Towards configuring Hyperledger Fabric 2.0 Blockchain Platform for Industry 4.0 applications

Abstract

The Industry 4.0 is offering novel opportunities for large enterprises or even small and medium enterprises (SME) to digitize and also simplify their existing production workflows. With the uprise of the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), the Industry 4.0 also receives new possibilities to set up a more secure, redundant and decentralized data infrastructure. Existing database systems can be exchanged with Blockchain systems, thus making use of its inherent immutability. Popular open-source Blockchain frameworks such as Hyperledger Fabric offer large customizability, which makes them attractive for dynamic Industry 4.0 applications. Though, the configuration of the required networks is not a trivial task. Due to its high flexibility and numerous configuration parameters, an interested developer needs to have a deep understanding or even some experience with the Hyperledger Fabric framework. Since most SMEs do not have a dedicated IT department, this paper aims to provide a design guideline for interested developers to optimally set up a Hyperledger Fabric v2.0 business network, which is suited for the desired use-case. With the special demands of Industry 4.0 in mind, this paper also provides three example use-cases, which can benefit from the use of DLT to enhance data security. The results are generalizable and comparable to previous works but differ in some version-specific aspects of Fabric.