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Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry...
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Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 75054

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department Computer Engineering, Faculty of Computer Science, Universidade da Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Interests: blockchain; intelligent transportation systems; wireless sensor networks; fog computing; edge computing; industrial internet of things (IIoT); RFID; wireless communications; cybersecurity; augmented reality; industry 4.0; traceability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Paula Fraga-Lamas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computer Engineering, University of A Coruña (UDC), 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Interests: blockchain; distributed ledger technology (DLT); fog computing; internet of things; IIoT; cyber-physical systems; industry 4.0; defense and public safety; cybersecurity; wearables; industrial augmented reality; traceability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industry 4.0 is characterized by the fusion of enabling technologies that blur the borders between physical and cyberspace to gather, process and exchange as much information as possible to optimize the daily operation of modern smart factories. Examples of such technologies are the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Augmented Reality (AR), robotics, 3D printing, autonomous robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), cyber–physical systems, fog and edge computing or big data analysis.

Another promising technology is Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), which comprises decentralized data structures that provide immutable and trustful transactions through blocks of data linked cryptographically. Blockchain, one of the most popular DLT technologies so far, allows for developing scalable, automated and efficient peer-to-peer platforms for exchanging, storing and securing assets in a sustainable, accountable, trustworthy, and transparent way. Therefore, DLT-enabled applications, combined with smart contracts, have the potential to reduce systemic risks, financial fraud, the use of central intermediaries, and operational costs in Industry 4.0.  

Although the convergence of Industry 4.0 technologies and DLTs can potentially overcome today’s main operational challenges, its formal adoption still faces significant challenges that require further research in terms of scalability, consensus algorithms, data privacy, performance, storage, interoperability and standardization, among others. Through this Special Issue, we invite researchers from industry and academia to send high-quality and innovative work on recent advances in blockchain and DLT schemes for Industry 4.0 technologies. 

Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Blockchain and DLT foundations for Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Distributed system theory.
  • Consensus algorithms for DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 technologies. 
  • Identity management in DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Smart contracts for Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Security mechanisms for DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Performance evaluation of DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 technologies. 
  • Standardization for Industry 4.0 technologies and DLT convergence.
  • Use of DLT in cloud, fog and edge computing.
  • Challenges of Blockchain and DLT schemes for Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Novel cyber–physical systems for DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 technologies.
  • Blockchain and DLT-enabled Industry 4.0 applications like smart manufacturing, smart supply chain, intelligent transportation systems, smart grid, forensics, cyber-security or applications of big data analysis. 

Prof. Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés
Dr. Paula Fraga-Lamas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Industry 4.0 technologies,
  • IIoT,
  • Blockchain,
  • Distributed ledger technology (DLT),
  • Augmented reality,
  • Artificial intelligence,
  • Distributed systems,
  • Fog and edge computing,
  • Smart contracts,  
  • Encryption,
  • Directed acyclic graph (DAG)

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 6064 KiB  
Article
An Improved Retrieval Method for Multi-Transaction Mode Consortium Blockchain
by Jing Tu, Jiarui Zhang, Shengbing Chen, Thomas Weise and Le Zou
Electronics 2020, 9(2), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020296 - 08 Feb 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4032
Abstract
The traditional method of blockchain retrieval is to search the “Block File” in sequence from the “tail” to the “head” of the blockchain, which always takes a lot of time. How to reduce the retrieval time has been a hot issue in blockchain [...] Read more.
The traditional method of blockchain retrieval is to search the “Block File” in sequence from the “tail” to the “head” of the blockchain, which always takes a lot of time. How to reduce the retrieval time has been a hot issue in blockchain research. This paper proposes a fast retrieval method for the Multi-Transaction Mode Consortium Blockchain (MTMCB). Firstly, we create a “User Set” and “Block Name Set” cached in Redis. Then, according to the transaction participants and “Block Name Set”, we can get the relevant “Block Name List”, and quickly obtain the corresponding block files. On this basis, in order to meet the needs of rapid retrieval in large-scale systems, an improved retrieval algorithm based on a B+-tree data structure is proposed. Firstly, the block file information is put into different ordered sets according to the transaction participants, and the B+-tree index is established to quickly get the information of relevant block files by participants. Experimental results show that the improved method of Redis cache retrieval in this paper can greatly increase the efficiency of blockchain retrieval, and can settle some crucial problem in the blockchain application and popularization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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18 pages, 4045 KiB  
Article
A Blockchain-Based Hybrid Incentive Model for Crowdsensing
by Lijun Wei, Jing Wu and Chengnian Long
Electronics 2020, 9(2), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020215 - 24 Jan 2020
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4313
Abstract
Crowdsensing is an emerging paradigm of data aggregation, which has a pivotal role in data-driven applications. By leveraging the recruitment, a crowdsensing system collects a large amount of data from mobile devices at a low cost. The critical issues in the development of [...] Read more.
Crowdsensing is an emerging paradigm of data aggregation, which has a pivotal role in data-driven applications. By leveraging the recruitment, a crowdsensing system collects a large amount of data from mobile devices at a low cost. The critical issues in the development of crowdsensing are platform security, privacy protection, and incentive. However, the existing centralized, platform-based approaches suffer from the single point of failure which may result in data leakage. Besides, few previous studies have addressed the considerations of both the economic incentive and data quality. In this paper, we propose a decentralized crowdsensing architecture based on blockchain technology which will help improve the attack resistance. Furthermore, we present a hybrid incentive mechanism, which integrates the data quality, reputation, and monetary factors to encourage participants to contribute their sensing data while discouraging malicious behaviors. The effectiveness our of proposed incentive model is verified through a combination of the theory of mechanism design. The performance analysis and simulation results illustrate that the proposed hybrid incentive model is a reliable and efficient mean to promote data security and incentivizing positive conduct on the crowdsensing application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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14 pages, 1879 KiB  
Article
Expected Income of New Currency in Blockchain Based on Data-Mining Technology
by Xingzhou Li and Xin Zeng
Electronics 2020, 9(1), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9010160 - 15 Jan 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2491
Abstract
In order to realize the understanding of expected returns after issuance of blockchain new currency initial coin offerings (ICO) and maximize investment returns, in this study, the Semantic Orientation Pointwise Mutual Information (SO-PMI) algorithm is used to create a customer emotional dictionary of [...] Read more.
In order to realize the understanding of expected returns after issuance of blockchain new currency initial coin offerings (ICO) and maximize investment returns, in this study, the Semantic Orientation Pointwise Mutual Information (SO-PMI) algorithm is used to create a customer emotional dictionary of blockchain new currency, and collect users’ online comments based on blockchain currency before ICO. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm is used to construct an evaluation model, analyze and judge users’ comments, make accurate prediction of the expected return of ICO issuing new currency, improve investment operations, and maximize the return of investment. The results show that the combination of the SO-PMI and SVM algorithms can accurately evaluate the price after the issuance of new currency, and then realize the judgment of expected return and obtain the expected return of investment. It can be seen that the combination of algorithms based on data-mining technology is applied to the study of the expected return of new currency issuance in blockchain, which achieves the goal of revenue anticipation and greatly reduces the investment risk of new currency issuance in blockchain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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23 pages, 8861 KiB  
Article
A Blockchain-Based Smart Contract System for Healthcare Management
by Asma Khatoon
Electronics 2020, 9(1), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9010094 - 03 Jan 2020
Cited by 259 | Viewed by 35939
Abstract
Blockchain is evolving to be a secure and reliable platform for secure data sharing in application areas such as the financial sector, supply chain management, food industry, energy sector, internet of things and healthcare. In this paper, we review existing literature and applications [...] Read more.
Blockchain is evolving to be a secure and reliable platform for secure data sharing in application areas such as the financial sector, supply chain management, food industry, energy sector, internet of things and healthcare. In this paper, we review existing literature and applications available for the healthcare system using blockchain technology. Besides, this work also proposes multiple workflows involved in the healthcare ecosystem using blockchain technology for better data management. Different medical workflows have been designed and implemented using the ethereum blockchain platform which involves complex medical procedures like surgery and clinical trials. This also includes accessing and managing a large amount of medical data. Within the implementation of the workflows of the medical smart contract system for healthcare management, the associated cost has been estimated for this system in terms of a feasibility study which has been comprehensively presented in this paper. This work would facilitate multiple stakeholders who are involved within the medical system to deliver better healthcare services and optimize cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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18 pages, 4183 KiB  
Article
A Simulated Organic Vegetable Production and Marketing Environment by Using Ethereum
by Dong-Her Shih, Kuan-Chu Lu, Yi-Ting Shih and Po-Yuan Shih
Electronics 2019, 8(11), 1341; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8111341 - 14 Nov 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4200
Abstract
Agriculture is indispensable for every country. Farmers use pesticides in large quantities to increase productivity, thus causing serious damage to the agro-ecological environment. If consumers consume a large number of such vegetables, there can be an adverse effect on their health. Therefore, consumers [...] Read more.
Agriculture is indispensable for every country. Farmers use pesticides in large quantities to increase productivity, thus causing serious damage to the agro-ecological environment. If consumers consume a large number of such vegetables, there can be an adverse effect on their health. Therefore, consumers shift from consuming general vegetables to organic vegetables. However, the price of organic vegetables is higher than that of general vegetables, and there are doubts about the authenticity of the production and marketing process. Unfortunately, production and sales records are often falsified. The blockchain may be able to guarantee the authenticity of organic vegetables because the blockchain is tamperproof and transparent. Therefore, we proposed an exercise environment for the production and marketing of organic vegetables by using Ethereum. This proposed system can ensure the authenticity of the production and sales record, it may increase the sales of organic vegetables and solve the problem of agricultural ecological environment pollution in the real world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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32 pages, 2942 KiB  
Article
A Novel Medical Blockchain Model for Drug Supply Chain Integrity Management in a Smart Hospital
by Faisal Jamil, Lei Hang, KyuHyung Kim and DoHyeun Kim
Electronics 2019, 8(5), 505; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8050505 - 07 May 2019
Cited by 252 | Viewed by 22875
Abstract
At present, in pharmacology one of the most serious problems is counterfeit drugs. The Health Research Funding organization reported that in developing countries, nearly 10–30% of the drugs are fake. Counterfeiting is not the main issue itself, but, rather, the fact that, as [...] Read more.
At present, in pharmacology one of the most serious problems is counterfeit drugs. The Health Research Funding organization reported that in developing countries, nearly 10–30% of the drugs are fake. Counterfeiting is not the main issue itself, but, rather, the fact that, as compared to traditional drugs, these counterfeit drugs produce different side effects to human health. According to WHO, around 30% of the total medicine sold in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is counterfeit. This is the major worldwide problem, and the situation is worse in developing countries, where one out of every 10 medicines are either fake or do not follow drug regulations. The rise of Internet pharmacies has made it more difficult to standardize drug safety. It is difficult to detect counterfeits because these drugs pass through different complex distributed networks, thus forming opportunities for counterfeits to enter the authentic supply chain. The safety of the pharmaceutical supply chain has become a major concern for public health, which is a collective process. In this paper, we propose a novel drug supply chain management using Hyperledger Fabric based on blockchain technology to handle secure drug supply chain records. The proposed system solves this problem by conducting drug record transactions on a blockchain to create a smart healthcare ecosystem with a drug supply chain. A smart contract is launched to give time-limited access to electronic drug records and also patient electronic health records. We also carried out a number of experiments in order to demonstrate the usability and efficiency of the designed platform. Finally, we used Hyperledger Caliper as a benchmarking tool to conduct the performance of the designed system in terms of transactions per second, transaction latency, and resource utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for Industry 4.0 Technologies)
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