Management of stocks and product tracking can be challenging for retail brands. Without real-time data on their supply chains, brands are unable to optimize their trade spending and shelf space, and have to deal with over-stocking and product obsolescence.
Using an IoT blockchain solution, DiscoveryIoT aims to integrate edge computing and AI to provide brands with the tools and data to better manage their supply chain.
In this article, we discuss how the DiscoveryIoT system works and its advantages.
How Does DiscoveryIoT Work Exactly?
DiscoveryIoT is made up of several complex components that allow the network to run smoothly and efficiently. Let’s take a deeper look at each of these elements.
Cliot: The IoT Tag
Cliot is a small, self-charging, printable hardwareless tag that can transmit data without its own power source, so it can even transmit data in off-grid conditions.
Built at a cost of just US$0.10, the Cliot is the first IoT application that is commercially feasible for tagging everything from oranges to designer handbags and everything in between. Enterprises may simply print their own Cliot tags and attach them to whatever product they wish to track through the supply chain—at a very affordable cost to the business.
Cliot Main Features:
- Low-powered IoT devices
- Self-charging from external Radio/Wi-Fi frequencies
- Maximum 30m Wi-Fi coverage
- Waterproof IP6
- Low cost, developed at a cost of US$0.10
- Micro-sized—can be fixed in small products like cereal packs or toothpaste tubes
- Can be integrated with other sensors like gyro sensor, heat sensor, temperature sensor, pressure sensor, chemical sensor, IR sensor, etc.
- Works like a passive GPS—no live tracking, tracking can be done at prescribed frequency
- Customizable for individual industry requirements
A Mobile Network, Powered by Users
The Cliot tags work by relaying data off of nearby mobile phones that have the Discovery mobile app downloaded and running. These mobile phones serve as the nodes of the blockchain network. Through harnessing residual power and network capabilities in these mobile phones, a global communications network is created.
This user community helps to facilitate the transfer of data from the Cliot to the main servers. How does this happen? Through the use of smart contracts, the presence of a Cliot is recorded on the blockchain whenever a user is within a 30-meter radius of the Cliot tag.
Adoption of the Discovery app will thus, in turn, strengthen their network with each new user and allow for more robust tracking capabilities around the globe. The stronger the network, the more enterprises will be enticed to adopt the technology.
To entice users to use the app, DiscoveryIoT has designed incentives for them. Users that download the app are compensated for lending their mobile phone’s data connectivity to the Discovery network.
This allows the community to earn passive income just for having the app on their phone, as it requires no further work beyond downloading the app. What’s more, users will receive the financial rewards they’ve earned on a daily basis, without any latency.
Users will be able to set limits and define the data consumption limit on a daily/aggregate basis. Once the set limit is reached, the app will automatically deactivate any further communication on the Discovery platform for that day, so you don’t have to worry about the app completely draining your phone’s data or battery.
Compass: The Blockless DAG Protocol
At the heart of DiscoveryIoT is its intelligent blockless DAG protocol, Compass. Compass is the world’s first algorithm that is customized to operate on the mobile phone infrastructure. It is built on the concepts of AI, edge computing, and geographical and semantic nodes. This DAG-based geography-aware model is capable of handling 1 million transactions per second.
DAG stands for Directed Acyclic Graph. DAG platforms allow for high scalability, which is vital for a project such as Discovery IoT. As their network is being built for IoT devices—of which there would eventually be billions of individual devices to track—a fundamental requirement is to have the capacity to handle huge volumes of transactions.
Using DAG technology, the Compass protocol will allow Discovery to manage the massive amounts of transactions quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, since DAG doesn’t require any miners to verify transactions, transaction costs are eliminated as well. The use of DAG technology is what makes it effective and cost efficient for brands to use in their product tracking.
Another important element of the DiscoveryIoT system is its data analytics and AI layer, which can help brands interpret the data that has been collected into actionable information. For instance, brands can receive prompts when stocks are running low at specific stores, or if demand for a certain item has increased and more stock should be ordered.
Why Use DiscoveryIoT?
Solves Real World Problems in an Affordable Way
DiscoveryIoT is addressing real pain points experienced by retail brands who haven’t yet found an adequate solution to better manage their stocks and products. The gap in supply chain management means that brands waste an estimated $1 trillion due to product obsolescence, bad marketing spend, and stock-outs.
The combination of blockchain and IoT in the DiscoveryIoT system is what makes it unique and a viable solution for many businesses to adopt.
Thus far, IoT solutions for enterprises have been notoriously expensive. In the retail sector, they tend to be restricted to the luxury niche such as designer goods and wine. Thanks to the Cliot tag, companies can get access to a low-cost IoT device that can be applied to all types of goods and retail items. The tracking cost per product is estimated to be as low as $0.04 per month.
The affordability of the DiscoveryIoT solution will help accelerate the adoption of the system, as brands see the benefits of being able to have data on their stock and sales at their fingertips, in real-time. For businesses, the cost-benefit analysis is in their favor and this bodes well for the growth of DiscoveryIoT.
The More Brands Use It, The More Valuable The Insights They Receive
The integration of AI into the system also presents benefits for brands. The more data the AI engine of DiscoveryIoT receives, the more accurate and meaningful its predictions will be. This means that over time, brands will gain even more value from using DiscoveryIoT.
As predictions became more specific and tailored to a particular business, the management team can make better decisions based on how to manage their stock, sales, and product obsolescence.
Harnesses the Power of Mobile Communications
Another unique point is the idea of leveraging a mobile network powered by users.
Did you know that 2/3 of the world’s population — over 5 billion people — have a mobile phone connection? If you include all subscriptions, including machine-to-machine connections, there’s over 8.5 billion connections globally, and that number is constantly growing. In China, for example, there were already 322 mobile cellular subscriptions for every 100 people in 2016.
This demand for mobile communication technology is increasing rapidly all over the globe. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone — our mobile devices are such a huge part of our lives these days. Perhaps you’re even reading this article from your smartphone.
DiscoveryIoT is leveraging the ever-growing mobile market to create a network of decentralized nodes residing on the smartphones of their users. This means the foundation is crowd-sourced by the Discovery community, allowing for a decentralized communications network focused on IoT devices.
By providing incentives and financial rewards to their app users, DiscoveryIoT is building the user-side of their system to ensure that its entire system will be robust enough to support its IoT activities.
Using a mobile network also makes the Discovery solution highly scalable and easily expandable across locations.
ICO Details
A total of 1 billion DIS tokens will be created before Discovery’s token sale. There will be a presale and an ICO sale.
The minimum investment required is $100, with no maximum investment limit. Bonus tokens will be issued in 12 equal monthly instalments (total issue period of 1 year). This is to avoid dumping of tokens at the time of listing on the exchanges.
Here are the details of DiscoveryIoT’s presale and ICO:
Source: https://discoveryiot.com/token-sale/
Funds raised in the presale period will be used to build a strong advisory team, hire legal counsel for the ICO, and for ICO marketing.
Any remaining unsold tokens at the end of the ICO period will be burned.
Learn more about DiscoveryIoT on their website and whitepaper. Their pre-ICO is scheduled to begin on June 15, 2018. For the most up-to-date info on the ICO and to register to participate, click here.
