Blockchain Technology as a Monitoring Tool for Sensor Data

In the scope of this paper the profitable use of blockchain technology or so-called distributed ledger technologies in the context of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) will be examined. SHM is the continuous or periodic and automated method for determining and monitoring the condition of an object. This is done by measurements with permanently installed or integrated sensors and by analyzing the hereby generated data. During those monitoring periods it often happens that some of the installed sensors are not working correctly. This may be caused by interference, by a corruption or even a manipulation. Therefore, the sensors can deliver abnormal data. Consequently, the delivered data is the starting point to overwatch the function of the sensors. Since on the monitored object multiple sensors are in use the measured data of those different sensors can be compared. If one sensor delivers deviating data it is likely that the sensor is not working the way it should. This verification process is being automated with blockchain technology. The correctness of the sensor data is then stored with the measured data itself on the chain. Thus, the entire generated information is securely and reliably tracked within the blockchain. Another advantage is the high scalability and decentralization of the blockchain. This is especially important when dealing with monitoring systems that can also have the need for scaling. For this described use case the implementation and application of the blockchain Hyperleder Fabric will be shown in the scope of this work.