The concept of smart city covers the integration of hardware, software, management, computing, data analysis and other services in the urban field. In a nutshell, it is to use information and communication technology (ICT) to sense, integrate, store, process, analyze, predict and respond to key information in all aspects of urban operation, so as to provide intelligent response and auxiliary decision-making. Meet the needs of people's livelihood, environmental protection, public safety, urban services, industrial and commercial activities, etc., and create a higher quality living environment for urban residents. The development of smart cities is based on informatization and digitization, and uses key technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The development of smart cities in my country started late, but the speed is fast. At present, the number of pilot smart cities in my country continues to increase, covering almost all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in the country. Since the start of the smart city pilot work in 2012, as of 2018, there have been more than 600 smart city pilot projects across the country, and Guangdong, Shandong, and Shanghai are at the forefront of the national smart city pilot projects. China's urban construction has entered the stage of people-oriented high-quality and refined construction. With the joint efforts of the government, developers, integrators, service operators, and third-party service agencies, a people-centered smart city construction ecology has gradually formed, and a more efficient, refined, and intelligent governance model has gradually matured. Relying on policy support, mature technology and infrastructure, the three major application areas of smart transportation, smart security, and smart community have gradually become core application scenarios.
Problem
With the gradual advancement of China's smart city informatization construction, the types, functions and data collection equipment of information systems have been diversified, which has also brought many pain points to the construction of smart cities. In the current smart city construction system, due to the huge amount of urban data, the data flow direction is a pyramid system structure. From bottom to top, the perception data needs to be filtered and cleaned by multiple layers, and then responded by a centralized decision-making analysis model, which greatly reduces the System processing efficiency. Especially in the two major application fields of intelligent transportation and intelligent security, the system can only store, protect and share data, and cannot perform real-time, accurate and efficient analysis and decision-making. Therefore, it cannot completely solve urban traffic congestion and safety emergency problems.
In the process of smart city construction, a large number of IoT smart terminal devices are exposed in public areas, which greatly increases the risk of cyber attacks. The confidentiality and integrity of data and systems may be destroyed at any time, and the cost and loss of cost-related enterprises will be huge. This security risk is also an obstacle to the advancement of smart cities.
Another problem is the existence of information silos, resulting in a lack of organic connections between projects. In terms of communication, there are many problems such as inconsistent data structure and circulation interface, low degree of standardization, and serious lack of interconnection, which greatly increases the cost of operation and maintenance, and is time-consuming and laborious. Single-dimensional data analysis has been unable to perform high-quality analysis and prediction. In addition, the phenomenon of data islands will also lead to the inability to form emergency linkage among various systems, and lose the role of early warning and prevention.
Blockchain Solutions
Blockchain can break down the data silos between traditional smart city systems. Blockchain is especially suitable for cross-enterprise and cross-system data sharing. It can upload the original data or data fingerprints of each system to realize data circulation without changing the original system. The sharing of data must realize the identity verification of the blockchain. Through the fusion of carrier aggregation (CA) technology, the original anonymous blockchain can be transformed into a trusted blockchain. Through identity authentication and consensus authority, the system and personnel can be divided Rights and Responsibilities Settings. The blockchain has set up a strict time stamp mechanism, coupled with its own characteristics of non-tampering and traceability, any processing of data will leave traces on the chain, which can be traced back.
The blockchain ensures the security of smart terminals in the construction of the entire smart city system through strict authentication mechanisms and cryptographic data encryption mechanisms. Each terminal device will have its own public key and private key pair. The blockchain system maintains a list of terminal identities through smart contracts, and checks whether the device has the right to access nodes and upload data, thereby avoiding malicious terminal access and data pollution. Therefore, the blockchain establishes a collaborative model of trusted data.
In addition, local governments can deploy blockchain nodes locally to verify the localization of data, determine the source and authenticity of data, and ensure the safety and reliability of data from source to terminal.
Prospects of smart cities empowered by blockchain
The construction of a new smart city is a systematic project that requires the integration of multiple technologies to give full play to their complementary advantages. Therefore, city builders cannot use blockchain technology in isolation. Actively integrate new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, accelerate the exploration of urban application scenarios under technology integration, and promote the development of intelligent urban management and services. Promote the blockchain to play an active role in the underlying infrastructure of new smart cities, middle-level big data resource centers, and upper-level intelligent applications.
Cold chain logistics is a typical blockchain application that is sensitive to temperature, including medicines, frozen food and fresh food. It is transported through intermediate links, from suppliers to logistics companies and customers, and finally reaches consumers. In the traditional transportation process, the data is not open and transparent, and all transportation data can only be provided by the logistics company. Any problems in the process cannot be explained clearly, so the logistics company's data is unique.
Through the blockchain and the Internet of Things, the authenticity of all cold chain food or products that need to be traced can be ensured. From the warehouse to the consumer, data is automatically collected through the Internet of Things collection chip at every moment, and after the authorization is signed, the temperature, humidity, geographical location, light and other parameters of the item are reported and uploaded to the chain at any time, so that the entire cold chain transportation The data is accurate and reliable.
The exploration of the implementation of blockchain technology is still in progress. At present, the policies of 1024 countries have pointed out the direction, and the public's understanding of blockchain technology has gradually deepened, and there are more opportunities.
CyberVein has done some work related to the supply chain of seafood products in the food industry. CyberVein has developed a blockchain-based solution for a Chinese company in Ningbo province, which is doing a seafood trading platform for fishermen and companies or restaurants in the food industry.
Traditionally, fishing boats (referring to large ocean-going fishing boats here) have to stay at sea for a month to half a year before returning to the port after fishing. The problem is that there is no means of communication at sea, and there is no signal or network for mobile phones. Only the captain has communication equipment to contact people on land, and it is very expensive to use. They will have to return to port to count the catch and store it until a buyer can be found. This has brought huge workload and cost to fishermen, and there is also the problem that some seafood is wasted due to staleness and buyers. A company from Ningbo, in cooperation with several companies, uses satellite communication technology to allow fishermen at sea to communicate with people on land at any time. Although the data price is still relatively high, it is much better than before. This allows seafood trading platforms to obtain fish data from fishing vessels in real time. Fishermen can register the data of the fish as soon as they catch the fish, and they can also find buyers when they are loading or returning to the dock, and they can exchange the goods as soon as they are in hand. Dock at port. This eliminates the time lag between the port call and the handover of the goods to the buyer, saving both parties cost and time. Although the price of data is still relatively high, it is much better than before. This allows seafood trading platforms to obtain fish data from fishing vessels in real time. Fishermen can register the data of the fish as soon as they catch the fish, and they can also find buyers when they are loading or returning to the dock, and they can exchange the goods as soon as they are in hand. Dock at port. This eliminates the time lag between the port call and the handover of the goods to the buyer, saving both parties cost and time. Although the price of data is still relatively high, it is much better than before. This allows seafood trading platforms to obtain fish data from fishing vessels in real time. Fishermen can register the data of the fish as soon as they catch the fish, and they can also find buyers when they are loading or returning to the dock, and they can exchange the goods as soon as they are in hand. Dock at port. This eliminates the time lag between the port call and the handover of the goods to the buyer, saving both parties cost and time. They are able to find buyers as they fill up or return to the dock, and can exchange seafood products for money as soon as they dock in port. This eliminates the time lag between the port call and the handover of the goods to the buyer, saving both parties cost and time. They are able to find buyers as they fill up or return to the dock, and can exchange seafood products for money as soon as they dock in port. This eliminates the time lag between the port call and the handover of the goods to the buyer, saving both parties cost and time.
With the help of the platform company's image recognition and GPS technology, CyberVein helped the company build a blockchain database for storing seafood data when fishermen fish. Seafood caught on deck can be registered instantly with image recognition technology and the data uploaded to the blockchain. This provides authenticity to the seafood data, as some fishers may commit fraud by providing wrong information to buyers through traditional processes.
To this end, GPS technology also records the area where the seafood was caught, as the area where the fish lives can change its price. Seafood caught is also time-stamped, as the price of some seasonal seafood products can vary greatly depending on the time of year. Companies or restaurants in the food industry that join the trading platform can look at the data on the blockchain and calculate the right price for the seafood products they want. All of this can be done while the fisherman is still fishing or on his way back. Blockchain technology helps fishermen and buyers build trust, achieve fair prices and simplify transactions. In addition, the platform also provides fishermen with warehousing services for seafood not sold immediately through third-party service providers, as well as logistics services for delivering products to buyers, as well as warehousing methods and time. Shipping data can also be viewed on the blockchain. One can look at the data on the blockchain and calculate the right price for the seafood products they want. All of this can be done while the fisherman is still fishing or on his way back.
Blockchain technology helps fishermen and buyers build trust, achieve fair prices and simplify transactions. In addition, the platform also provides fishermen with warehousing services for seafood not sold immediately through third-party service providers, as well as logistics services for delivering products to buyers, as well as warehousing methods and time. Shipping data can also be viewed on the blockchain. One can look at the data on the blockchain and calculate the right price for the seafood products they want. All of this can be done while the fisherman is still fishing or on his way back. Blockchain technology helps fishermen and buyers build trust, achieve fair prices and simplify transactions.
In addition, the platform also provides fishermen with warehousing services for seafood not sold immediately through third-party service providers, as well as logistics services for delivering products to buyers, as well as warehousing methods and time. Shipping data can also be viewed on the blockchain. Blockchain technology helps fishermen and buyers build trust, achieve fair prices and simplify transactions. In addition, the platform also provides fishermen with warehousing services for seafood not sold immediately through third-party service providers, as well as logistics services for delivering products to buyers, as well as warehousing methods and time. Shipping data can also be viewed on the blockchain. Blockchain technology helps fishermen and buyers build trust, achieve fair prices and simplify transactions. In addition, the platform also provides fishermen with warehousing services for seafood not sold immediately through third-party service providers, as well as logistics services for delivering products to buyers, as well as warehousing methods and time. Shipping data can also be viewed on the blockchain.
Blockchain technology helps the platform to verify the different data available and establishes basic trust for buyers and fishermen. The cost of the platform monitoring the different processes in this supply chain has come down, and the platform is starting to attract more buyers, driving business growth.