Helium LongFi Network and Smart-Contract based Ethereum Blockchain Technology for Food Supply Chain traceability and Tracking Solution

[aeroshiln]

Elevator Pitch:

To Prototype the utility of Helium Network  based LongFi Protocol and Smart-Contract based Ethirium Blockchain Technology for quality tea production and systematic supply-chain traceability and Transparency Solution. The aim is to develop a futuristic smart model for agriculture and the food supply chain, which offers an innovative way for every stakeholder in the food supply chain to get complete transparency on data which cannot be corrupted or manipulated.

Total fiat/hnt ask:

We are seeking USD 10,000 to develop the hardware and software prototype for an end-to-end supply chain food traceability solution.

Name and Address:

Aeroshil Nameirakpam

Co-Founder

Nibiaa Devices Pvt.Ltd.

4^th Floor, L.I Complex, Near Singjamei SuperMarket,

Singjamei, Imphal-795008, Manipur, India

Email : aeroshil@nibiaa.com/ info@nibiaa.com

 

Team or Project website: Website: www.nibiaadevices.com

Team or projects social:

Github : https://github.com/Nibiaa-Devices

Facebook link : https://www.facebook.com/NibiaaDevices

Mobile App store : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nibiaa.app

Promo video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL7ol4mcnVI

Mobile App video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVzxCnonio4

Twitter link : https://twitter.com/DevicesNibiaa

linkedln page : https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeroshiln/

 

 

Code Repos of team or key applicants:

(In lieu of public repos, please list a short bio of the applicants.)

 https://github.com/Nibiaa-Devices

 https://github.com/paresharma -  11 Years Software development experiance ,Specialties: Ruby,Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, MySql, MongoDB, Redis, NodeJs, HTML, CSS

 https://github.com/Niranjoyyengkhom - 5 Years in Hardware Design and Development, Strong Understanding of Programming language C,C ++ , Python,) and on Linux Operating System and well Knowledge About Electronics Circuit Designing

https://github.com/ArunjitSanasam - 5 years in Mechatronics Engineering , Programming languages( C++, Linux). Capable professional with a keen eye for detail, exceptional multi-tasking capabilities, and advanced technical knowledge-seeking role as a Lead engineer.

https://github.com/aeroshiln 15 years of IT Management Consulting Business experiance. Worked i Big4 accounting Firm, Business Development, IT Solution Architect.

Project Details:

In the present world, the problem of health and food safety is deteriorating day by day because a proper food traceability system is not available. The biggest reason for food-borne disease is contamination which is hard to track in the conventional food supply chain because the mechanism is not visible .There are primarily two issues with reducing and reacting to food safety problems: poor communication and lack of traceability. Many companies rely on traditional paper-based tracking mechanisms, which are slow and error-prone. To make matters worse, those involved in various stages of the supply chain often don’t communicate with each other. This leaves blind spots in the supply chain.Hence,there is a pressing need for products tracking and tracing owing to globalized supply chain,diverse supplier, risk of counterfeit products ,verification of  Geographical Indicator (GI) tagged products and customer demand for in-depth visibility towards product safety and sustainability practices Globally. The world is going towards Digitization, decarbonization and democratization even in agricultural practices and people want to know where the food they eat comes from.We need an integrated track and trace solution not only ensures supply chain efficiency, product safety and sustained brand value,but it also to save costs, time and effort while helping companies adhere to regulatory requirements and global delivery.

Nibiaa Devices is working on transforming the Package food industry supply-chain by bringing in Complete traceability and transparency in raw material sourcing, manufacturing and distribution related data through IoT, Blockchain and AI Technology. Real-time visibility and transparency can be achieved in the supply chain only through an integrated , end-to-end solution powered by the internet of things(IoT) and blockchain Technology- a solution that gathers granular data at all stages of the supply chain and makes it accessible at any time to all supply chain members. Digital product information such as farm details, batch numbers,factory and processing data, expiration dates, storage temperatures and shipping details that are digitally connected to trace every step of the processing of the food items.

Such detailed level insights on packaged food traceability and transparency was not possible earlier due to the constraints involving getting such data on a real-time basis. There were hardware constraints in the form of device capability like what kind of data to sense or device power-supply, network constraints to get these data from remote locations eg. wifi, bluetooth is not possible and Cellular Network is power consuming. There were other issues in the form of data corruption and data tampering even if the data is collected which could not be sorted easily to get a global level consensus. There was no availability of a global network where devices can roam free without restriction. But with the innovation in Hardware Technology and sensing capability , introduction of new connectivity solutions like LPWAN( Low Power wide area network) which consumes less battery and data can be transferred for miles in the absence of cellular connectivity. Introduction of blockchain enables world-wide distributed and decentralized telecom networks such solutions are feasible to be implemented at fraction of the costs then it was before hence making the solution more accessible to micro,small and remotely located enterprises. The Novelty in the solution is that we are building hardware specialized for agricultural data collection by making devices which can be installed in fields, devices which can be installed in factories, processing units and warehouses and devices which can be installed in transit.

A novel approach has been applied in this research and developed a futuristic smart model for agriculture and the food supply chain, which offers an innovative way for farmers to acquire information on crops. Refer research article on "IoT with BlockChain: A Futuristic Approach in Agriculture and Food Supply Chain" by Sabir Anwar, Sheeraz Ahmad, Fasee Ullah.

 

Deliverable Roadmap and Milestone  :-

M1)   LongFi Product Prototype development (3 Months)

- Equipments and material purchase

- PCB Design of 4-in-1 Sensor Node for outdoor usage , PCB Design of 2-in-1 Sensor node for indoor usage,PCB Design for I/O Sensor Node , PCB Design for GPS Tracking Node and RFID with LoRaWAN Node.

- IP67 Casing Design for outdoor 4-in-1 Sensor node, Node installation stand design, Casing design and development of 2-in-1 Sensor Node, I/O Node ,GPS Node and RFID with loRaWAN Node.

M2)    Ethereum Blockchain Smart contract with Helium Network (4 Months)

-Development of Smart Contract based Ethereum Blockchain application for tracking and tracing.

-Complete integration testing of longFi based Helium Device, Helium Network and Ethereum  Blockchain Application

-Reporting on testing of entire application development.

M3)   Mechanical and Electrical testing of Prototype(2 Months)

- Unit Testing and Integration testing of entire solution

- Reporting on mechanical, Electrical unit and integration testing.

- Application for LoRa Alliance Certification, CE,ECC etc for sale in other geographies

- IP and Patent Filing of New solution developed.

M4)   Validation of entire application with Pilot Project (3 months)

- Batch assembly and manufacturing for 3 Pilot Projects.

- Experimental field trails and Validation with Ticklai tea research Institute (TTRI), Tocklai, Assam regarding findings.

- Reporting on the findings and validation of solutions for market launch.

  

Prototype PCB Design for 4-in-1 Sensor Node Current Prototype

New Prototype Link : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PJ0dFCcb6zFBIqtciaGrLUys98_gfNL8?usp=sharing

Use-case of the product : https://drive.google.com/file/d/158kf0X50Pl8a3t6uS4Qv6w4iEK9HNBDW/view?usp=sharing

 

  have done some preliminary work on developing LoRaWAN based 4-in-1 based IoT Node capable of capturing upto 4 different sensor data from the ground which will provide real-time data on soil like Soil pH, Soil NPK content in mg/kg, Soil moisture etc. The Same device has been retrofitted to measure Environment data Temperature, humidity, wind speed, Luminosity, Rain Gauge etc. The first prototype was found to be more power consuming so we are working on the PCB Design for our 2nd Prototype which will have much improved power consumption and longer battery life supported by solar power. We have also been able to integrate Our loRaWAN hardware to the Global Blockchain based distributed LoRaWAN Network Server called Helium Network which is world 's largest distributed Network and represent our data though an application server IoT Platform. Data on farms, factory and processing unit storage temperature etc. have already been demonstrated using the pilot projects and resulting data have been collected and analyzed. 3 pilot projects conducted in a Tea Processing unit, Pineapple processing unit and a meat processing unit. Now we want to try in Large scale commercial tea gardens and execute at least 3 projects. Various tea gardens demonstrate the end-to-end solution Technologies comprising LoRaWAN based IoT Technology, Smart contract based Blockchain Technology and On the ground level field data collection and validation and complete.

Existing IoT-based agriculture systems have a centralized format and operate in isolation, leaving room for unresolved issues and major concerns, including data security, manipulation, and single failure points. This solution proposes a futuristic IoT with a blockchain model to meet these challenges which can not only transform the tea industry but any food industry supply chain traceability and transparency in general. The project will try to solve some of the above stated problems with the following innovative solution :- a Tea Quality and Yield Improvement at ground level in Tea Gardens using LoRaWAN Based IoT Hardware and Software Decision Support System Solution. b Tea Processing and Production efficiency Improvement using LoRaWAN based Monitoring Devices for overall plant management. c Transportation and entire Supply-Chain Process transparency and traceability Improvement using Smart Contract based Blockchain Solution. Our Novel end-to-end Monitoring & control solution for tracking and tracing food supply chain using IoT, Blockchain and AI Technology has never been attempted before in the Indian Tea Industry.

Roadmap:

Through this project we want to provide a complete Hardware and Software solution for real-time visibility and transparency in the supply chain through an integrated, end-to-end solution powered by the internet of things IoT ,AI,Blockchain Technology. The solution will gather granular data at all stages of the supply chain and make it accessible at any time to all supply chain members. Digital product information such as farm details, batch numbers, factory and processing data, expiration dates, storage temperatures and shipping details that are digitally connected to trace every step of the processing of the packaged food items in-order to provide a holistic solution starting with Tea Processing then moving onto other crops. Scope The following objectives are targeted to be implemented :-

• To Utilize LoRaWAN Long Range Wide Area Network Based IoT Protocol and install devices in Tea Garden to collect critical data on soil and environment, devices in Manufacturing units for remote monitoring and install devices in transit monitoring.
• To Utilize smart-contracts based Blockchain Technology to track & trace the workflow of Tea supply chains, Implement traceability and shareability of Data among various key stakeholders.
• To build an IoT, AI and Blockchain based Data driven decision support System to increase the quality and yield of produced tea and provide necessary data to the buyers for export purposes.

 

Data Analysis The following Data analysis will be performed to formulate the expected output and outcome of the project :-

• Data Analysis to provide a Prototype device that collecting Soil NPK, Soil pH, Soil Electrical Conductivity, temperature and humidity will help in automatic algorithm based calculation of how much of fertilizers to be applied, in what quantity and what time in the plantation through year round monitoring. How much of irrigation to be performed in which part of the field at what time analyzing the soil data and hyper-local weather conditions.
• Data analysis to provide a Smart Contract based Blockchain solution that will benefits and provides value to every stakeholder of the tea supply chain, starting from the Grower/Producer who are encouraged to perform sustainable agricultural practices and receives visibility. The tea processor/packager gets to showcase a unique branding for their product.

Following are the milestones deliverable we are expected to accomplish :-

Milestone +  Dates	Deliverables	Summary	Costs
M1. Date	LongFi Product Prototype development	PCB Design of 4-in-1 Sensor Node for outdoor usage , PCB Design of 2-in-1 Sensor node for indoor usage,PCB Design for I/O Sensor Node , PCB Design for GPS Tracking Node and RFID with LoRaWAN Node.	4000 USD
M2. Date	Ethereum Blockchain Smart contract with Helium Network	Development of Smart Contract based Ethereum Blockchain application for tracking and tracing solution.Complete integration testing of longFi based Helium Device, Helium Network and Ethereum  Blockchain Application	4000 USD
M3.Date	Mechanical and Electrical testing of Prototype	Application for LoRa Alliance Certification, CE,ECC etc for sale in other geographies.  IP and Patent Filing of New solution developed.	1000 USD
M4.Date	Validation of entire application with pilot Project	Batch assembly and manufacturing for 3 Pilot Projects.  Experimental field trials and Validation with Tocklai tea research Institute (TTRI), Tocklai, Assam regarding findings.  Reporting on the findings and validation of solutions for market launch.	1000 USD

[tmincey]

Thanks for the application, Aeroshil. A couple comments/questions:

• The number of proposed devices and uses cases seem quite broad (agriculture, indoor/outdoor, supply chain tracking, etc). As a first step, would you be open to narrowing scope to one use case and a minimal set of devices to architect a solution for that use case? (the tea farm perhaps, up to you)
• Could you be more specific about the requirements and use case for the Etheruem / smart contract system?

We'd be happy to do a quick call with you to discuss live as well.

[aeroshiln]

Thank you for your response Tyler. As you rightly pointed out our solution is a combination of 3 use-cases first is collecting ground level environment, soil and water parameters by installing 4-in-1 LoRaWAN enabled sensor node by placing these devices on the field, second monitoring the transit from one section of the supply chain to another by installing devices for transit and finally factory and warehouse monitoring solutions which collects storage and factory indoor environment data.

We are definitely open to narrowing down the scope by first tackling the ground/field level data collection for tea gardens for this grant and tackle the next use-case as a next step as we have already designed the PCB for the ground level 4-in-1 Device and connect it to helium network . We are open to your suggestions and recommendations.

Regarding the usage of Ethereum based Smart Contract system is to provides a digital database that monitors, tracks records, and processes digital and physical resources while moving from one stage of the supply chain to another depicted by the attached diagram in figure 4. Every transaction is treated in a distributed manner may contain product specific attributes and transactions that will be added by players in the supply chain. The supply chain players can recognize and investigate the association of products along with all stages of the supply chain and zoological technology practices (fertilizers application, seeds etc.) . The blockchain stores invariant records that are transparent and digitally accessible to all users in the supply chain. We assumed that Helium blockchain might not be able to store these records so we introduced Etherium smart contract to offers a forum for traceability in the agricultural supply chain, allowing end-users to monitor product from origins and ensure their authenticity.

Please feel free to setup a call with my team and provide us a zoom link at my email address aeroshil@nibiaa.com /info@nibiaa.com

[aeroshiln]

Hello,
As per our zoom conversation, we decided to reduce the initial scope to include the following:
a) Build the 4-in-1 LoRaWAN Sensor Node prototype which will primarily focus on onboarding the device on the helium network using Data-only Helium approved Hotspot Dragino LPS8.
b) Display the ground level sensor data on Nibiaa IoT application Platform with the help of a dashboard.
c) The application will also pull data for satellite imagery for the farm to get information like (NVDI, NDWI,EVI, True Color, False Color) , Current and forecast weather data from Agro Monitoring (https://agromonitoring.com/) through API for farm level information
The satellite based information along with ground level data using sensors mentioned below will provide a complete Satellite and Ground level information to the tea garden manager for their decision support system solution on the same dashboard Which we can replicate as a packaged solution to other tea gardens.

The Nibiaa 4-in-1 Sensor Nodes will be a multi-purpose agriculture application sensor node that will capture indoor and outdoor environmental data and soil information in one device. This single Sensor Node will integrate the following sensors:

• Soil Sensor - RS485 Modubus JXBS-3001-TR Soil 7-in-1 Sensor Node. These sensors are suitable for measuring soil temperature, moisture, total salt content (conductivity), soil PH, and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Compared with the original high precision sensor in Germany and the actual drying weighing method of soil, the sensor has high precision, fast response, and stable output. It is less affected by the salt content of soil and is suitable for all kinds of soil quality. Can be buried in the soil for a long time, is completely waterproof, and is resistant to long-term electrolysis, corrosion, and vacuum filling.
• Environmental Sensor:
  a) Hydreon Rain Gauge Model RG-9 to measure precipitation.
  b) AM2305 Temperature and humidity module for capacitive humidity sensing, digital temperature, and humidity.
  c) Wind Sensor monitors wind direction, and wind velocity.
• Indoor Environment Monitoring Sensor – Model ZPHS01B. This air quality module integrates a laser dust sensor, infrared carbon dioxide sensor, electrochemical formaldehyde sensor, electrochemical ozone sensor, electrochemical carbon monoxide sensor, VOC sensor, NO2 sensor and temperature and humidity sensor. It can accurately measure the concentration of various gases in the air, with UART (TTL level) communication interface.

Revised Costing for the Grant project is mentioned below: -