Blockchain Enabled Architecture with Selective Consensus Mechanisms for IoT Based Saffron-Agri Value Chain

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the backbone behind numerous smart and automated applications in the modern era by providing seamless connectivity and information retrieval among the physical and virtual objects. IoT networks are resource constraint platforms hence prone to security and privacy challenges. Blockchain technology comes to the forefront to improvise the security, privacy and less dependency on the third party centralized servers. There exists a rich amount of work with numerous practical applications by fusing IoT and blockchain. In blockchain technology, the consensus mechanisms are considered to be the driving force in its implementation. In this paper, we propose a simplified blockchain based internet of things (BIoT) architecture for resource constrained IoT devices with selective consensus mechanisms based on the scale of IoT networks. We have selectively highlighted some of the important consensus algorithms which are favourable for the IoT networks. We have tailored the blockchain framework in a manner that suits to the resource constrained IoT networks. To evaluate our design, we implemented a prototype leveraging the blockchain and IoT network. The preliminary results suggest that the proposed system incorporating supply chain management of Saffron agri-value chain outperforms the existing systems. Furthermore, we have carried out a detailed case study on the cultivation and marketing strategies for maintaining the originality and transparency starting from farmer-to-consumer as saffron-Agri value chain.