Technology is constantly evolving and improving. Phones were once connected via a wire, then became wireless, and we now have smart mobile devices. The history of technology goes a long way to prove that it is indeed true that all technology constantly upgrades. True to this statement, Blockless DAG networks have now been introduced. But before we are able to appreciate what this means; we must first understand Blockchain and DAG networks and what they can do.
What is a DAG network?
DAG is a directed graph data structure that uses a topological ordering. Only forward movement occurs throughout the sequence. Data processing, analysis, and compression problems often use DAG application. This linked storage structure allows for only one chain on the whole network. NXT used the idea of changing the chain-like storage structure into a DAG of blocks.
The Blockchain combination with DAG still comes from the idea of side-chains. Different types of transactions run on different chains simultaneously. DAG of blocks, however, relies on the concept of blocks.
IoT and Blockchains:
To understand the potential of the combination of IoT and Blockchain, we must first understand them individually.
IoT — the interconnection of computing devices via the Internet, which can send and receive data through it.
Blockchain — an encrypted, distributed computer filing system that can help create real-time records. This Distributed Ledger Technology is cited as revolution in digital business.
Our world is constantly becoming smarter and more interconnected. This poses a few problems: most IoT devices are not very secure. The security issue is very compelling as a failure in an IoT ecosystem exposes multiple devices along with personal data. But in Blockchains the authority is not centralized. Hence, single-point failure will give access only to a node rather than the entire system. Oversight is another vital component that Blockchain can contribute. It can record a permanent, immutable list of data that passes through the supply chain. This will make it impossible to overwrite and tamper with.
Currently most IoT devices share a centralized cloud storage. However, this is not sustainable in the long-term. Especially taking into consideration the large number of devices and hence data volume. Blockchains can do away with the data bottle-neck problem due to their distributed nature. Putting these together in theory, it is possible to create a verifiable and secure method of tracking processed data using smart devices. In addition to this is the ability to interact and make decisions without any human intervention. Such a network will give rise to a plethora of applications.
Blockless DAG:
Blockless DAG is a contrary to the popular notion about necessity of ‘blocks’. In a Blockchain, transactions are mined into blocks. The sequence of blocks is maintained by the pre-hashes between them. The combination of blocks and transactions, is the foundation of Blockless networks. Each transaction is directly involved in maintaining the sequence, and hence the process of mining is skipped.
Blockless projects:
DiscoveryIoT:
An autonomous Blockchain IoT network, inspired by a biological system: Discovery is a Blockless DAG protocol. This Blockchain IoT platform allows the nodes to share infrastructure like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Processing power and storage enhance the intelligence of the Edge Computing process. It is not only Blockless but also localized using semantic ontology.
The core of the Discovery network comprises of three layers, Cliot-the IoT tag, user community and the data analytics/Artificial Intelligence engine.
Cliot is an IoT tag that utilizes backscatter technology to absorb surrounding electromagnetic waves to power itself up. This can communicate with devices within a 30m range, and is also compatible with several sensors.
The user community is a community of smartphone users that have the Discovery application installed on their phones. These smartphones act as nodes in the network. Cliot communicates and transmits data over this through WiFi or Bluetooth.
Data analytics, the third layer where the data received is processed using edge and sent to the cloud to capture useful insights about the processes in the supply chain. These insights help to strategize businesses and maintain quality of the supply chain.
With Blockchain scalability, there can only be a fixed Blockchain with fixed block interval which limits transactions per second. To overcome this scalability problem IOTA created its solution, Tangle, a Blockless DAG protocol. This gets rid of blocks by using the principle that transactions validate previous transactions. With the Tangle protocol, when a user sends a transaction, it validates two previous transactions. This enables a stream of incoming transactions to validate prior unconfirmed transactions. Which eventually validates continuously without being held up by discreet blocks.
This Blockless architecture and uses the directed acyclic graph (DAG) rather than the conventional Blockchain. It is especially useful for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) micropayments and data messaging.
Conclusion:
If you are truly interested in the domain of IoT and what the future holds, understanding Blockless networks is a stepping stone. You might already be familiar with Block-based chains, in which case understadning this should be easier. If not, don’t fret. Feel free to go read about it and revisit this article for a better understanding. Learning will not happen over night, take your time. The quality of what you know is worth much more than how much you know. If you want to look through more examples of Blockless projects, a few good examples are Byteball ( a cryptocurrency platform), IoT Chain ( a lite and secure OS for IoT devices).
