Blockchain as IoT Economy Enabler: A Review of Architectural Aspects

Diego Pennino; Maurizio Pizzonia; Andrea Vitaletti; Marco Zecchini

doi:10.3390/jsan11020020

journal article Open Access Mar 29, 2022

Blockchain as IoT Economy Enabler: A Review of Architectural Aspects

Diego Pennino

Maurizio Pizzonia

Andrea Vitaletti

Marco Zecchini

Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 20 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/jsan11020020

Abstract

In the IoT-based economy, a large number of subjects (companies, public bodies, or private citizens) are willing to buy data or services offered by subjects that provide, operate, or host IoT devices. To support economic transactions in this setting, and to pave the way for the implementation of decentralized algorithmic governance powered by smart contracts, the adoption of the blockchain has been proposed both in scientific literature and in actual projects. The blockchain technology promises a decentralized payment system independent of (and possibly cheaper than) conventional electronic payment systems. However, there are a number of aspects that need to be considered for an effective IoT–blockchain integration. In this review paper, we start from a number of real IoT projects and applications that (may) take advantage of blockchain technology to support economic transactions. We provide a reasoned review of several architectural choices in light of typical requirements of those applications and discuss their impact on transaction throughput, latency, costs, limits on ecosystem growth, and so on. We also provide a survey of additional financial tools that a blockchain can potentially bring to an IoT ecosystem, with their architectural impact. In the end, we observe that there are very few examples of IoT projects that fully exploit the potential of the blockchain. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and future research directions to make blockchain adoption easier and more effective for supporting an IoT economy.

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Details

Published: Mar 29, 2022
Vol/Issue: 11(2)
Pages: 20
License: View

Authors

D

Diego Pennino

Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Sezione Informatica e Automazione, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146 Rome, Italy

M

Maurizio Pizzonia

Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Sezione Informatica e Automazione, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146 Rome, Italy

A

Andrea Vitaletti

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Automatica e Gestionale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Via Ariosto 25, 00185 Rome, Italy

M

Marco Zecchini

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Automatica e Gestionale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Via Ariosto 25, 00185 Rome, Italy

Cite This Article

Diego Pennino, Maurizio Pizzonia, Andrea Vitaletti, et al. (2022). Blockchain as IoT Economy Enabler: A Review of Architectural Aspects. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, 11(2), 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11020020

Blockchain as IoT Economy Enabler: A Review of Architectural Aspects

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