A Blockchained Federated Learning Framework for Cognitive Computing in Industry 4.0 Networks

Cognitive computing, a revolutionary AI concept emulating human brain's reasoning process, is progressively flourishing in the Industry 4.0 automation. With the advancement of various AI and machine learning technologies the evolution toward improved decision making as well as data-driven intelligent manufacturing has already been evident. However, several emerging issues, including the poisoning attacks, performance, and inadequate data resources, etc., have to be resolved. Recent research works studied the problem lightly, which often leads to unreliable performance, inefficiency, and privacy leakage. In this article, we developed a decentralized paradigm for big data-driven cognitive computing (D2C), using federated learning and blockchain jointly. Federated learning can solve the problem of “data island” with privacy protection and efficient processing while blockchain provides incentive mechanism, fully decentralized fashion, and robust against poisoning attacks. Using blockchain-enabled federated learning help quick convergence with advanced verifications and member selections. Extensive evaluation and assessment findings demonstrate D2C's effectiveness relative to existing leading designs and models.

I. Introduction

The rapid proliferation of smart machines for Industry 4.0 and the development of novel approaches using AI and distributed learning for human-level information processing have enabled the prosperity of cognitive computing [1], [2]. It is often regarded as the technology that is built upon the scientific rationales behind AI and signal processing [3]. The ultimate goal is to allow the end machines like computers to learn from and process thoughts like that of the human brain [4]. In this context, the usage of AI is specifically for the best problem-solving algorithm [5]. To better improve, cognitive computing beyond and make great efforts to reproduce human intelligence by taking advantage of a diversity of factors [1], smart decision making as well as big data analytics for Industry 4.0 is impending progress.