The overarching goal of Gaia-X is to create a federated and secure data infrastructure for Europe and beyond that allows companies and citizens to share data without giving up control over it. Every ecosystem participant decides what happens to their data, where it is stored and thus always retains absolute data sovereignty. To achieve this, the Gaia-X architecture follows the principle of decentralization, with a multitude of individual platforms all following a common standard based on openness, transparency and trust.

The Gaia-X Federation Services, at the center of the visualization, are the implementation toolbox and minimum technical requirements and services that enable Gaia-X Federations to become operational and work together. Federations are individual participants that team up to create value for all participants and to open up new market potentials.

• The Identity & Trust service closes the trust gap by enabling federations to authenticate and authorize participants. This is achieved by utilizing Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), specifically Decentralized Digital Identifiers (DIDs), Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and Verifiable Presentations (VPs), which ensure that every participant is in full control of their identity at all times.
• The Federated Catalogue service allows federations to set up a repository, in which participants can search for and discover information and services of other participants based on their aforementioned credentials.
• The Sovereign Data Exchange service helps participants in keeping sovereignty over their data by providing functionalities for specifying and tracking how their data is used.
• The Compliance service ensures that every participant and service is complying with the Gaia-X principles. Together with a number of decentralized services that are part of the Gaia-X policy, it provides decentralized, sovereign and immutable governance and control mechanisms that enable trustworthy transactions between participants.
• Lastly, the Gaia-X Portal provides user friendly access to the Federation Services and supports the onboarding and accreditation of participants as well as the discovery of services.

The Gaia-X Federation Services are co-developed by the GXFS-DE project, funded by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and coordinated by eco – Association of the Internet Industry.

The Automotive & Mobility domain harbors three Gaia-X lighthouse projects, the Mobility Data Space, Catena-X and EONA-X. The Mobility Data Space is funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and deals with the creation of a data marketplace that allows for the sovereign exchange of mobility data in Europe, Catena-X is funded by the BMWK and is tasked with establishing a trustworthy, collaborative, open and secure data ecosystem for the automotive industry. The objective of EONA-X is to establish a dedicated European data space for mobility, transport and tourism, developed on the path of the Gaia-X initiative. Funding is mostly provided by the private sector.

Datarella, as previously announced, is working on the moveID project, which, together with four related ventures, is part of the Gaia-X 4 Future Mobility project family. The goal of moveID is to develop a digital identity infrastructure and trustworthy data exchange process for the mobility of the future. Feasibility will be shown on the basis of two use cases, V2X services in heterogenous, decentralized mobility infrastructures and vehicle data sharing. moveID is funded by the BMWK and the interdisciplinary consortium of mobility enterprises, Web3 companies and research facilities is lead by BOSCH.

The Industry 4.0 sector features a German-Austrian joint Gaia-X lighthouse project, EuProGigant. It’s intention is to establish an ecosystem that enables the smart and sovereign use of data for production. Funding is provided by the BMWK and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK).

With KOSMoS, Datarella has already successfully finished a research project in the Industry 4.0 space by realizing a collaborative smart contracting platform for digital value networks. Now, based on these results, Datarella is also involved in the two followup Gaia-X projects Cosmic-X and ESCOM. Cosmic-X is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and deals with advanced smart services in the context of spare part supply chain automation and optimization. The specific use cases that will be explored are digital twins, trusted supply chains and platform-based maintenance. ESCOM is funded by the BMWK and seeks to make a demonstrable contribution to a responsible manufacturing industry regarding resource consumption and sustainable resource use. The project will demonstrate that the use and balancing of edge and cloud data spaces allows for the flexible, load- and energy demand-dependent use of services as a know-how offering of component manufacturers with high utility value for the end application. Both projects are carried out in collaboration with leading industry partners and research facilities.

We are incredibly proud to be contributing to the development of the Gaia-X ecosystem in two critical domains and hope that our illustration sheds some light on the work that has already been done and will continue to be done towards an open, transparent and secure data infrastructure for everyone.

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In addition to Datarella, the consortium consisted of Schwäbische Werkzeugmaschinen, the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Equipment (ISW), the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center, inovex, ONDICS, Schütte, and Asys Group.

KOSMoS worked to develop a collaborative platform for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). DLT is a family of innovative, decentralized technologies with blockchain technology being the most popular member of the family. Within the KOSMoS project, two different industrial use cases were realized on a DLT-based platform: 1) dynamic leasing, and 2) transparent maintenance.

The primary goal of KOSMoS was to develop a platform for the cross-company networking of production and process data using blockchain technology. The platform is able to integrate new offerings and business models. Examples include transparent maintenance concepts, dynamic leasing, and proof of quality for delivered products. Through these business models, all cooperating companies should gain an advantage. Examples of such improvements include lower prices, lower maintenance costs, and easier product distribution. In summary, the project should facilitate better cooperation amongst companies in the industry sector.

The Hyperledger Fabric DLT used in this project was part of the following logical system, where most of the individual components are accessible over standardized ports, and others were only available in private networks:

The final results of KOSMoS were presented at a full-day workshop in March including all three initiatives of the InKoWe association.

We from Datarella were very proud to be part of this innovative research project and happy to make a major contribution to the consortium with its DLT experience.

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The KOSMoS ecosystem runs on a Hyperledger-based consortium blockchain. It enables private channels between a defined subset of actors that allows them to work on a shared database that is not accessible from not authorized parties. Usually, the industrial partner provides one Hyperledger-Framework with individual channels for each customer. This collaboration needs a governing framework with a set of defining rules and obligations for each participant and managing and working processes inside the system. At KOSMoS, we faced this challenge and summarized it in a governance model.

In the first step, we defined the stakeholders of the ecosystem and described their roles, such as the roles of the industrial partner, their customers, and potential trust stewards that can act on behalf of one party. Furthermore, we defined universal voting rights and a general voting scheme that says that all parties are equal, and decisions are only valid if all parties agree. 

After defining and describing the stakeholders, we determined the governance structure that acts as the basis for decision making. Since the industrial partner actively runs the Hyperledger network, we defined a semi-decentralized structure with a slightly more powerful industrial partner than the customers. Furthermore, we added processes for changing the governance policy.

In the next step, the Hyperledger network and channel policy needed to be defined. We established procedures for changes in organizations or the infrastructure, such as adding or removing a node from the system. 

Last but not least, we defined basic rules for generating, transferring, processing, and interpreting machine and production data. These rules provide information on who can write and read the data and contains a set of penalties for breaking the rules. 

We further left the industrial partner the possibility to change the governance model for their specific purposes in their systems. Therefore, this governance model will act as a reference implementation and can moreover be used for other blockchain-based consortiums.

These pillars create the fundament for the KOSMoS Governance Model. Even though we received a lot of positive feedback from the project partners, there will likely be changes to the future’s governance model. Once finished, the governance model will be released at the end of the project. 

The KOSMoS research project aims to provide a blockchain-based collaboration platform for industrial partners and their customers. Besides Datarella, there are eight consortium partners from the sector research, machine maintenance, and IT-service providers. Read more about KOSMoS on our Datarella website or visit the project website.

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The two days of the workshop each had a different focus. While the first day was all about working together on common topics, each consortial partner presented their progress and future tasks in short presentations. 

On the first day, Datarella presented blockchain impacts for KOSMoS. In particular about the Node- and Client infrastructure, transactions and signatures in Hyperledger, and proposed open questions for a governance model in KOSMoS that are going to be answered in the next weeks and months. With a very interesting guest presentation from CashOnLedger, the topic of regulative questions regarding cryptocurrencies was faced in the afternoon, followed by discussions about identification and key management of actors inside a consortial blockchain. These topics lead to multiple constructive discussions that left a fair amount of valuable inputs for the consortial partners and Datarella.
In the afternoon, Datarella was asked to hold a presentation about itself, where we presented some of our innovative products like Track and Trust, the XSC Smart Wallet or the recently released Connex Coin. 

In parallel to these topics in the first workshop, a second workshop took place that focused on a common KOSMoS system architecture. Here, important aspects like information exchange and availability were being discussed.

On the second day, there were interesting topics by the consortial partners such as identity management in KOSMoS, standardized formats for transmission of machine data, defining tasks in apps, time series analysis and many more. These topics will have a major impact on the final KOSMoS system. 

As a result, it’s fair to say that we had very productive days even though it was held remotely. We had a great exchange of information and collaborated efficiently during the workshops that leave us happy with the overall result. However, we are already looking forward to our next consortial meeting that will be held in September 2020 to see all consortial partners in person.

The post Report on the Successful Remote Consortial Meeting for KOSMoS appeared first on DATARELLA.

If you want to read the full article, you can read about it here! 

Within three years, the KOSMoS project intends to create blockchain-based frameworks for machine manufacturers to offer services for transparent maintenance and dynamic leasing contracts for their machines. Since these use cases are crucial to the stakeholders, it is important to choose the right type of blockchain to satisfy their needs.

Our methodology for choosing the correct type of blockchain followed three steps:

1. Study existing types of blockchain and select a subset
2. Define criteria for evaluating the most suitable blockchain system
3. Compare the different blockchains to our predefined requirements

After comparing all possible types of blockchains, we eventually decided to implement the KOSMoS system on Hyperledger Fabric. One of the reasons for Hyperledger Fabric was the possibility to use channels between each machine manufacturer and its clients to keep sensitive information confidential while maintaining a shared blockchain infrastructure.

If you have any questions about the project, our methodology, or criticism, feel free to contact me via E-mail.

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We want to use the event of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing to give some updates on the KOSMoS project we are currently working on. Together with partners from the industry, university institutions and software development, we are continuously making one step after another to reach our goal, to deliver a blockchain-based solution which allows manufacturing companies to make use of dynamic leasing contracts with their customers, to get a valid and tamperproof maintenance documentation for their machines and to control the quality of the products based on predefined requirements.

In the beginning of July, teams from inovex, Ondics, University of Furtwangen and Datarella met at a workshop hosted and moderated by the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units (ISW) from the University Stuttgart.
Once there, we discussed possible interfaces between the machines, the edge gateway, the analysis tool, the global KOSMoS platform, and the blockchain. We were able to agree on a basic infrastructure plan. Going into greater detail, we also agreed upon how data to be transferred from one instance to the next one. Based on this infrastructure we are currently planning to develop a pilot that demonstrates a data workflow from an oil-pressure sensor of a machine over the blockchain to the cloud platform. This pilot should be finished within a few weeks. 

Decision on Blockchain Technology and Consensus Algorithm

Moreover together with the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center, we decided to use Hyperledger Fabric technology as the underlying blockchain for the KOSMoS project. In addition to the fact that Hyperledger Fabric is very suitable for consortial blockchains, another big argument for using Hyperledger Fabric is channel functionality. Assuming we want only one single Blockchain for all the use cases, we need to make sure that the privacy concerns of the industrial partners are being respected. In Hyperledger Fabric, it is possible to channel connections between organizations in such a way, that the transactions are hidden from other participants on the blockchain. This protects the data from unintended sharing with others.

Another advantage of Hyperledger is the separation of the consensus in three phases ‘endorsement’, ‘ordering’ and ‘validation’. This creates more transparency about the current state of the data and also enables pluggable consensus services for all phases. We assume that there isn’t full trust among all participants in the system, so we need a consensus algorithm that tolerates faulty states. Because of this, we decided to implement the RAFT Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus mechanism. This is practical especially for the ordering part where there is the highest probability of mixing up the order of the transactions. Raft-BFT in Hyperledger also brings an out-of-the-box Kafka as a reference implementation that makes it highly compatible with the edge gateway technology. 

The next steps are actually implementing the blockchain for the project and connecting it to neighboring systems like the edge gateway and the KOSMoS platform. 

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