INTERNET OF THINGS(IoT)
In these days all we hear is about smart phones, smart cars, smart houses, among other things, and probably smart is the world we are going to hear for many years since today. These smart devices are part of the Internet of Things(IoT). But what means IoT? Basically IoT is the connection of all the objects in the internet and to one another with the porpoise of being smart for the users. An example of this could be the tesla vehicles that drives itself, making this a unique experience for the user.
According to the oxford dictionary, the IoT is defined as:
“The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.”
So in simple words, IoT can be defined like a big network of devices connected, that interact and exchange information with each other. Technology allows connection of two or more devices, and allows share information between them through the internet. An IoT device has to be connected through an IP network to the internet.
Internet of things is a simple concept, it means taking all the things in the world and connecting to the internet, so for example, if you are reading this article, you have to be using a device that is connected to the internet
A Brief Background of IoT
Automation of data transmission was discussed in the beginning of the ’80s, but it took lot decades for tech development to start talking about the internet of the things.
“In the second half of the nineties, Briton Kevin Ashton worked for Procter and Gamble enterprise and was engaged in the production process optimization. He noticed that optimization directly depends on the speed of transmission and processing of data. It can take days for people who collect the data. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has allowed accelerating the process of data transfer directly between devices. He had an idea of things to be collected, processed and transmitted with no human involvement. He decided to call it an “Internet of Things” and became a visionary at that time” taken from : perenio
The term “Internet of the things” took a decade to be used in everyday life. IoT and artificial intelligence IoT has become a cutting edge in the development of information technology.
In 2010 it became know that the google service Street View, show not just panoramic pictures but also can collect data about the networking Wi-Fi uses. The experts talk about a new protocol to transfer data, which allow the interchange of data between devises. In this year china announce that plans to include the IoT in the list of investigation areas for the next five years. So it was clear that not just big companies, but governments too wanted to collect, process and store data.
In 2011 a company of market research, included IoT on its list of the most promising emerging technologies.
In 2012 IoT conquered the world in the biggest European conference of the internet, LeWeb. Forbest and Wired magazines started to use the term IoT actively. The entire world started to discuss about IoT.
In 2013, IDC published a study that predicted the growth of the IoT market by 2020 to $ 8.9 trillion.
In 2014 google buy Nest, a company of smart appliances. Since then, the world market fully understood that the nearest future belongs to the Internet of Things. In this year, the appliance fair was held in Las Vegas, the fair most important in USA, with the title IoT. So, then started the IoT age.
Over the years IoT was being used in wireless communication, embeds systems, and micro-electromechanical systems. IoT can be considered as a network of connected devices, that collect data and share the data with each other.
IoT timeline: Taken from : wired
1990
John Romkey creates the first IoT device: a toaster that he controls with his computer
1999
Kevin Ashton coins the term “internet of things” to describe the eyes and ears of a computer
2000
LG introduces its first connected refrigerator with a $20,000 pricetag
2008
The world’s first IoT conference is held in Zurich, Switzerland
2010
Tony Fadell founds Nest, maker of the smart thermostat
2013
Oxford Dictionary adds the term “internet of things”
2014
Amazon introduces the Echo speaker, along with the Alexa voice assistant — a new way to control the smart home
2016
The Mirai botnet infects over 600,000 IoT devices with malware
2020
The number of internet-connected devices, by some estimates, exceeds 20 billion
If you want to see in more detail the line history of the IoT, check this link: forbes
Real world examples of IoT
The consumers of IoT can be divided in tree: consumers, enterprises, and government. Let’s going to see some examples about these categories.
Consumers
· Wearables: Smartwatches and Smart clothing.
· Smart home appliances: Smart thermostats, Smart speakers, and Connected Lighting.
· Connected cars: Over-the-air updates, and Driverless cars.
Enterprise
This examples are assuming that the enterprise knows what to do with the data from IoT devices.
· Manufacturing: Asset tracking, and Supply Chain Management.
· Healthcare: Improved efficiency, and Digital Medicine.
· Agriculture: Environmental conditions monitoring, and Livestock health monitoring.
Government
· Smart Cities: Smart lighting, and Smart Parking.
· Environmental Monitoring.
· Public safety.
Why IoT cares?
When a device is connected to internet, means that it can send data, receive data, or both. This ability to send or receive data makes devices or things smart.
Let’s going to make a simple example. Our cellphones can reproduce any song we want to hear, then that doesn’t mean that our cellphones have all the songs in the world, but it means that the songs are store in somewhere else. So, I can send the information through my cellphone asking for the song I want hear, and then receive the information that brings that song.
With the example above, we can see that a thing doesn’t need to have a big storage or it doesn’t need to be a super machine to be smart, being connect to the internet makes any device smart.
In the IoT all the thing that are connected to the internet can be divided into three: categories:
1. Things that send information.
2. Things that receive information.
3. Things that do both.
IoT is extending the power of the internet beyond computers and smartphones or other devices to a whole range of other things, processes, and environments. Those “connected” things are used to collect information, send information back, or both.
Internet of Things (IOT) Sectors
IOT Components
Iot consist in tree basic components
- The Things
IoT-enabled assets, devices, physical objects, sensors, anything connected the physical world, appliances, endpoints, the list goes on.
The things are all terms to describe what is an essential part of a network of things. Some add words such as smart or intelligent to the devices. Let’s say that they contain technology that gives them an additional capability of ‘doing something like: measuring temperature or moisture levels, capturing location data, sensing movement or capturing any other form of action and context that can be captured and turned into data.
2. The Network and protocols
Protocols are designed to operate at a particular level in the networking stack.
Connectivity happens on all levels: at a close range like between devices, further away like between devices and the cloud or at very large distances. Connectivity standards are also different, depending on the power that is needed and the volumes of IoT data transmitted. Connectivity in the sense of connected devices is the start, connected data is where the value starts.
3. The Platforms, Apps and services
Some of the functions of IoT platforms are collect and distribute data, convert data between protocols, store data, and analyses that data. An example of this platforms are:
· Amazon Web services (AWS)
· IBM Watson Bluemix
· Microsoft Azure
· ThingWrox
Conclusion
Internet of Thing offer a lot of interesting applications in making our lives easier like in healthcare, transportation, agriculture, among others. IoT has the potential to increase the availability of information, and is possible to transform companies and organizations in virtually every industry around the world.
Internet of Things offers many opportunities for businesses. The technology has already caused interruptions in a lot of different industries. The business landscape is changing with the evolution of IoT technology.
Competition in the next decade will be defined by how companies leverage from innovative technologies. IoT will be the main technology that is expected to determine the purpose of many businesses.