  Smart Grids and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are neither a dream nor a near-future
thing anymore, rather it is happening now. The integration of more and more
embedded systems and IoT devices is pushing smart grids and I4.0 forward at a
breakneck speed. To cope up with this, the modification of age-old SCADA
(Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems in terms of
decentralization, near-real-time operation, security, and privacy is necessary.
In this context, blockchain technology has the potential of providing not only
these essential features of the data acquisition process of future SCADA
systems but also many other useful add-ons. On the other side, it is evident
that various type of security breach tends to take place more during any
economic turmoil. These can cause even more serious devastation to the global
economy and human life. Thus, it is necessary to make our industries robust,
automated, and resilient with secured and immutable data acquiring systems.
This paper deals with the implementation scopes of blockchain in the data
acquisition part of SCADA systems in the area of the smart grid and I4.0. There
are several consensus mechanisms to support blockchain integration in the field
of cryptocurrencies, vehicular networks, healthcare systems, e-commerce, etc.
But little attention has been paid to developing efficient and
easy-to-implement consensus mechanisms in the field of blockchain-enabled SCADA
systems. From this perspective, a novel consensus mechanism, which we call
PoRCH (Proof of Random Count in Hashes), with a customized mining node
selection scheme has been proposed in this paper. Also, a small-scale prototype
of a blockchain-enabled data acquisition system has been developed. The
performance evaluation of the implemented prototype shows the benefits of
blockchain technology.
