An Application of Ethereum smart contracts and IoT to logistics
Leonor Maria Cabrita Augusto, Rubén D. Costa, José Carlos Ferreira, Ricardo Jardim‐Gonçalves · 2019
Over the last few years, interest has emerged in blockchain, a decentralized ledger technology (DLT) created for use in cryptocurrencies, but with a great potential to be used in other application domains. One of them is supply chain management, tracking and tracing, whichare key processes to the logistics industry, made difficult due to lack of standards or trust between actors, miscommunication, fraud, bureaucratic delays, among other issues. In order to overcome some of these challenges, the solution presented in this article proposes a blockchain system application created with Ethereum smart contracts technology, to be used in supply chain and logistics for tracking and tracing products through the storage of valuabledata in a trustworthy and decentralized system. The technical solution presented here implements methods for automated tracking, certification and authentication, and integrates the communication of blockchain with IoT devices, which play a role in monitoring products and automating the tracking and clearance processes. We validate our approach by developing an application that highlights the benefits of these technologies applied to logistics, ultimatelygiving insight into the capabilities, qualities, but also limitations a system like this can have.