Common use of Future Work Clause in Contracts

Future Work. In this chapter, a proposed architecture for the delivery of a data audit chain for RCM in GB rail and other industrial contexts has been presented. The next step is for the proposed architecture to be implemented and trialled with real-world data. As there are no one-size-fits-all platforms for blockchain projects, identifying the most suitable deployment platform is critical to the success of this work. A trade-off study was carried out that compared four of the most commonly adopted blockchain platforms: Ethereum [26], [27], Fabric [28], Sawtooth [29], and Iroha [30], based on the parameters set out in Table 1. Table 1: Trade-off analysis between Ethereum, Fabric, Sawtooth, and Iroha. Criteria Ethereum Fabric Sawtooth Iroha Supports SC     Consensus algorithm modularity     Built-in components for managing identities     Supports payment in fiat currency     Proficient in maintaining different privacy levels between users     Of particular interest was the fact that for any SC execution, the Ethereum chain incurred costs (gas) in its native payment currency (Ether), while the Fabric, Sawtooth, and Iroha Hyperledger systems are cryptocurrency-independent, and payment was possible in fiat currencies. Further to this, because of the voting-based consensus algorithms adopted in Hyperledger platforms, there is no requirement for time- and power-consuming consensus algorithms. The associated performance characteristic ensures quick access to provider information, which would be a key criterion for most RCM use cases. The proposed framework requires differentiation between users to ensure the privacy of their transactions, i.e., not all agreements and payment processes are open to all network users. Any consumer may opt to have a private contract with a provider, and to keep the costs of sharing the data secret from those not participating in that agreement. The Ethereum chain treats all users identically, and all transactions are open and available to all network participants. Hyperledger networks by comparison are able to fulfil this criterion by one of several mechanisms; Xxxxxx, for example, establishes a different channel to isolate parties requiring private agreements and cost allocations; changing the identity namespace in the transaction family on the Sawtooth chain would limit access to specific identities; and specifying guidelines for access management in Iroha would retain easy role-based access at different stages. In the future, we seek to trial our proposal against representative use cases from GB rail and to evaluate its performance in terms of promoting trust, simplifying cost attribution, delivering a workable payment mechanism for RCM data, and implementing ad-hoc data access agreements between parties. To this end, two representative case studies will be developed, one around the Unattended Overhead Line Equipment Monitoring System (UOMS) and a second around RailBAM, an acoustic axle bearing monitoring system. Both case studies involve systems that require collaboration across the rail sector between multiple stakeholders, and the data generated is of interest to multiple actors, perfectly illustrating the cross-interface scenario that is the target of the system.

Future Work. In this chapter, a proposed architecture for the delivery of a data audit chain for RCM in GB rail and other industrial contexts has been presented. The next step is for the proposed architecture to be implemented and trialled with real-world data. As there are no one-size-fits-all platforms for blockchain projects, identifying the most suitable deployment platform is critical to the success of this work. A trade-off study was carried out that compared four of the most commonly adopted blockchain platforms: Ethereum [26], [27], Fabric [28], Sawtooth [29], and Iroha [30], based on the parameters set out in Table 1. Table 1: Trade-off analysis between Ethereum, Fabric, Sawtooth, and Iroha. Criteria Ethereum Fabric Sawtooth Iroha Supports SC     ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Consensus algorithm modularity     🗶 ✓ ✓ 🗶 Built-in components for managing identities     🗶 ✓ 🗶 ✓ Supports payment in fiat currency     🗶 ✓ ✓ ✓ Proficient in maintaining different privacy levels between users     🗶 ✓ ✓ ✓ Of particular interest was the fact that for any SC execution, the Ethereum chain incurred costs (gas) in its native payment currency (Ether), while the Fabric, Sawtooth, and Iroha Hyperledger systems are cryptocurrency-independent, and payment was possible in fiat currencies. Further to this, because of the voting-based consensus algorithms adopted in Hyperledger platforms, there is no requirement for time- and power-consuming consensus algorithms. The associated performance characteristic ensures quick access to provider information, which would be a key criterion for most RCM use cases. The proposed framework requires differentiation between users to ensure the privacy of their transactions, i.e., not all agreements and payment processes are open to all network users. Any consumer may opt to have a private contract with a provider, and to keep the costs of sharing the data secret from those not participating in that agreement. The Ethereum chain treats all users identically, and all transactions are open and available to all network participants. Hyperledger networks by comparison are able to fulfil this criterion by one of several mechanisms; Xxxxxx, for example, establishes a different channel to isolate parties requiring private agreements and cost allocations; changing the identity namespace in the transaction family on the Sawtooth chain would limit access to specific identities; and specifying guidelines for access management in Iroha would retain easy role-based access at different stages. In the future, we seek to trial our proposal against representative use cases from GB rail and to evaluate its performance in terms of promoting trust, simplifying cost attribution, delivering a workable payment mechanism for RCM data, and implementing ad-hoc data access agreements between parties. To this end, two representative case studies will be developed, one around the Unattended Overhead Line Equipment Monitoring System (UOMS) and a second around RailBAM, an acoustic axle bearing monitoring system. Both case studies involve systems that require collaboration across the rail sector between multiple stakeholders, and the data generated is of interest to multiple actors, perfectly illustrating the cross-interface scenario that study was carried out that compared four of the most is the target of the system.