Internet of Things (IoT) Definition
Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of interconnected devices and all these connected devices are capable of making decisions without any human intervention. These physical devices which are associated inside offer their information and gathers more information from sources. What’s more, these things are inserted with software, sensors, actuators and so forth for efficiency in work and diminish the human workload.
IoT is opening huge open doors for an enormous number of novel applications that guarantee to improve the nature of our lives. As of late, IoT has gained much consideration from analysts and professionals from around the globe.
This article further covers following topics
- Benefits of IoT
- IoT Applications
- Challenges in IoT
Benefits of IoT
- It can measure, monitor and deal with any device in any area from anyplace at any time
- Limit human effort
- Save time
- Efficient resource utilization
- Enhance data collection
IoT Applications
1) Smart Homes
A connected home can mean dissimilar things to different people. It is a home with one or more gadgets linked together so that the homeowner can organize, modify and check his environment. If the IoT is helping our lives in a comfortable, easier and more linked way, then the idea for a truly connected home is game-changing.
For example, if you want to turn on your air conditioning before you walk in the door of your home or if you want someone to switch off lights if you forget or if you want to perform any other task in your home with just a snap of your finger, then IoT is the answer. With smart homes you can control all these appliances using IoT.
2) Wearable Electronics
Wearable electronics are having huge demand in the whole world. Sensors and software on wearable devices collect data about the user and helps the user to track their activity. The wearable technology usage aid the user to track their lifestyle practices and try to give recommendations to wearers through smartphones for better health management. This innovation covers a variety of gadgets that monitors, record, and give a reaction to you/your condition.
These physical devices are embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware like sensors. These physical devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.
Also, users will be able to get alerts and overall health information from IoT sensors as a notification on their mobile phones.
Wearables are divided into two categories:
- Fitness strips and wristwatches
- Health monitor devices
Fitness strips and wristwatches
These are skilled to monitor and send information dependent on your everyday exercises such as daily footsteps, pulse rate, temperature, etc.
Health monitoring devices
These wearable devices are widely used in the healthcare system to track patients. Some examples of widely used healthcare IoT devices include remote temperature monitoring, drug effectiveness tracking, sleep monitoring, O2 saturation, medication reminder, air quality sensors, infant health care monitor, etc. The data collected from wearable IoT sensors can be sent wirelessly to the patient and to his doctor to analyze health progress.
3) Industrial IoT (IIoT)
The IoT has a thoughtful approach to automate an industry with wireless and infrastructure-less connectivity using sensor networks, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, and therefore conventional industrial automation can be made efficient and more effective. Industrial IoT (IIoT) is the utilization of system associated sensors and other monitoring devices in a large industrial framework to control machines through the use of M-2-M technology and IoT, which indeed improves manufacturing and product quality. IIoT devices are utilized basically for checking machine operations, finding machinery faults and its causes, and for collecting general information.
4) Transportation
The Internet of Things (IoT) can change the transport industry by transforming how transportation systems gather and make use of data thereby offering increased safety. IoT sensor data tracks, for example, train speeds, aircraft part conditions, roadway temperatures, and the real-time traffic of a particular region. IoT GPS trackers are offering a wide scope of applications and benefits.
5) Smart Grids
Smart grids can be defined as a collection of web-enabled devices that have the necessary capacity to sense and manage the amount of power usage, water consumption usage, and natural gas utilization in a building or town. This sensor information is then used to examine power use, to calculate the cost, remotely control appliances, detect devices, identify breakdowns and dangers of a blackout, and so on. A smarter grid will have more control over energy costs and a more reliable energy supply for the consumer. It not only helps to reduce labor costs but also aid to satisfy customer needs.
Challenges in IoT
1) Issues in Connectivity
Various parts of an IoT device are generally manufactured in different parts of the world, and because of specification, these parts are made distinctively with their arrangement of security standards. Therefore, a variety of wired and wireless connectivity standards are required to empower various applications’ needs.
2) Security Issues
The biggest concern in today’s internet world is how to protect the user’s privacy and manufacturers’ IP, detecting, and blocking malicious activities. Nowadays, we are more vulnerable than ever to cyber-attackers and it may lead to significant consequences.
The abrupt growth of IoT devices also paved the way for many cyber-attacks. The rise in cybersecurity breaches using modern tools in turn is a huge worry for nearly everyone.
3) Power Consumption
Battery performance is one of the critical parameters to be considered while designing an IoT device, as they need to operate from months to years without any abruption. If the battery fails in between, at that point IoT applications will be rendered futile, causing a more prominent disturbance as opposed to making lives simpler as expected. Researches are still going on to develop IoT specific high performance, low cost, low energy consumption batteries.
4) Complexity
Currently, the knowledge of IoT among common people is limited as the amount of complexity involved in it. Firstly, IoT application development should be simple and understandable for all, not just to specialists. Secondly, there should be a scalable platform in IoT that coordinates all kinds of business solutions to guarantee consistent data stream across the venture. Therefore, innovative approaches are required to detect and convey data from the physical world to the cloud
5) Cloud and cloud storage security
IoT applications require end-to-end solutions including cloud services. Your valuable and confidential data goes into the cloud, outside the firewall. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the IoT platform is encrypted as well and can protect the data, and authorization is limited to dedicated access only.
6.Cost
The requirements of bandwidth do not hurt when the applications are small. But, in case, it becomes data-intensive, the investment is huge as IoT is all about data.
Summary
Currently, there are over 30 billion IoT connected devices worldwide. This massive wave of new gadgets doesn’t come without a cost. McKinsey expects IoT to deliver a worldwide economic value of $11 trillion annually by 2025.
At the end of the day, IoT improves efficiency and productivity. The IoT devices are connected using Bluetooth, wifi, or any other wireless medium. Then they collect data, a process that data based on your need and performs tasks.
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