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.

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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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