IoT Anti-Counterfeit - Introduction

 IoT Anti-Counterfeit

With the advent of 5G, the number of UICC based IoT devices is going to explode.  A large variety of devices will be IoT enabled and the penetration into our daily life will be inevitable. Be it supplier, manufacturer, retailer or consumer; to guard against counterfeit IoT devices infiltrating their network is utmost important. 

The vision of the project is to create a decentralized system with blockchain and IoT to help all parties in the supply chain and the consumers to detect counterfeits, prevent unauthorized action on the IoT device and provide visibility and an undisputable trace of the IoT provenance data.  No central authority or repository is required to authenticate the information.  Our mission is to setup a decentralized network using blockchain technology that is capable of monitoring each IoT device (which can be a manufacturing part or a sellable goods) registered in the network from its origin to the hands of the consumer and beyond. 

Each IoT device needs to be equipped with GNSS capabilities and will report its location to the network in a regular interval.  The network will record each update and store the information in the blockchain or a decentralized storage.  A front end will also be built to help register and visualize the provenance data of each device.  The system is positioned as a “Source of Truth” to serve suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers worldwide to find out the genuineness of a manufacturing parts or sellable goods.  Suppliers and manufacturers will be allowed to register IoT devices with GNSS capabilities onto the network and it will continuously keep track of the whereabout of the devices.  A onetime registration fee will be charged for each registered device. 

The following is a high-level diagram of the system flow between different components:

As depicted in the above diagram, any retailers for IoT devices (any smart device with embedded mobile connectivity) can extract the SOT (Source-of-truth) ID pre-registered by the manufacturer in the SOT platform.  The SOT ID listed can be used by the consumer to authenticate the genuineness of the device manufacture, location and owner to avoid purchasing of counterfeit or pilferage products.

Next time, we will continue to discuss a workable solution architecture for registration, device connectivity and genuineness searching for those who are interested in the detail of this project.