Internet of things (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of interconnected computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, products, animals, or people that are equipped with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
In the IoT, a “thing” can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a cow with a biochip transponder, a car with built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low, or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address and can transfer data over a network.
Increasingly, organizations across various industries are leveraging IoT to operate more efficiently, gain deeper insights into customers for enhanced customer service, improve decision-making, and increase business value.
How IoT operate
The Internet of Things (IoT) comprises web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems like processors, sensors, and communication hardware to gather, send, and act on data from their surroundings. These devices share sensor data by connecting to an IoT gateway or edge device, sending data to the cloud for analysis or analyzing it locally. Sometimes, they communicate with other devices, acting on the information they receive. While these devices mostly work without human intervention, people can interact with them to set them up, give instructions, or access data.
The connectivity, networking, and communication protocols used by these devices depend on the specific IoT applications. IoT can also leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to simplify and enhance data collection processes.
IoT is a network of interconnected computing devices, machines, products, animals, or people that are assigned unique identifiers (UIDs) and can transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Things in the IoT can range from individuals with heart monitor implants to livestock with biochip transponders to vehicles with sensors that alert drivers when tire pressure is low.
Organizations across various industries are increasingly using IoT to operate more efficiently, gain deeper customer insights for enhanced service, improve decision-making, and increase business value.
Why IoT is significant
The Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing the way people live and work, enabling smarter lifestyles and more efficient management of daily activities. Apart from providing smart devices to automate homes, IoT plays a crucial role in businesses. It gives businesses real-time insights into their operations, ranging from machine performance to supply chain and logistics management.
IoT allows businesses to automate processes, reducing labor costs and waste while enhancing service delivery. This automation makes manufacturing and distribution more cost-effective and provides transparency into customer transactions.
As a result, IoT has become one of the key technologies in daily life, and its momentum will continue to grow as more businesses realize the potential of connected devices to keep them competitive.
IoT advantages to associations
The Internet of Things (IoT) offers several advantages to organizations, with some benefits being industry-specific while others apply across various sectors. Some common benefits of IoT include:
1. Monitoring overall business processes.
2. Improving the customer experience (CX).
3. Saving time and money.
4. Enhancing employee productivity.
5. Integrating and evolving business models.
6. Making better business decisions.
7. Generating more revenue.
IoT encourages businesses to rethink how they approach their operations and provides them with the tools to optimize their business processes.
While IoT is most prevalent in manufacturing, transportation, and utility organizations, using sensors and other IoT devices, it has also found use cases in agriculture, infrastructure, and home automation industries, driving several organizations towards digital transformation.
In agriculture, IoT can benefit farmers by simplifying their jobs. Sensors can gather data on precipitation, humidity, temperature, soil content, and other factors to help automate farming processes.
Monitoring infrastructure operations is another area where IoT can assist. Sensors, for example, could be used to monitor activities or changes within critical structures, bridges, and other infrastructure. This brings benefits such as cost savings, saved time, improved workflow quality, and paperless workflow.
In home automation, businesses can utilize IoT to monitor and control mechanical and electrical systems in a building. On a broader scale, smart cities can help residents reduce waste and energy consumption.
IoT impacts every industry, including healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing.
Advantages and disadvantages of IoT
Some advantages of IoT include:
1. Ability to access information from anywhere, anytime, on any device.
2. Improved communication between connected electronic devices.
3. Efficient data transfer across a connected network, saving time and money.
4. Automation of tasks, helping to enhance the quality of a business’s services and reduce the need for human intervention.
Some disadvantages of IoT include:
1. Increased risk of data breaches as the number of connected devices and shared information grows.
2. Challenges in managing large numbers of IoT devices, potentially numbering in the millions, and handling the data from all those devices.
3. Vulnerability to system bugs, with the possibility that every connected device could be affected.
4. Lack of a global compatibility standard for IoT, making it difficult for devices from different manufacturers to communicate with each other.
IoT norms and structures
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Numerous emerging standards are shaping the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape:
1. **IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN):** This open standard by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) enables low-power radios, like 804.15.4, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Z-Wave, to connect to the internet for home automation.
2. **Zigbee:** Primarily used in industrial settings, Zigbee is a low-power, low-data rate wireless network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The Zigbee Alliance created Dotdot, a universal language for IoT, enabling secure communication across networks.
3. **LiteOS:** A Unix-like OS for wireless sensor networks, LiteOS supports various applications, including smartphones, wearables, smart homes, and the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), while serving as a platform for smart device development.
4. **OneM2M:** This machine-to-machine service layer, embeddable in software and hardware, connects devices. OneM2M, a global standardization body, develops reusable standards for IoT applications across verticals.
5. **Data Distribution Service (DDS):** Developed by the Object Management Group (OMG), DDS facilitates real-time, scalable, and high-performance machine-to-machine communication.
6. **Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP):** An open-source standard for asynchronous messaging, AMQP enables encrypted and interoperable messaging, crucial for client-server messaging and IoT device management.
7. **Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP):** Designed by the IETF, CoAP outlines how low-power, resource-constrained devices can function in the IoT.
8. **Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN):** A WAN protocol supporting large networks like smart cities with millions of low-power devices.
In addition to these standards, IoT architectures include:
– **Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT:** A cloud computing platform by Amazon, enabling smart devices to securely connect and interact with the AWS cloud and other devices.
– **Arm Mbed IoT:** A platform for developing IoT applications based on Arm microcontrollers, aiming to create a flexible, connected, and secure environment for IoT devices.
– **Microsoft Azure IoT Suite:** A suite of services allowing users to connect to, receive data from, and perform operations on their IoT devices, including analysis and visualization for business insights.
– **Google Brillo/Weave:** A platform for rapid IoT application deployment, consisting of Brillo, an Android-based OS for low-power embedded devices, and Weave, a communication protocol for device-cloud interactions.
– **Calvin:** An open-source IoT platform by Ericsson for building and managing distributed applications, facilitating device communication through a development framework and runtime environment.
These standards and platforms are pivotal in shaping the IoT landscape, offering diverse solutions for connected devices across industries.
Buyer and endeavor IoT applications
The Internet of Things (IoT) has a wide range of practical applications, spanning consumer IoT, enterprise IoT, and industrial IoT (IIoT). IoT solutions are employed across various industries, including automotive, telecommunications, and energy.
In the consumer sector, smart homes equipped with intelligent thermostats, appliances, and connected heating, lighting, and electronic devices can be remotely controlled via computers and smartphones.
Wearable devices embedded with sensors and software can collect and analyze user data, transmitting information to other technologies to simplify and enhance users’ lives. Wearables are also employed in public safety, such as improving emergency responders’ response times by providing optimized routes to a location or monitoring construction workers’ or firefighters’ vital signs at hazardous sites.
In healthcare, IoT offers numerous benefits, including the ability to monitor patients more closely through the analysis of generated data. Hospitals often utilize IoT systems for tasks like inventory management of both medications and medical instruments.
Smart buildings can reduce energy costs using sensors that detect the number of occupants in a room. The temperature can adjust automatically—for example, turning the air conditioner on if sensors detect a meeting room is full or lowering the heat if everyone in the office has gone home.
In agriculture, IoT-based smart farming systems can monitor light, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture of crop fields using connected sensors. IoT is also instrumental in automating irrigation systems.
In a smart city, IoT sensors and networks, such as smart streetlights and meters, can help alleviate traffic congestion, conserve energy, monitor and address environmental concerns, and improve sanitation.