A Conceptual Architecture for Scalable Multi-Application Support in Blockchain-based IoT Environments

Existing proposals that merge IoT with blockchain technologies have been efficient but often limited to a single application scenario. They require specific hardware setups, thus in case of switching to a new application scenario, they may become ineffective and require a new hardware setup. In this paper, we present a new blockchain-based architecture for IoT environments that addresses one of the fundamental challenges in the area which is the capability of supporting multiple application scenarios. The proposed architecture enables transitioning between various application scenarios via smart contracts and configuration files stored on blockchain. The architecture, additionally, addresses scalability concerns of the blockchain-based IoT systems through a cluster-based approach which provides a more flexible and secure solution.