I- Introduction

II- Use of Metadata in Iot Applications

III- Security Requirements

IV- Metadata syntax and binding mechanisms

V- Blockchain-Based Iot Applications

VI- Metadata Binding Using Blockchain Mechanism

VII- Related Work

References

Abstract

Blockchains offer an interesting solution to some of the security challenges encountered in military applications. They are particularly attractive in the scenarios, where it is difficult or even impossible to establish a common root of trust, e.g., in the context of civil-military collaboration, where military organizations need to build trusted information exchange infrastructure with various types of civilian governmental and non-governmental organizations, local communities, commercial companies and private persons. In our work, we discuss how blockchain can be used to store metadata describing information collected from the IoT devices owned by the federation members as well as crowdsourced from sensors belonging to private users. We present a high level architecture for a metadata binding solution using blockchains compliant with STANAG 4774 and 4778. We also describe a concrete technical solution based on Hyperledger Fabric and some of the open issues.

INTRODUCTION

Blockchains, thanks to combination of its properties such as immutability of stored data and decentralization, offer an interesting solution to some of the security challenges encountered in military applications [1]. They are particularly attractive in the scenarios, where it is difficult or even impossible to establish a common root of trust [2]. This is often the case in federated environments, where participants usually belong to disjoint organizational domains, with limited mutual trust. In modern military operations, such federated scenarios are increasingly common and, moreover, often entail need for dynamic federation of coalition members, with a very limited, if any, history of earlier collaboration. Establishment of such dynamic federations can be required in support of defence operations in active conflict areas, but even more often during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations in natural catastrophe areas and during counter-terrorism operations. The dynamic character and unpredictability of partnerships is especially relevant in the context of civilmilitary collaboration (CIMIC), where military organizations need to build trusted information exchange infrastructure with various types of civilian governmental and non-governmental organizations, local communities, commercial companies and private persons. One of important new CIMIC use cases is establishment of improved situational awareness in smart environments, such as smart cities. These smart environments are often equipped with a large number of sensors and actuators, see e.g.