CrowdIoT: The Crowd-Sourcing Test System for IoT Devices Based on Blockchain

In view of some problems existing in traditional software crowdsourcing tests and Internet of Things device tests, we developed a CrowdIoT crowdsourcing test system for the Internet of Things devices based on a block chain. CrowdIoT uses the core technology of blockchain to focus its testing on physical devices on the Internet of Things. CrowdIoT uses two different testing methods for different testing needs: online testing and offline testing. Online remote testing is our key function and research object. By opening the testing interface of Internet of Things devices to testers, testers can test the devices in the CrowdIoT system interface without having to get the hardware. At the same time, CrowdIoT introduced multi-threaded parallel testing technology to solve the conflict problem of multiple testers competing for hardware resources in online testing. Offline testing, as a supplement to online testing, is to send Internet of Things devices to testers with high credibility in deposit guarantee, so that testers can fully test the hardware devices and dig out as many vulnerabilities of the devices as possible. CrowdIoT has its own complete and scientific credibility system, combined with relevant incentive mechanism, consensus mechanism and connection mechanism, which not only effectively solves the centralization problem existing in traditional crowdsourcing testing platforms, but also solves the pain point of the lack of remote testing of Internet of Things devices in the market. Then it solves the problems of equipment limitation and testing cost limits in the field of Internet of Things equipment testing, and provides a platform for security testing and use for the Internet of Things participants.

Applications of Blockchain Technology in marketing—A systematic review of marketing technology companies

Given the emerging nature of integrating Blockchain Technology(BCT)into several business fields concerning the interaction between companies and their customers,this study aims to investigate the applications of BCT in marketing through an accurate procedure of locating,selecting and analyzing existing companies using BCT in marketing.A sample that consists of 800 companies was identified using web-scraping methods.The data set was collected from initial coin offerings(ICO)websites as well as from an existing,older landscape of applications.The data set was then intensively analyzed in order to be categorized into five fields of marketing technology.Advertising and ecommerce outgrew the other fields of social&relationship,content&experience and data in absolute numbers,revealing the focus of practitioners in the past as well as gaps for the future.The authors provided future directions for researchers on and development of tools to systematically generate knowledge and improve the application of BCT and the work of practitioners in marketing.

Smart contract-enabled consortium blockchains for the control of supply chain information distortion

Conflicts between supply chain members emerge because individual strategic actions may not be jointly optimal.Efforts to forecast consumer demand represent a source of conflict.The coordination of forecasts requires a powerful incentive alignment approach.This work proposes a smart contract equipped consortium blockchain system that creates an incentive structure that makes coordination with respect to forecasts economically appealing.Distortions of demand information due to uncoordinated forecasting are captured by a bullwhip measure that factors both forecast error and variance.Cooperation under the system is shown to help minimize this bullwhip measure,thus generating new outcomes for the participants that allow for a higher reward.Under a fixed payout structure,the system achieves credibility of continued cooperation,thus promoting an optimally coordinated equilibrium between the retailer and supplier.Blockchain technology represents a novel information system and consensus formation mechanism that can intermediate the behavior of a supply chain network.

A survey on the adoption of blockchain in IoT:challenges and solutions

Conventional Internet of Things(IoT)ecosystems involve data streaming from sensors,through Fog devices to a centralized Cloud server.Issues that arise include privacy concerns due to third party management of Cloud servers,single points of failure,a bottleneck in data flows and difficulties in regularly updating firmware for millions of smart devices from a point of security and maintenance perspective.Blockchain technologies avoid trusted third parties and safeguard against a single point of failure and other issues.This has inspired researchers to investigate blockchain’s adoption into IoT ecosystem.In this paper,recent state-of-the-arts advances in blockchain for IoT,blockchain for Cloud IoT and blockchain for Fog IoT in the context of eHealth,smart cities,intelligent transport and other applications are analyzed.Obstacles,research gaps and potential solutions are also presented.

A Review of Blockchain Layered Architecture and Technology Application Research

The development of blockchain is at a nascent stage.Current research on blockchain mainly focuses on a single technology,failing to reflect the correlation between the integrated technologies due to a lack of application in the real world.In this paper,according to the function classification,we divide blockchain technology into five layers:the data layer,the network layer,the consensus layer,the contract layer,and the application layer.For each layer,we elaborate on its technical principles and the latest research status.We also provide empirical cases of blockchain application.This paper summarizes the general functional modules of the blockchain to support the rapid implementation of blockchain applications.In the end,we investigate the challenges faced by blockchain technology and present the research prospects.