Getting Started
Introduction
Vision and MissionFor Users
Nodle IoT
Nodle App
Nodle Client
Nodle on zkSync Era
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NFT Minting Tool
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ParticipateFor Developers
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Parachain Modules
Nodle SDK
Nodle Android SDK
Nodle iOS SDK
Smart MissionsMore Info
Appendix
GlossaryEconomy of Mission Builders
What are Smart Missions?
Smart Missions are the core primitive of the Nodle Network. It allows anyone to program the network's swarm of smartphones and devices to execute a custom piece of code or action for a given context. It makes the network programmable, meaning that developers and builders can come in and easily create applications on top of the Nodle infrastructure in exchange for a fee in NODL tokens.
Smart missions are written and deployed on the Nodle Parachain. Consequently, they are open-source and their inner workings transparent. Smart missions can then be reused.
This is made possible through the following technologies:
- Nodle SDK
- The Nodle Parachain and Parity Substrate
- The Nodle Virtual Machine (VM)
Applications
New features and products will be built through Smart Missions such as:
- Asset tracking
- Data collection
- Security checks
- Geographic NFT airdrops
- Social networking
- Referrals
Decentralization for IoT
Compared to 5G networks or dedicated Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) provided by telecom operators (which includes technologies such as LoRaWAN, NB-IoT or Sigfox), the Nodle network generates no cost to deploy new hardware infrastructure. It thus creates an economically viable long term opportunity to connect a new array of devices, including pallets, vehicles, packages, meters, containers, actuators, cameras, and sensors.
Until now, companies with major logistics challenges (e.g. transportation, delivery, distribution, urban services such as waste management, water or energy supply, traffic monitoring, stock optimization) could only connect devices carrying high economic value. The smartphone infrastructure also enables use cases inherent to its properties: because edge nodes are mobile, one edge node can provide connectivity to devices along their whole journey - for example, tracking a package entails a handful of smartphones from key employees onboard the Nodle SDK, whereas a fixed network would require antennas in all areas crossed by the package.
Because edge nodes follow population density, it scales in urban areas, whereas 5G networks need to deploy thousands of antennas in such areas. This network has worldwide coverage (no roaming), high bandwidth, high precision from the geolocation of the smartphone, and the potential of the Nodle virtual machine able to execute code at each node to interact with your devices.
How Smart Missions Work
Nodle Service Providers who create services on top of the chain can write their own smart missions or reuse existing smart missions published by mission builders.
Mission builders are developers who write the code for smart missions. As they create this code, they can include royalties to be paid as their code is used for smart missions, enabling an economy for smart mission builders. It is likely that some smart missions will include royalties and others will not, all in the spirit of the free software movement.
It is expected that revenue generated by some smart missions will decrease until they disappear, as some NSPs will reuse them to accelerate the creation of their service, but will internalize and rewrite the smart mission after a while. This means being the first to write code that develops the ecosystem creates value, which is rewarded, but does not automatically create annuities on the network for an indefinite period of time.
Other smart missions, on the contrary, will rely on access to specific resources accessible only by the mission builder, which means copying the contract will not provide the same value of the original mission. In the long run, these mission builders will enable revenue for themselves without the need to set up their own NSP and having to deal with customers for that NSP.
Components of Smart Mission
A Smart Mission is composed of two main components:
- The first one runs on devices at the edge with the Nodle SDK that embeds an implementation of the Nodle VM. This is called the device code.
- The second one runs on the Nodle Parachain in the form of a Wasm smart contract. This is the chain code.
The Nodle Parachain maintains a registry of Smart Missions that are deployed by builders that want to use the network’s resources. The chain code portion of a Smart Mission exposes standardized APIs (the “Standard Mission Interface”).
This is similar to Ethereum’s ERC standards which create standardized calls and APIs for special smart contracts like tokens. These standardized calls are used to identify and classify each Smart Mission before they are deployed to Nodle SDK instances.
For more information, refer to the Smart Missions paper.
Use Cases
Proof of Connectivity
IoT connects machines to machines and things to things. Through smartphones and apps such as the Nodle Cash App in which users consent to connect to the network, Nodle can also connect things to humans, or humans to humans, which creates a whole new category of demand. The Proof of Connectivity guarantees that the connection happened. Without Proof of Connectivity, most of the following use cases are purely marketing, in which users are ignorant of what happens backstage, becoming in effect “the product” in an exchange of value between an advertiser and a publisher. With Proof of Connectivity, users become economic players.
Use Cases Include:
- Foot traffic through direct payment: the client of the service is a business that wants to increase foot traffic. It pays the user in NODL for coming to their place. If the brand is strong enough, it can also reward the user with NFTs either for their value as a unique work of art or as the key to a loyalty program. The proof of connectivity is established between a smart device set up by the business owner or a QR code scanned by the user.
- Sponsored activities and event management: the client of this service is an event organizer who wants to provide a unique conference experience to their attendees. Example: a crypto project wants to sponsor a conference and airdrop digital goodies' to the attendees. When the attendees purchase a ticket, they receive an NFT from the conference organizer on their Nodle Cash app wallet. The sponsors of the conference have added benefits to the NFT, such as a NODL allowance.
- Proof of Participation (PoP): The clients of this service are the ones who get paid, and the participants are the ones who pay in NODL, while they earn a PoP. For example, a street performer wants to get paid for playing guitar when people enjoy her music. The street performer uses the Nodle Cash app to create an “Activity” labeled “Guitar Street performance” at a specific location. People can earn a PoP NFT if they are around and thus reward the performer.
Combined, these use cases draw the picture of an ecosystem for Nodle that goes well beyond IoT. The Nodle network creates an economical and technical framework to enable secure and private digital connection between any physical entity, whether a thing or a person, through the nodes that compose the network.
For more information, refer to the Smart Missions paper.
Asset Tracking
The first dApp to run on top of the Nodle network is an asset tracking service provided by the Nodle team. Partners of Nodle provide a fleet of smart devices they own, communicating through Bluetooth Low Energy. This provisioning takes the form of a smart contract of smart mission, where the organization controlling the smart device creates a bounty for interacting with the device.
With asset tracking, this bounty specifies the data to be gathered (the payload defined in the iBeacon specification, which encapsulates the encrypted identifier of the device along with its geo-location provided by the Nodle network), as well as the reward for capturing the data. Various use cases will value different frequencies and timeframes in which data will be gathered. The reward is defined in the smart contract to take it into account.
Each node running the SDK at the edge can access the smart contract, including the list of target nodes and their rewards, and pick the missions they want to participate in. Edge nodes frequently performed BLE scans to identify the target devices through their payload. Once located, the data is sent back to the owner of the device, along with the Proof of Connectivity, through an API. If the Proof of Connectivity is valid, the payment is delivered from the smart contract to the node.
Beyond asset tracking, the Nodle network will become an open ecosystem for innovation at the edge. Any IoT developer will have the tools to write smart missions on the chain that will then be executed at the edge by the nodes of the network, enabling complex interactions between smart devices and the nodes through the Nodle Virtual Machine.
Scenario
Asset Tracking Limited (a fictional company for the purpose of this example) wants to find its devices across the city of New York. They are willing to pay 10 NODL for each successful ping from the network.
Smart Mission Deployment
To do so, they deploy a new mission composed of the following components:
- A device code that listens to BLE scans from the Nodle SDK. For each asset found from Asset Tracking Limited, it will send it to the company server and collect a “receipt,” which is then submitted to the Nodle Parachain to unlock the appropriate compensation12.
- A chain code that receives receipts (which are merely signed sequences of bytes) and unlocks the hardcoded compensation of 10 NODL.
- The associated metadata identifies the mission to be part of the asset tracking category and to be restricted to the city of New York.
For more information, refer to the Smart Missions paper.
Geografic Airdrops
Scenario
Impactful Events Corp (a fictional company for the purpose of this example) is organizing an in-person event in the city of Prague. They want to airdrop a special NFT to each participant. They verify participation at the event through the deployment of custom software on their team’s tablets.
This software makes the tablets broadcast special Bluetooth beacons, which can be exchanged for an NFT via the mission’s chain code.
Smart Mission Deployment
Impactful Events Corp deploys a mission composed of the following parts:
- The device code listens to the special beacons from the event, which contain a pre-computed secret from Impactful Events Corp’s team. It then sends it to the chain code deployed on the Nodle Parachain.
- The chain code receives these secrets and verifies them. It mints a new NFT as part of the event’s collection if they are verified.
- In this case, most Node Operators will likely ignore the mission because the NFT’s financial value is unclear.
- However, Nodle App users will see the Smart Mission on their application and can choose to install it themselves on their phones if they go to the event.
- Additionally, Impactful Events Corp can send an email to the participants, or show a QR Code, which contains a deep link to install the mission directly in the Nodle App16.
For more information, refer to the Smart Missions paper.
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