After being in development for the past few months, IBM and Samsung have revealed the proof of concept for Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Telemetry (ADEPT). The system uses the blockchain technology used in the cryptocurrency bitcoin to manage the identity and transactions of the billions of devices forecast to comprise the IoT.
Bitcoin, headlines aside, is an attempt to decentralize currency from governmental controls. Without getting too deep into the politics of the project, it is an open source program released in 2009. The bitcoin process records every bitcoin transaction made in the world in a public ledger, called the blockchain – giving the currency perfect transparency in terms of the sizes and frequencies of transactions while keeping the identity of those behind the transactions secret, because a bitcoin is associated with a bitcoin wallet and not a person.
Those bitcoins can then be passed through a bitcoin tumbler, to put in bitcoins associated with your past transactions in return for other bitcoins that aren’t tied to you – better preserving anonymity by virtue of asset scrambling.
The ability to anonymously pay for things with bitcoin is the main appeal of the currency, but this functionality has led to its usage on the darker side of the internet, most infamously as the method of payment for The Silk Road marketplace, which sold drugs, guns and apparently hit-men – whose alleged ringleader, Ross Ulbricht, is currently on trial in the US.
To keep track of the transactions, the block chain is used to record all the bitcoin transactions that happen in the world – something that is absolutely essential in a decentralized currency. Multiple copies of the blockchain live on distributed servers to form the network that bitcoin users must join to trade. Once a transaction is set up, the servers validate the transaction, keep a copy of it in the ledger, and then inform all other servers that a transaction has been made.
The system relentlessly tracks the coins, but not the users. This permanent record is updated around 6 times per hour, and adds the ‘block’ of accepted transactions to the ‘chain’ of all previous trades. Almost all bitcoin experts agree that the blockchain is a very secure means of guaranteeing security in a decentralized system – preventing fraudulent entries or withdrawals.
This technology then allows IBM to create a public ledger that can track the billions of IoT devices that are manufactured and deployed – from the production line, to the sales floor and beyond. Smaller specialized blockchains could be used at local or institutional levels too, with identities transferred from one to another as needed. In IBM’s words, “the blockchain based decentralized IoT can become a truly revolutionary approach to transaction processing among devices.”
The Whitepaper:
IBM’s whitepaper explains ADEPT and its proof of concept in detail. The key objectives were: (1) distributed transaction processing and applications, without the need for a centralized controlling infrastructure; (2) robust security, with multiple layers of encryption in transaction processing, storage and transport, in an architecture that can withstand multiple points of failure; (3) privacy by design and default, a key feature as users should have to take specific action to reveal their identity; and (4) a design for commerce and marketplaces, as IBM believes the IoT will create an Economy of Things, where “every device can engage in multiple markets, both financial and non-financial, and should be able to autonomously react to changes in markets. These capabilities will be crucial to everything from the sharing economy to energy efficiency and distributed storage.”
IBM admits that the proof of concept did not meet all four objectives, but maintains that the architecture reflects the goals and is capable of meeting all four once the system is expanded. It also won’t require the same ever-increasing computational difficulty that bitcoin implements to avoid over-issuing coins, as the IBM system is only interested in the blockchain ledger – rather than replacing currency.
“Take an example: Imagine a world where a smart washer is able to detect a component failing, can check from the blockchain if the component is in warranty, place a service order with a contracted service provider, and the service provider can independently verify the warranty claim – again from the blockchain – and all this, autonomously.”
There are, of course, device-based limitations. The blockchain in its entirety is a very large file, which low-power devices won’t be able to store, and often won’t be able to verify with sufficient speed. This is where the ADEPT architecture comes in, to solve the problems thrown up by the diverse range of hardware found in the IoT.
The architecture splits device into categories of peers (which communicate with each other, hence peer-to-peer). The Light Peer classification is applied to devices with low computational power and memory, due to either low BOM costs or the limitations imposed by trying to achieve a long battery life. It is assumed that Light Peers can’t store blockchains, and would only store its own blockchain address and balance. The Light Peer turns to more powerful peers for information on the wider chain and its status within it.
The next level up is the Standard Peer, which IBM envisions to be items like refrigerators or washing machines. IBM predicts that these devices will gain both storage and computational power in the coming years, which will enable them to store and process the most recent parts of the blockchain. The Standard Peer will also serve the Light Peers on its local network.
Peer Exchanges are the next higher level in the ADEPT system, and are high-end devices with vast compute and storage capabilities. “They would be ADEPT peers, owned and operated by organizations or commercial entities and would be capable of hosting marketplaces.” The Exchange requires powerful capability because it will be handling and fraud checking the transactions against the complete blockchain.
The Test:
Now onto the test itself, which used TeleHash, BitTorrent and Ethereum to pass messages between peers. The proof used three device use cases: a door lock, a wearable, and an always-connected Samsung W9000 washing machine. For the test, IBM and Samsung focused on the washer.
The test saw the machine place orders when its detergent supply ran low, have the retailer check the validity of that order, complete payment, and receive confirmation of order date – which can then be pushed to the owner’s smartphone. A similar test was made for self-diagnostic and maintenance scheduling.
A slightly different function is the ability for the machine to query a smart grid or smart meter to work out the cheapest time to run its wash cycle. Utility companies are already experimenting with, and sometimes installing, systems that offer cheaper tariffs at times of low demand. In this instance, the W9000 can wait until the cheapest time of day to operate, within a time frame set by the user. Conversely, this functionality lets utilities lower the energy draw of home appliances during times of grid stress – and offer compensatory discounts instead of rolling brownouts.
IBM is now calling for greater collaboration with the open source community, to improve on it and Samsung’s work on ADEPT. As the first step in this process, the code for the proof of concept will be shared, while an API suite will be developed for the ADEPT software stack.