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Blockchain Technologies in the Design and Operation of Cyber-Physical Systems

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Digital Transformation

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Abstract

A blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties in an efficient, verifiable, and permanent way. Once recorded in a block, the transaction data cannot be altered retroactively. Moreover, smart contracts can be put in place to ensure that any new data added to the blockchain respects the terms of an agreement between the involved parties. As such, the blockchain becomes the single source of truth for all stakeholders in the system.

These characteristics make blockchain technology especially useful in the context of Industry 4.0, distributed in nature, but with important requirements of trust and accountability among the large number of devices involved in the collaboration. In this chapter, we will see concrete scenarios where cyber-physical systems (CPSs) can benefit from blockchain technology, especially focusing on how blockchain works in practice, and which are the design and architectural trade-offs we should keep in mind when adopting this technology both for the design and operation of CPSs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://bitcoin.org/

  2. 2.

    https://aragon.org/

  3. 3.

    https://git-scm.com/

  4. 4.

    Other methods for reaching consensus than PoW have been proposed—Proof of Stake (PoS), Deferred Proof of Stake (DPoS), or Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), to name a few—but for the sake of simplicity, we will focus on PoW.

  5. 5.

    http://ethereum.org/

  6. 6.

    https://solidity.readthedocs.io/

  7. 7.

    All these gas fees are specified in the Ethereum Yellow Paper [32].

  8. 8.

    Adapted from https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/latest/introduction-to-smart-contracts.html#simple-smart-contract.

  9. 9.

    https://ens.domains

  10. 10.

    http://www.dataports-project.eu

  11. 11.

    https://www.tradelens.com

  12. 12.

    https://github.com/blockfreight

  13. 13.

    https://t-mining.be

  14. 14.

    International Maritime Organization, MSC.1/Circ.1475, 9 June 2014.

  15. 15.

    https://ipcsa.international

  16. 16.

    https://wavebl.com

  17. 17.

    https://www.300cubits.tech

  18. 18.

    A deeper explanation of the concepts and metaclasses can be found in the original publication [23].

  19. 19.

    https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/get-started-with-blockchain-using-the-new-aws-blockchain-templates/

  20. 20.

    https://www.oracle.com/application-development/cloud-services/blockchain-platform/

  21. 21.

    https://www.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/product/bcs.html

  22. 22.

    http://www.dataports-project.eu

  23. 23.

    https://www.hyperledger.org/use/fabric

  24. 24.

    https://ethereum.org/enterprise

  25. 25.

    https://www.corda.net

  26. 26.

    https://www.goquorum.com

  27. 27.

    https://www.hedera.com

  28. 28.

    https://github.com/xuperchain/xuperchain

  29. 29.

    https://www.iota.org

  30. 30.

    This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy and Spain.

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Acknowledgements

This work has received support from the AIDOaRt project, funded by the ECSEL Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No. 101007350.Footnote 30

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona, Spain

    Abel Gómez & Jordi Cabot

  2. Prodevelop SL, Valencia, Spain

    Christophe Joubert

  3. ICREA, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Cabot

Authors
  1. Abel Gómez
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Correspondence to Abel Gómez .

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  1. Technische Universität München, Garching b. München, Bayern, Germany

    Birgit Vogel-Heuser

  2. Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Oberösterreich, Austria

    Manuel Wimmer

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Gómez, A., Joubert, C., Cabot, J. (2023). Blockchain Technologies in the Design and Operation of Cyber-Physical Systems. In: Vogel-Heuser, B., Wimmer, M. (eds) Digital Transformation. Springer Vieweg, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-65004-2_9

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