Marine Vehicle Integration

  • Project
    Blockchain Integration
  • Industry
    Marine/Boating
  • Solutions Proposed
    Tapestry IO
    Tapestry Nodes
    Tapestry IoT/IIoT Devices
    Tapestry Local Area Blockchains
  • Status
    Submitted to client & under review
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The Proposal:

The world is getting ready for a big revolution in transportation. The application of Blockchain is far more than just ownership verification. At Tapestry, we see the potential for Blockchain to keep track of things like accidents, warranties, registration, recalls, and other important data about the state of the boat itself.

There is no doubt this will be transformative for our society and will bring about a significant change in the way we travel, making transportation more secure and efficient for everyone. This information would be invaluable to boat manufacturers, lenders, insurance companies, and prospective buyers.

Blockchain and the potential it holds will completely transform the boating world and not only redefine business but the entire economy as well.

  • Real-time processing:  The process becomes more eased and automated as the exchange of information requires some minutes instead of week-long mailings.
  • Security: Except from the fact that formation is encrypted, blockchain shall not allow any modifications in the stored information which eliminates frauds related to documentation.
  • Transparency: With their access key, every party has access to the whole of the transaction information, which boosts transparency and facilitates risk assessment for the involved parties.
  • Accuracy: Automation of the process means zero errors when compared to human involvement.
  • Cost-saving: The complexity of traditional procedures, equipment expenses and potential of hidden associated regulatory fees.

Under Tapestry’s proposed project, documents, such as certificates of origin, etc., would be transferred via blockchain technology, and Smart Contract engines automate the document flow.

Today’s marine industry is composed of opaque monopolies such as boat manufacturers who are all working on their own lite implementation of blockchain technology, specifically the part that controls how a boat operates, communicates, and maintenance schedules. These larger manufacturers are attempting to patent everything they can to prevent innovation and secure long-term market advantage. They are even expanding on their autonomous ambitions in a very silo-like manner, without considering or planning for their boats to connect and talk to other ships, smartphones, or the marine infrastructure.

From boat and shipping manufacturers to Maersk, Evergreen, and everyone else in between, everyone is working on their own software and hardware and not communicating with the others. They are not sharing data and learning from each other. There are considerations of autonomy and how it interacts with the entire marine ecosystem and how to prevent the mistakes from the Uber fatal crash involving a self-driving vehicle. How does one compile all that data from which they will learn, fix their software, and come out saying, “We’ve got a much better solution because of the hard lessons we have learned"? Like with Uber, the problem is most likely, boating and shipping manufacturers probably will not be sharing their conclusions with anyone else. Maersk or Evergreen will likely have to go through the same scenarios on the sea (hopefully not real-life fatal accidents, but that is also likely) to see what lessons they can learn and how to improve their software. This, we find, is ridiculous. These companies are literally risking our lives because they cannot collaborate on the most basic of things: safety.

There are huge barriers to building the hardware and the software for autonomous marine vehicles or even deploying them onto the water for testing. Only a few companies can afford this right now, and they are all taking a very monopolistic approach in rolling their products onto the market. They centralize their power through patents and attempt to stop others from innovating and aiming to control the data and market. Looking at the patents filed by these companies in recent months paints an ugly picture; it is an arms race for patents, building barriers of entry for other companies. Centralization leads to misuse and abuse of user data by charging more (just because they can) to differential treatment because they know who you are and where you live.

Tapestry IO Core:

We believe in the exact opposite: decentralization. Allow all boats, ships and other marine vehicles, from whatever manufacturer communicate with one-another, to learn, to alert each other, to move out of the way of an upcoming hazard in time or move themselves out of the area if pirates/smugglers  have been reported by other boats/ships as they wait for the Coast Guard to come. We believe in open-source code and allowing other developers to build on top of our platform and have the community decide which software is best for them and their boats and or ships.

To facilitate the next phase in the boating/shipping industry, we need a fast, secure, and scalable blockchain platform. Therefore, we are developing Tapestry IO Core; a fully decentralized and open source blockchain. The Tapestry IO Core is designed with a focus on scalability. Transactions can be processed in parallel, decreasing block creation and validation time.

To guarantee the speed and quality of the Tapestry IO Core blockchain, Tapestry IO Core is a permissioned blockchain that builds and runs a trustworthy environment for smart contract execution. Tapestry IO Core is open for all mobility related projects.

Tapestry IO Core is a platform that not only ensures security and transaction finality, but also increases efficiency using nodes within namespaces. Its Core is based off of three different Blockchains: Consortium blockchains, Semi-private blockchains and Private blockchains so that the OpenCog AI can determine ACL/IAM.

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How Blockchain, AI and IoT work together withing Tapestry IO Core

In a consortium blockchain, the consensus process is controlled by a pre-selected group – a group of corporations, for example. The right to read the blockchain and submit transactions to it may be public or restricted to participants. Consortium blockchains are considered to be “permissioned blockchains” and are best suited for use in business.

Semi-private blockchains are run by a single company that grants access to any user who satisfies pre-established criteria. Although not truly decentralized, this type of permissioned blockchain is appealing for business-to-business use cases and government applications.

Private blockchains are controlled by a single organization that determines who can read it, submit transactions to it, and participate in the consensus process. Since they are 100% centralized, private blockchains are useful as sandbox environments, but not for actual production.

The ledger used in Blockchain is tamper-proof and cannot be manipulated by malicious actors because it doesn’t exist in any single location, and man-in-the-middle attacks cannot be staged because there is any single thread of communication that can be intercepted. Blockchain makes trustless, peer-to-peer messaging possible and has already proven its worth in the world of financial services through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, providing guaranteed peer-to-peer payment services without the need for third-party brokers, disrupting what we call FinTech.

Applying this same level of security can provide the safe and private environment where federated security policies managed by IoT Identity Access Management (IAM) algorithms could determine Access Control Levels (ACL) within the distributed blockchain ledger; thereby maintain an audit trail and allowing for dynamic transactional ACLs within single exchange.

We use a sawtooth distributed ledger which is a database of transactions that is shared and synchronized across multiple computers and locations – without centralized control. Each party owns an identical copy of the record, which is automatically updated as soon as any additions are made. The distributed and encrypted nature of distributed ledger means it will be difficult to breach the IoT security. Plus, since Blockchain is programmable and ACL/IAM are being controlled by the OpenCog AI logic – which will make it possible to automatically trigger actions, events, et al once the determined conditions are met within the distributed ledger transactions.

Our distributed ledger can make managing Personally identifiable Information (PII) – i.e. any data that can potentially identify a specific individual  or the things associated to them – for this example passport birth certificate, medical records, boat license, port certificate, et al - easily generated/managed/distributed by IoT. Traditionally, PII has been restricted to data such as name, date of birth, home address, telephone number, email address, passport number, credit card number, etc. But now that information can be used via the IAM to determine ACL and provide the interactive audit trail that uses that data as part of the secured verified credentials.

The decentralized, autonomous, and trustless capabilities of the Blockchain make it an ideal component to become a foundational element of IoT solutions.

IoT with blockchain implementations could address the data confidentiality and perimeter ACL challenges. This is clearly a critical challenge in an age where data  as well as secured credentials can easily be manipulated or spoofed, but the full encryption of blockchain data as well as their credentials ensures that this data will not be accessible to unauthorized parties while in transit (so little to no chance for successful man-in-the-middle [MiTM] attacks). This data integrity extends to IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT)  devices. 

Blockchain can keep an undisputable record of the history of IoT smart devices. This feature enables the autonomous functioning of smart devices without the need for centralized authority. As a result, the Blockchain opens the door to a series of IoT scenarios that were remarkably difficult, or even impossible to implement without it.

One of the most exciting capabilities of the Blockchain is the ability to maintain a duly decentralized, trusted ledger of all transactions occurring in the network. This capability is essential to enable the many compliances and regulatory requirements of IIoT applications for example without the need to rely on a centralized model.

Smart Diagnostics & Machine Maintenance: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI can be used for developing smart diagnostics and self-service applications for machines where the machines will be able to monitor their state, diagnose problems, and autonomously place service, consumables replenishment, or part replacement requests to the machine maintenance vendors. For example, smart contracts could assist in the procurement of supplies and service of machines can help in automating the machine maintenance tasks.

Real-Time Audits: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI can be used for developing real-time audit and monitoring applications for manufactured products and facilities. Smart contracts can keep production records, for example, which factory and which machines within the factory were used for manufacturing a particular product. In case of product recalls (either due to manufacturing defects or faulty parts) after the products are delivered, traceability applications can help in identifying the affected products.

Tracking Identity & Reputation: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI can be used for developing identity and reputation management applications which track various performance parameters (such as facility entry times, access area permissions and ACL to equipment access & or transportation) for users. Such applications can be used to find team members who can meet the task requirements based on ACL defined within the IoT IAM and track the life cycle of Consumer-to-Machine & Machine-to-Machine Transactions. Smart contracts can also help in automatically Sop within a given area and creating a rating based upon performance to add to the individual’s reputation metrics.

Registry of Assets & Inventory: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI can be used for developing applications for maintaining records of assets and inventory. These applications can keep records of the asset identification information and the transfer of assets through the supply chain eliminating the need for manual paper records.

Decentralized & Trustless: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI is a secure ledger of all transactions on the closed loop network which is maintained by different hierarchical decentralized nodes. Blockchain and IoT powered by AI technology enables a decentralized and trustless peer-to-peer network where the peers do not have to need a trusted intermediary for interacting with each other.

Resilient: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI network is resilient to failures, as it is a decentralized peer-to- peer network with no single point of failure. The Blockchain itself is an immutable and durable secure ACL ledger and the transactions once recorded on the Blockchain after a consensus among the peers cannot be altered or deleted.

Scalable: Blockchain and IoT powered by AI is highly scalable in nature as it is maintained by a network of peers and AI logic. The computing capability of the network scales up as more and more peers (and PeerBots) join the network.

There are two main entities in the Tapestry IO Platform: users and nodes. Subsequently, users in the marine industry in the Tapestry IO network can be subdivided into two types of users: passengers and operators (human or machine). Both users are able to use the network to transfer funds, request authentication or initiate smart contracts. A node is an entity that is responsible for running Tapestry’s Multi-consensus protocol.

The Hyperledger Sawtooth framework which The Tapestry IO Core and Platform uses as a technical is not only open source but it is a modular platform for building, deploying and running distributed ledgers. Sawtooth is created by Intel and the Linux foundation under the Hyperledger umbrella. Sawtooth is one of the most robust and secure blockchain solutions up to date.

Two important elements of the Sawtooth project are

  1. the pluggable consensus protocol and...
  2. parallel processing. Combined, these elements create a strikingly future proof setup.

The main components of Tapestry IO Core are listed below:

  • API - Converts a request into the right format and sends that to the backend. The public API connects to the backend. It runs security checks before the information is communicated to the blockchain.
  • Tapestry IO Backend - Transfers all data in real-time to the right components through Socket IO. The backend additionally handles business logic of applications, like for example the nation or state ports when boats check-in and out.
  • Validator - Validates batches of transactions, combines them into blocks, maintains consensus with the network and coordinates communication be- tween clients, other validators and transaction processors. Much of the actual validation is delegated to other components, such as transaction processors and the active consensus module.
  • Hardware Wallet (client) - A software wallet that communicates with the blockchain. The wallets will ensure a user-friendly way of transacting and consulting the blockchain state. They will be available on desktop and mobile. We integrated the hardware wallet in the mobile app for Tapestry Halvdräll, inside the Tapestry IoT devices for transportation and will do so inside boats.
The consensus algorithm Tapestry IO Core uses is called Proof of Authenticated Elapsed Time (PoAET). PoAET elects individual peers to execute requests at a given target rate. These authenticated individual peers (human or machine) sample an exponentially distributed random variable and wait for an amount of time dictated by the sample. The peer with the smallest sample wins the election. Because PoET is executed in trusted execution environments on the instruction set on the processor itself, the consensus can be reached very effectively. Because of the validation on the instruction set, PoAET can not be tampered with, while maintaining Byzantine Fault Tolerance. Using PoAET ensures the finality of transactions. PoAET offers the security of PoW, but is cheaper and more efficient to use. This low cost of participation increases the likelihood that the population of validators will be large, increasing the robustness of the consensus algorithm.
Tapestry IO Core achieves this through decentralization is a state difficult to reach. Because the geographical distribution of boats (manned or unmanned) and users, decentralization is a logical consequence for Tapestry. So we define this as being essentially three levels of decentralization.

  • Tapestry IoT Devices - The Tapestry IoT Devices have processing power, which they do not always fully use. This processing power can be used to create consensus, creating an immediately distributed network.
  • Tapestry Local Area Blockchains / LABs - The local area blockchains are part of Tapestry Halvdräll. They provide swarms with validated information from the network and vice versa.
  • Tapestry Nodes -  The processors inside the Tapestry IoT devices intertconnected to Tapestry IO network runs on nodes. This guarantees the security and stability of the network. Approved divisions, departments or outside organizationas will be able to create modified frameworks of Tapestry nodes. 

The strength of the three levels of decentralization lies within smart contracts and how they are self-executing and therefore can guarantee a very specific set of outcomes. They are in fact an agreement that is converted to computer code. With the use of smart contracts anything of value can be exchanged in a safe, transparent and conflict-free way, while avoiding the services of a middleman. Tapestry will deploy various smart contracts to smoothen the agreements between all actors involved in the network.

Besides smart contracts that implement transactions, smart contracts can be made for situations like when an insurance agency needs to pay, incentives for environmentally friendly road behavior and so on. Tapestry allows other developers, organizations, or companies to deploy smart con- tracts on Tapestry IO Core. This would enable these entities to develop their own mobility solutions, with their own set of incentives. The Tapestry  IO core uses C++, Solidity, Simplicity, Python and Java transaction processors. Developers can deploy C++, Solidity, Simplicity, Python and Java smart contracts to communicate with the Tapestry Halvdräll back-end.

We strongly believe that individuals should be in control of their own data. A popular misconception is that blockchain technology is fully anonymous and untraceable. While public keys are not necessarily linked to a user’s real-life identity, every transaction that public keys create can be linked back. This means that if someone were to make the link between you and your public key they would have insight in all your transactions. To ensure users have complete control over their personal data and transaction history, the traditional public-key-as-identity is not sufficient.

To manage identities within the network, we aim to use Hyperledger Indy. Indy is a project that provides a distributed-ledger-based foundation for self-sovereign identity and will be used to give users complete control over their personal data. For every party the user interacts with, a new Pairwise-Unique Identifier (public key) is used. By having independent pairwise relationships, the ability for others to correlate your activities across multiple interactions is significantly reduced. Using project Indy, people can for example deliver a verified proof they have a boat license, boat registration, passport, et al, without actually handing over all those documents to a third party.

Tapestry's ultimate goal is to build an transportation blockchain mainnet, which will require two steps. The first step is Over-the-Air (OTA). OTA is a technology that remotely updates a boat's firmware. OTA can easily and remotely update many bugs in the boat’s electronic, communication, or navigational devices, These updates do not require high chain speeds since as they only take about an hour; fast blockchain hashes are not seen. Therefore, blockchain speed is not a major issue. Tapestry will complete these technologies in 2019.

The second step is the boat's security platform. The security of a boat, ship or autonomous marine vehicle requires high-speed confirmation of the incoming information. It does not have to be too quick to receive simple navigation path information; however, environmental and object sensing information integrated with weather and tide information in front of the boat require very fast validation. Therefore, Tapestry plans to apply one method of deep learning for this rapid validation.

The application of the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) method, which is quicker than gradient descent in deep running, is applied. SGD is a bit slower than slow perfection and faster processing. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg says, "Done is better than perfect". Gradient descent uses the full-batch method to check all the cases and to make decisions; however, it takes too much time. SGD uses the mini-batch method for trial and error, but at a much faster rate.

Deep learning can provide a variety of applicable technologies for making automotive blockchain. Momentum can be applied for faster blockchain speed processing. The incoming information is considered validated once it is the same. Nesterov's Accelerated Gradient (NAG) first predicts the incoming information, and then calculates and checks the incoming information. AdaGrad can be applied when you have not heard anything. AdaGrad is a way to search more closely because it has not visited, yet. In this case, you can apply AdaDelta to prevent it from stopping because it will slow down if you validate it too precisely. Considering all these factors, Adam can be applied to a blockchain.

Tapestry IO governance will come from the participating port authorities, local/federal government, boat makers, owners of autonomous vehicles. Each participant becomes a node and has suffrage in the main decision-making process. The cost of this transaction will be paid to the boat makers as Proof of Share (POS). Boat makers will have exclusive rights to data upgrades that require high reliability, such as super nodes firmware for each manned or unmanned boat.

Tapestry IO is a hybrid blockchain platform that allows boats to easily share reliable data Peer to Peer (p2p). On this platform, a variety of future Internet of Things (IoTs) (e.g., guidance assist IoT, traffic information assist IoT, disaster avoidance IoT, etc.) can be easily shared with trust.
To limit the amount of data transfers and increase awareness of nearby autonomous boats, micro-networks can be utilized to handle things like boat status messages (OK, Error Codes) in Inter-marine vehicle communication networks (Node Swarms). Communication will be done over a smart p2p protocol that is optimized for real-time communication. This scales well in low and high bandwidth scenarios and uses sharing of data between boats to optimize data validation for security, while keeping data flow within the Node Swarm and the blockchain ledger as low as possible.

Overall Benefits:

  • Full p2p (many to many relations)
  • Load distribution for provided data
  • Reduced bandwidth usage
  • Priority system for complete and incomplete data
  • Extremely fast for small datasets (for real time data)
  • Data has lower chance of getting compromised due to the smart data validation
  • Can provide anonymous (non-ip based) communications

Tapestry solves the traditional limitations of traditional Blockchain technology with two concepts of segmentation and permission. In the operation of marine and autonomous vehicles, many IoTs will provide information to other boats, ships, ports, etc. This information may be transmitted directly between the IoT and the boat, ship, etc. or may be transmitted through a center that controls the IoT.