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International Journal of Crowd Science 2017, 1(3): 270-280 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-08-2017-0010
Conceptual paper | Open Access | Issue | Published: 04 September 2017

Using blockchain to build trusted LoRaWAN sharing server

Show Author's Information Jun Lin1( ),  Zhiqi Shen2,  Chunyan Miao3,  Siyuan Liu1
The Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly LILY, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
The Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly LILY, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore and School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Keywords:
Internet of things, Blockchain, LoRa, LoRaWAN
Cite this article:
Lin J, Shen Z, Miao C, et al. Using blockchain to build trusted LoRaWAN sharing server. International Journal of Crowd Science, 2017, 1(3): 270-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-08-2017-0010
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Abstract Full text About this article
Purpose

With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market and requirement, low power wide area (LPWA) technologies have become popular. In various LPWA technologies, Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) and long range (LoRa) are two main leading competitive technologies. Compared with NB-IoT networks, which are mainly built and managed by mobile network operators, LoRa wide area networks (LoRaWAN) are mainly operated by private companies or organizations, which suggests two issues: trust of the private network operators and lack of network coverage. This study aims to propose a conceptual architecture design of a blockchain built-in solution for LoRaWAN network servers to solve these two issues for LoRaWAN IoT solution.

Design/methodology/approach

The study proposed modeling, model analysis and architecture design.

Findings

The proposed solution uses the blockchain technology to build an open, trusted, decentralized and tamper-proof system, which provides the indisputable mechanism to verify that the data of a transaction has existed at a specific time in the network.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that integrates blockchain technology and LoRaWAN IoT technology.


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About this article

Using blockchain to build trusted LoRaWAN sharing server

Show Author's information Jun Lin1( ), Zhiqi Shen2, Chunyan Miao3, Siyuan Liu1
The Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly LILY, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
The Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly LILY, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore and School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

Abstract

Purpose

With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market and requirement, low power wide area (LPWA) technologies have become popular. In various LPWA technologies, Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) and long range (LoRa) are two main leading competitive technologies. Compared with NB-IoT networks, which are mainly built and managed by mobile network operators, LoRa wide area networks (LoRaWAN) are mainly operated by private companies or organizations, which suggests two issues: trust of the private network operators and lack of network coverage. This study aims to propose a conceptual architecture design of a blockchain built-in solution for LoRaWAN network servers to solve these two issues for LoRaWAN IoT solution.

Design/methodology/approach

The study proposed modeling, model analysis and architecture design.

Findings

The proposed solution uses the blockchain technology to build an open, trusted, decentralized and tamper-proof system, which provides the indisputable mechanism to verify that the data of a transaction has existed at a specific time in the network.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that integrates blockchain technology and LoRaWAN IoT technology.

Keywords: Internet of things, Blockchain, LoRa, LoRaWAN

References(16)

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements
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Publication history

Received: 04 August 2017
Revised: 06 September 2017
Accepted: 07 September 2017
Published: 04 September 2017
Issue date: September 2017

Copyright

© The author(s)

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its IDM Futures Funding Initiative.

Rights and permissions

Jun Lin, Zhiqi Shen, Chunyan Miao and Siyuan Liu. Published in International Journal of Crowd Science. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

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