Decentralised data sharing platform for supply chains

This PhD project will design, implement, and evaluate a novel distributed publish-process-subscribe framework using the blockchain technology and smart contracts, targeted for supply chain management.

Contemporary supply chain applications typically employ a centralised data sharing technology, which is controlled and managed by a single stakeholder belonging to a single organisation, however the supply chain naturally involves multiple organisations.

Multiple data sharing modalities have been considered for supply chain applications including publish-subscribe message models. The pub-sub messaging model connects the data providers (denoted as the publishers) with the data consumers (denoted as the subscribers) though a topic-based interaction model.

It is anticipated that a decentralised computation engine following a publish-subscribe communication model would

• automate business processes
• provide a high-level of transparency and trust
• help the stakeholders to leverage their legacy supply chain systems

Participants

• • • Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
      

Project background

Supply chain and freight management applications typically involve multiple stakeholders belonging to different organisations. When shipments get transported between the stakeholders, the data, metadata, and payment associated with the shipment also get exchanged to track the shipment status reliably and execute business processes, including payment management and demand prediction.

Contemporary applications employ centralised data sharing platforms, which are susceptible to central points of failure. In other words, the entity that runs and manages the data sharing infrastructure may indulge in malicious practices, including data tampering. The publish-subscribe communication model provides an easy-to-use, lightweight, and scalable platform for data sharing. However, it suffers from the central point of failure due to its reliance on the centralised broker.

Trinity is a novel distributed publish-subscribe platform that can operate in a distributed setting involving multiple stakeholders while preventing central points of failure. While Trinity can enhance trust, it lacks support for data and payment processing within its data-sharing channel. Besides, the data-sharing platform can benefit from the inclusion of domain-specific features within the data-sharing platform to enhance industrial adoption.

Project objectives

1. Design, implement, and evaluate a decentralised data sharing platform for supply chain applications.
2. Investigate the domain-specific requirements of supply chain industries and integrate some or all of them to publish-process-subscribe architecture.
3. Automate business process within the publish-process-subscribe framework to increase the framework’s effectiveness.

Profile of researcher, Amir Hosein Jabbari Sabegh

Find out more about this project’s researcher, including what questions the research will answer, the obstacles Amir has overcome, what comes next after his PhD, and a video presentation of his work. Also hear from his supervisor, Professor Raja Jurdak. Read the profile at: Amir Hosein Jabbari Sabegh – iMOVE PhD student.