On the design and implementation of efficient antennas for high frequency-radio frequency identification read/write devices

AbstractThis article describes an in‐depth methodical approach to the development of efficient high‐frequency (HF) antennas for use in radio frequency identification (RFID) systems operating at 13.56 MHz. It presents brief theory relevant to RFID communication and sets up a framework within which features and requirements of antennas are linked to key design parameters such as antenna form‐factor and size; RF power level, material and communication protocol. Tuning circuits necessary to adjust the resonance and power matching characteristics of antennas for good transponder interrogation and response recovery are discussed. To validate the approaches outlined, a stepwise design and measurement of an HF antenna for an ISO/IEC 15693 compliant read/write device (RWD) is described. Common practical problems that are often encountered in such design processes are also commented on. The prototyped antenna was tuned, connected to the RWD via a 50 coaxial cable and tested

Drowsing Driver Alert System for Commercial Vehicles

A number of accidents on our roads are caused by driver fatigue or drowsiness. Human fatalities as a result of driver drowsiness has been a major challenge for road safety bodies worldwide. Various road safety campaign messages have been put out to discourage drivers from driving whilst tired, but the problem still persists. Different technologies have been proposed over the years, but most seem to be too expensive to implement on a large scale. We present an inexpensive drowsing driver alert system in this paper. The system, known as Drowsing Driver Alert System (DDAS) is a smart system intended to effectively keep commercial drivers alert when driving. The system is able to detect when a driver is drowsy and alert him/her in real-time to prevent a potential accident. Using a camera, the eyes of the driver are monitored continuously whiles driving and analyzed to determine if they are shut or the blink rate is not normal. Two stages of alerts are given if the driver is determined to be drowsy. Log files of activities performed by the system are also saved to an external storage device to enable further analysis later

Assessing blockchain and IoT technologies for agricultural food supply chains in Africa : a feasibility analysis

This review paper delves into the global agricultural food supply chains through the lens of African perspectives, examining the role of blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in transforming food traceability. It assesses the applicability and efficacy of these innovations in addressing critical issues such as food fraud, contamination, and systemic inefficiencies from an African viewpoint. By engaging in an in-depth analysis of relevant studies, this work dissects the technical, economic, legal, and operational facets of employing blockchain and IoT in the agri-food sector. The findings illuminate the transformative potential these technologies hold for enhancing food safety and transparency across supply chains. However, the review also brings to light significant hurdles related to scalability, cost-effectiveness, and regulatory frameworks that must be surmounted. Advocating for a context-sensitive application of blockchain and IoT, the paper highlights the importance of adapting these technologies to fit the diverse socio-economic and infrastructural realities prevalent in African countries. Offering valuable insights to stakeholders in agricultural technology and food safety, this comprehensive review outlines a roadmap for future research and strategic implementation efforts aimed at leveraging blockchain and IoT for the development of secure, sustainable food systems.The Future Africa Research Leadership Fellowship (FAR-LeaF) program with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This paper was written as part of the Development of an Open Toolbox for Safe Food Monitoring project, which is financed by the FAR-LeaF Programme.https://www.cell.com/heliyonhj2024Future AfricaSDG-02:Zero Hunge

Adaptive Storage Optimization Scheme for Blockchain-IIoT Applications Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Blockchain-IIoT integration into industrial processes promises greater security, transparency, and traceability. However, this advancement faces significant storage and scalability issues with existing blockchain technologies. Each peer in the blockchain network maintains a full copy of the ledger which is updated through consensus. This full replication approach places a burden on the storage space of the peers and would quickly outstrip the storage capacity of resource-constrained IIoT devices. Various solutions utilizing compression, summarization or different storage schemes have been proposed in literature. The use of cloud resources for blockchain storage has been extensively studied in recent years. Nonetheless, block selection remains a substantial challenge associated with cloud resources and blockchain integration. This paper proposes a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach as an alternative to solving the block selection problem, which involves identifying the blocks to be transferred to the cloud. We propose a DRL approach to solve our problem by converting the multi-objective optimization of block selection into a Markov decision process (MDP). We design a simulated blockchain environment for training and testing our proposed DRL approach. We utilize two DRL algorithms, Advantage Actor-Critic (A2C), and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) to solve the block selection problem and analyze their performance gains. PPO and A2C achieve 47.8% and 42.9% storage reduction on the blockchain peer compared to the full replication approach of conventional blockchain systems. The slowest DRL algorithm, A2C, achieves a run-time 7.2 times shorter than the benchmark evolutionary algorithms used in earlier works, which validates the gains introduced by the DRL algorithms. The simulation results further show that our DRL algorithms provide an adaptive and dynamic solution to the time-sensitive blockchain-IIoT environment

Blockchain interoperability: the state of heterogenous blockchain-to-blockchain communication

Blockchain technology has been increasingly adopted over the past few years since the introduction of Bitcoin, with several blockchain architectures and solutions being proposed. Most proposed solutions have been developed in isolation, without a standard protocol or cryptographic structure to work with. This has led to the problem of interoperability, where solutions running on different blockchain platforms are unable to communicate, limiting the scope of use. With blockchains being adopted in a variety of fields such as the Internet of Things, it is expected that the problem of interoperability if not addressed quickly, will stifle technology advancement. This paper presents the current state of interoperability solutions proposed for heterogenous blockchain systems. A look is taken at interoperability solutions, not only for cryptocurrencies, but also for general data-based use cases. Current open issues in heterogenous blockchain interoperability are presented. Additionally, some possible research directions are presented to enhance and to extend the existing blockchain interoperability solutions. It was discovered that though there are a number of proposed solutions in literature, few have seen real-world implementation. The lack of blockchain-specific standards has slowed the progress of interoperability. It was also realized that most of the proposed solutions are developed targeting cryptocurrency-based applications

An Overview of Technologies for Improving Storage Efficiency in Blockchain-Based IIoT Applications

Since the inception of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, researchers have been fascinated with the idea of integrating blockchain technology into other fields, such as health and manufacturing. Despite the benefits of blockchain, which include immutability, transparency, and traceability, certain issues that limit its integration with IIoT still linger. One of these prominent problems is the storage inefficiency of the blockchain. Due to the append-only nature of the blockchain, the growth of the blockchain ledger inevitably leads to high storage requirements for blockchain peers. This poses a challenge for its integration with the IIoT, where high volumes of data are generated at a relatively faster rate than in applications such as financial systems. Therefore, there is a need for blockchain architectures that deal effectively with the rapid growth of the blockchain ledger. This paper discusses the problem of storage inefficiency in existing blockchain systems, how this affects their scalability, and the challenges that this poses to their integration with IIoT. This paper explores existing solutions for improving the storage efficiency of blockchain–IIoT systems, classifying these proposed solutions according to their approaches and providing insight into their effectiveness through a detailed comparative analysis and examination of their long-term sustainability. Potential directions for future research on the enhancement of storage efficiency in blockchain–IIoT systems are also discussed

A Survey on Network Optimization Techniques for Blockchain Systems

The increase of the Internet of Things (IoT) calls for secure solutions for industrial applications. The security of IoT can be potentially improved by blockchain. However, blockchain technology suffers scalability issues which hinders integration with IoT. Solutions to blockchain’s scalability issues, such as minimizing the computational complexity of consensus algorithms or blockchain storage requirements, have received attention. However, to realize the full potential of blockchain in IoT, the inefficiencies of its inter-peer communication must also be addressed. For example, blockchain uses a flooding technique to share blocks, resulting in duplicates and inefficient bandwidth usage. Moreover, blockchain peers use a random neighbor selection (RNS) technique to decide on other peers with whom to exchange blockchain data. As a result, the peer-to-peer (P2P) topology formation limits the effective achievable throughput. This paper provides a survey on the state-of-the-art network structures and communication mechanisms used in blockchain and establishes the need for network-based optimization. Additionally, it discusses the blockchain architecture and its layers categorizes existing literature into the layers and provides a survey on the state-of-the-art optimization frameworks, analyzing their effectiveness and ability to scale. Finally, this paper presents recommendations for future work