Filament's New Development Kit Makes Blockchain Simple for Embedded Engineers

Reno, Nevada-based blockchain startup Filament has made a mission out of making blockchain easier and more accessible to embedded developers. Now the company has released a blockchain development kit aimed at letting embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) engineers build and test blockchain-based solutions for edge devices and systems without the need for high-level technical training or an extensive background in blockchain.

Filament's Blocklet Foundation Kit allows developers to implement tools, applications, and scripts into a USB device that can then be inserted into an existing hardware device. The kit comes with a preloaded tablet computer, an IoT device for testing, a USB enclave, and a prewired IoT breadboard with a Blocklet UART module and ESP32 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth microcontroller. Coupled with Ethereum support and a software development kit (SDK), the idea is to give embedded engineers a fully functional environment for testing blockchain functionality.

“This new kit gives embedded developers hands-on experience to evaluate and demonstrate how IoT devices and sensors at the edge can integrate and securely transact in a blockchain without incurring the infrastructure overhead typically found in today's IoT and blockchain deployments,” Frank Friesacher, Filament's executive vice president of product, said in a press statement. “With the increasing interest in enterprise blockchain solutions we created this as a clear pathway to proof of concept and pilot projects that lay the foundation for successful production deployments.”

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While blockchain technology has become most closely associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the technology is gaining a strong foothold in enterprise because of its ability to provide highly-secure automated transactions. Cybersecurity experts have been proponents of the technology as a solution to device security in a world rapidly approaching over a trillion connected devices.

Speaking with Design News in a separate interview Raghu Bala, CEO of NetObjex, a company that leverages blockchain for asset and data management, said that blockchain will be crucial in an ecosystem of many devices communicating across a range of networks, all needing to be authenticated.

“Blockchain is very useful when you have a couple of scenarios,” Bala told Design News. “When a group of smart products is owned by a single entity, the need for Blockchain becomes less important. But that changes once you have a device that needs to communicate across what we call cross boundaries.”

Last year Filament released its first product, the Blocklet chip, a purpose-made chip designed to natively interact with blockchains. The company has since expanded its product offerings by implementing Blocklet into USB form factors – meaning developers (including connected vehicle OEMs) can add blockchain communication to a product by plugging Blocklet directly into a USB port.

In addition to the Blocklet Foundation Kit, Filament has also committed to providing consulting for companies looking to develop blockchain products via its Accelerator Service.

Chris Wiltz is a Senior Editor at   Design News  covering emerging technologies including AI, VR/AR, blockchain, and robotics.