuss it separately. We all know that in the world of internet of things, different things like devices, appliances, even vehicles can communicate and interact with each other. This can be an attraction for malicious actors who can intercept and steal the data and information from the system, which becomes a huge risk for the users.

Imagine an AI-powered smart vehicle that uses internet of things for autonomous driving. Malicious actors can intercept and capture the transferred data and information in the network to find out where the vehicle is at any given time, putting the car owner at huge risk. Blockchain technology uses a powerful encryption algorithm to encrypt the data and information that is sent from one device to another. This means that no one can intercept or capture the data and information in the network without the right keys for decryption.

Immutability of stored data and records

This is one of the main ways internet of things can benefit from blockchain technology. Immutability is the key characteristic of blockchain technology which means that transactions and records that are stored on the blockchain cannot be altered, changed or manipulated. This increases the authenticity of the stored data and records.

For instance, a corporate office makes use of IoT accounting devices that processes and store financial records. Malicious actors can alter the records or manipulate the records for selfish reasons and purposes. As we all know, when there are records that has been altered, it can greatly cause big problems for the whole establishment or organization. With blockchain technology, records and data stored on IoT devices will be secured and cannot be altered or manipulated, increasing the authenticity of the records.

Question 2 - Research and create content on the following IoT Blockchain use case

Filament and IoT Blockchain use case

When it comes to internet of things projects, Filament is one of the top projects in the internet of things IoT space, focusing on building solutions, both hardware and software for enterprises and internet of things (IoT). One of the main standouts of filament is that is integrates blockchain technology and internet of things to provide better solutions for the betterment of the IoT. According to reports that were published by sources in 2019, Filament was working with the University of Nevada, Reno a research initiative that focuses on an autonomous vehicles.

One of the main aims and purpose of Filament is the development of hardware products that utilizes blockchain technology to provide solutions to enterprises and internet of things. The project was founded in 2012 and are looking to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and IoT, allowing IoT devices to connect and interact with each other securely. As one of the main players in bridging blockchain technology and internet of things, Filament announced the launching of Blocklet Foundation Kit which allows users to generate internet of things blockchain transactions on-device and also showcase the functionality of smart contract.

The main purpose for the development of the Blocklet Foundation Kit is to give embedded developers the base to evaluate and showcase how internet of things IoT devices can securely connect and integrate with each other using blockchain technology without the concern of infrastructural overhead. Blockchain technology and Internet of things are still in its early years and Filament are aiming provide the solutions and structure in the future of internet of things in blockchain.

Filament provides solutions to some of the drawbacks of internet of things. The main issues facing IoT are security and privacy. Filament is aiming to solve that by integrating IoT in blockchain. With that, IoT can harness the power of blockchain technology, allowing for improved security and privacy IoT data and information. One of the main IoT Blockchain use case of filament is that it designs hardware and software solutions that utilize blockchain technology to connect and interact with IoT devices and products. Blocklet is filament’s blockchain suite, with the core focus on improving the security of the data in IoT devices.

Also, the Filament’s DLT ecosystem was created to provide a much-improved cybersecurity protocol for IoT devices and also allow IoT devices for secure and faster connection and interaction between the IoT devices, such as sending and receiving data between the connected IoT devices. A typical example of the real-world use case of filament in IoT blockchain is the Blocklet microchip which can be integrated into an internet of things hardware system for enhanced capabilities.

Conclusion

The internet of things has been one of the growing talking points. With the creation of blockchain technology, IoT has become a major talking point in recent times. Blockchain technology has proven to be a very powerful solution to a lot of problems in different industries and sectors, including the IoT. While the internet of things aims to provide solutions to the everyday life, it also has its own drawbacks. With blockchain technology, a lot of the drawbacks of internet of things can be solved which greatly proves that the future of internet of things is greatly dependent on blockchain technology.