flowchain-ledger

Flowchain distributed ledgers in JavaScript

Flowchain-ledger is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices (aka. IoT Blockchain). The Flowchain software framework is designed from the ground up to fit current IoT needs.

This is the official Flowchain distributed ledger library, which provides the following APIs:

• Create data transactions
• Submit data transactions

About Flowchain

Flowchain is a software framework for the IoT blockchain to provide a distributed ledger programming framework for peer-to-peer IoT networks and real-time data transactions, and flowchain-ledger is the Node.js distribution for heterogeneous hardware devices, such as MediaTek LinkIt Smart 7688, Raspberry Pi, laptops, smart phones and etc.

Abstract

Flowchain aims to implement a blockchain that can provide near real-time transactions for the IoT. The Flowchain technology can ensure chunked data (data streams) transactions by using the virtual blocks concept which is proposed by Flowchain acamedic papers. The virtual blocks can be combined with emerging public blockchains, such as Ethereum and Hyperledger which is optimized specifically for the use case of off-chain transactions. If you need such "Hybrid Blockchain" network for the IoT, please refer to flowchain-hybrid.

The FlowchainCoin (symbol: FLC) is the Ethereum ERC20 token for tokenized assets that use in the Flowchain network. Tokens offer can support the transfer of assets from one trusted party to another.

Features

• Mining-based Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
• Run on every IoT node
• RPC over the Websocket protocol
• Distributed Hash Table (DHT) by the Chord protocol
• The device server in Web of Things (WoT) architecture

Prerequisite

• Node.js v8+
• See Flowchain Documentation

Getting started

Install the Flowchain distributed ledger via npm.

npm install flowchain-ledger

Create the boot.js file and use flowchain-ledger to submit a data transaction.

var PeerNode = require('flowchain-ledger').PeerNode;
var node = new PeerNode();;
node.submit(data);

Please use flowchain-hybrid which is the blockchain application built on flowchain-ledger.

Install via Github

You can also download this repo.

$ git clone https://github.com/flowchain/flowchain-ledger.git
$ cd flowchain-ledger
$ npm install

Configuration

$ export HOST=192.168.1.1
$ export PORT=8000
$ node boot.js

The boot node is now running at the address 192.168.1.1:8000. Please modify the IP address and listening port number to match your own environment. Subsequently, to start a peer node and join the boot node:

$ export HOST=192.168.1.2           ; Peer Node (My IP address)
$ export PORT=8001                  ; Peer Node (My listening port)
$ export PEER_ADDR=192.168.1.1      ; Boot Node (The node intend to join)
$ export PEER_PORT=8000             ; Boot Node (The node intend to join)
$ node peer.js                      ; Start the new peer node

The new peer node will run at the address 192.168.1.2:8001, and subsequently join the boot node at the address 192.168.1.1:8000. The peer node will intend to join the p2p network. Furthuremore, you can start another peer node and join the p2p network through the boot node or one of the peer nodes. For example, to start another peer node and join the peer node at 192.168.1.2:8001:

$ export HOST=192.168.1.2
$ export HOST=8002
$ export PEER_ADDR=192.168.1.2
$ export PEER_PORT=8001
$ node peer.js

Publication

Presentation

• Flowchain: A Case Study on Building a Blockchain for the IoT in Node.js - Jollen Chen, Flowchain.co , LinuxCon + ContainerCon + CloudOpen (LC3), Beijing, China, June 19-20, 2017.

Bibliography

This work is based on the research papers.

[1] Chen, J. (2017). Flowchain: A Distributed Ledger Designed for Peer-to-Peer IoT Networks and Real-time Data Transactions. In: 2nd International Workshop on Linked Data and Distributed Ledgers. Portoroz.

[2] Chen, J. (2017). Devify: Decentralized Internet of Things Software Framework for a Peer-to-Peer and Interoperable IoT Device In: Advances in IoT Architecture and Systems. Toronto, Canada.

How to Cite

@article{flowchain_2017,
title={Flowchain: A Distributed Ledger Designed for Peer-to-Peer IoT Networks and Real-time Data Transactions},
journal={Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Linked Data and Distributed Ledgers (LDDL2)},
author={Chen, Jollen},
year={2017}
},

@article{devify_2017,
title={Devify: Decentralized Internet of Things Software Framework for a Peer-to-Peer and Interoperable IoT Device},
journal={Proceedings of the Workshop on Advances in IoT Architecture and Systems (AIoTAS2017)},
author={Chen, Jollen},
year={2017}
},

License

Copyright (C) 2016-present Jollen. The source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the LICENSE file.