A term popular now is The Internet of Things or IoT, and I decided to search to get more information about it.
What is The Internet of Things? The Internet of Things, also known as IoT, is a network of Internet-connected devices that can collect & exchange data. The IoT has two main parts: the Internet that provides the connection, and Things meaning the devices, which can be remotely monitored and controlled.
IoT devices will be a massive part of how we interact with necessary everyday objects. The future is happening now, and these devices are getting smarter every day through machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Table of Contents
Why IoT Is Important
When something is connected to the internet, that means that it can send information or receive information, or both. Then we can say that this ability to send and/or receive information makes things smart.
In the Internet of Things, all the devices that are being connected to the internet can be put into these categories:
- Communication: IoT devices should collect and communicate information.
- Things that receive information and then act on it.
- Devices that do both.
- Control
- Cost Saving
And all three of these have enormous benefits that feed on each other.
1. Communication: Collecting and Sending Information
Devices that collect information or Sensors could collect data about temperature, motions, moistures, air quality, light, etc. These sensors, along with a connection, allow us to automatically collect information from the environment which, in turn, allows us to make more intelligent decisions. For example, an IoT-enabled HVAC system can report if its air filter is clean and
2. Receiving and Acting on Information
We’re all very familiar with machines getting information and then acting. Your printer receives a document and it prints it. Your car receives a signal from your car keys and the doors open.
Whether it’s a simple as sending the command “turn on” or as complex as sending a 3D model to a 3D printer, we know that we can tell machines what to do from far away.
The real power of the Internet of Things arises when things can do both of the above. Things that collect information and send it, but also receive information and act on it.
3. Devices That Do Both
In a farmer, the sensors can collect information about the soil moisture and send a signal to the irrigation system to automatically turn it on and provide water as needed, based on how much moisture is in the soil.
4. Control:
You should be able to remotely or automatically control an IoT device. For example, a business can remotely turn on or shut down a specific piece of equipment or adjust the temperature in a climate-controlled environment. Or, you can use IoT to unlock your car or start the washing machine via an app.
5. Cost savings:
While many companies will adopt IoT to save money, consumers will adopt IoT just to automate processes, like in their home, as well as to save money.
For instance, you can use IoT-enabled sensors to, say, measure items, such as driving behavior and speed, in order to reduce fuel expense, or heating meters in homes to better understand energy consumption
IoT allows businesses and people to be more connected to the world around them and to do more meaningful, higher-level work.
The IoT Devices
IoT devices are meant to work in concert for people at home, in industry or the enterprise. The objects can be categorized into three main groups: consumer, enterprise, and industrial.
Consumer connected devices include smart TVs, smart speakers, toys, wearables, and smart appliances. Smart meters, commercial security systems, and smart city technologies – such as those used to monitor traffic and weather conditions – are examples of industrial and enterprise IoT devices.
Other technologies, including smart air conditioning, smart thermostats, intelligent lighting, and intelligent security, span home, are enterprise and industrial uses.
IoT device management
Device management helps companies to integrate, organize, monitor, and remotely manage internet-enabled devices at scale, offering features critical to maintaining the health, connectivity, and security of the IoT devices along their entire lifecycles. Those features include:
- Device registration
- Device authentication/authorization
- Device configuration
- Device provisioning
- Device monitoring and diagnostics
- Device troubleshooting
How do IoT devices connect and communicate?
IoT devices can generate a lot of data – whether that be the temperature in your house (via your smart thermostat) or who visits you and passes by your house (via your smart doorbell).
Now, you should know that manufacturers of these devices process all that data in the cloud, either by Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud.
The Internet of Things devices can also connect and share data between themselves. They can do this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE or LTE, Zigbee, Z-Wave, satellite connections or another option.
The vast number of different standards and manufacturers of IoT devices has already led to complications in interoperability.
Platforms like Samsung Smartthings, Wink Hub, Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Home Kit, and Google Assistant were developed to make easier for IoT devices – like thermostats, detectors, plugs, blinds, locks, sensors, and so on – to communicate with each other over a network.
This is especially handy with smart home automation. Without those platforms, your Philips lights, which essentially have their own language, can’t understand a Nest thermostat, which is made by a separate manufacturer and has its own language.
Thanks to the above-mentioned platforms, different IoT devices can communicate, allowing you to unlock their potential. They’ll talk, be controlled together, and automate your life or home.
Number of Connected Devices Worldwide
The number of connected devices has grown extremely fast since 2015; its number has increased by almost by 2 billion devices each year like is shown in the graphic from statista.com.
The total installed base of connected devices is projected to the amount of 75.44 billion worldwide by 2025.
The next generation mobile connection technology 5G with a forecasted number of 1.3 billion subscribers by 2023, would be a significant boost for the application of IoT in everyday life.
Brief History of IoT
Kevin Ashton, the co-founder of the Auto-ID Center at MIT, first mentioned the internet of things in a presentation he made to Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1999.
Wanting to bring radio frequency ID (RFID) to the attention of P&G’s senior management, Ashton called his presentation “Internet of Things” to incorporate the cool new trend of 1999: the internet.
Evolution of IoT
IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Microservices, and the internet.
The convergence has helped tear down the silos between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), enabling unstructured machine-generated data to be analyzed for insights to drive improvements.
Although Ashton’s was the first mention of the internet of things, the idea of connected devices has been around since the 1970s, under the monikers embedded internet and pervasive computing.
The first internet appliance, for example, was a Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 1980s. Using the web, programmers could check the status of the machine and determine whether there would be a cold drink awaiting them, should they decide to make the trip to the machine.
From Machine-To-Machine To a Sensor Network
IoT evolved from machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, i.e., machines connecting to each other via a network without human interaction. M2M refers to connecting a device to the cloud, managing it and collecting data.
Taking M2M to the next level, IoT is a sensor network of billions of smart devices that connect people, systems and other applications to collect and share data.
The internet of things is also a natural extension of SCDA (supervisory control and data acquisition), a category of the software application program for process control, the gathering of data in real time from remote locations to control equipment and conditions.
SCADA systems include hardware and software components. The hardware gathers and feeds data into a computer that has SCADA software installed, where it is then processed and presented it in a timely manner.
The evolution of SCADA is such that late-generation SCADA systems developed into first-generation IoT systems.
The concept of the IoT ecosystem, however, didn’t really come into its own until the middle of 2010 when, in part, the government of China said it would make IoT a strategic priority in its five-year plan.
Benefits of IoT for Organizations
The internet of things offers a number of benefits to organizations, enabling them to:
- monitor their overall business processes;
- improve the customer experience;
- save time and money;
- enhance employee productivity;
- integrate and adapt business models;
- make better business decisions; and
- generate more revenue.
IoT encourages companies to rethink the ways they approach their businesses, industries, and markets and gives them the tools to improve their business strategies.
Security and Privacy Concerns
Security
The internet of things connects billions of devices to the internet and involves the use of billions of data points, all of which need to be secured. Due to its expanded attack surface, IoT security and IoT privacy are cited as major concerns.
Unfortunately, too many manufacturers of IoT devices have given little thought to basics of security, like encrypting data in transit and at rest. Flaws in the software are discovered on an everyday basis.
So, when it comes to buying an IoT device, it’s important you get them from trusted manufacturers with a solid history.
One of the most notorious recent IoT attacks was Mirai, a botnet that infiltrated domain name server provider Dyn and took down many websites for an extended period of time in one of the biggest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks ever seen.
Attackers gained access to the network by exploiting poorly secured IoT devices.
Because IoT devices are closely connected, all a hacker has to do is exploit one vulnerability to manipulate all the data, rendering it unusable. And manufacturers that don’t update their devices regularly — or at all — leave them vulnerable to cybercriminals.
Privacy
Additionally, connected devices often ask users to input their personal information, including names, ages, addresses, phone numbers and even social media accounts — information that’s invaluable to hackers.
However, hackers aren’t the only threat to the internet of things; privacy is another major concern for IoT users. For instance, companies that make and distribute consumer IoT devices could use those devices to obtain and sell users’ personal data.
Beyond leaking personal data, IoT poses a risk to critical infrastructure, including electricity, transportation, and financial services.
Hackers will attack anything from routers or webcams to refrigerators and ovens. These IoT devices’ inherent lack of security often makes them easy to compromise. Hackers will try to do things like track your location and eavesdrop on conversations.
It’s also important to be mindful about all the different IoT devices you own and the types of data they regularly collect on you, As IoT can be a major privacy headache. Take the smart home: it can tell when you wake up (via your smart coffee machine ), how long you brush your teeth (via your smart toothbrush), and more.
It can even tell what radio station you listen to (via your smart speaker) and what type of food you eat (via your smart oven or fridge). But, in most cases, you can set limits on data collection in the device’s settings, so it’s worth checking that out every time.
Six Examples of Popular Home IoT Devices
Some popular Home IoT devices are:
1. August Door Bell Cam
August Doorbell Cam is an effective IoT innovation. August Doorbell Cam allows you to answer your door from anywhere or remote location. It constantly checks your doors and also captures motion changes in your doorstep.
Doorbell Cam pairs with all August Smart Locks; it constantly monitors your doorstep and will click the moments leading up to a motion alert. It comes with a speedy installation process. Estimated Cost: $200
2. August Smart Lock
August Smart Lock has proven to be a reliable security IoT device. It allows the user to manage their doors from any location hassle-free. It helps the user to keep thieves away and family in your home.
The August Smart Lock allows knowing about each person coming and going into the home. It provides unlimited digital keys, easy installations and compatibility with most standard single cylinder deadbolts.
It gives status updates of your door as it is properly closed or not. Estimated Cost: $220
3. Philips Hue Bulbs And Lighting System
Philips Hue is a very famous IoT device and is used as a personal wireless lighting system that allows to control your light and create the right ambiance for every moment.
It provides smart and away from home control. You can create your ambiance, wake up, light schedules and comfort dimming. The Philips Hue White and Color Starter Kit works with Alexa for voice control (smart hub required and included, Alexa device sold separately).
Estimated Cost: $150 for a starter kit of 4 A19 Bulbs and 1 Hub compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It comes with a lifetime warranty of 25000 hours of life
4. Ring Door Bell
Ring Doorbells is a reliable IoT product and allows the user to answer the door from any place using your smartphone. Protect your home with security cameras from Ring video doorbell.
It provides Double-Clad Home Network Security to users, night vision, HD video quality, and motion detection sensor. The Ring Door Bell comes with a rechargeable battery.
Estimated Cost: $160
5. WeMo Insight Smart Plug
The WeMo smart plug is a good IoT product which helps to turn on your lights, turn appliances on/off and provides the ability to monitor them from anywhere remotely.
It gets insight into home energy usage and it is easy to install and use. Create rules, schedules and receives notifications. The WeMo Smart Plug is compatible with IOS and Android devices and integrates with Alexa or Google voice.
Estimated Cost: $50
6. The Apple Watch
The Apple watch is an example of how advanced the technology is at Apple. Apart from time and date, the Apple watch enables you to keep a track record of your health and daily activities. Also, voice activation allows you to get notifications in instant.
View maps, listen to music and take care of your calls just by a single watch. Surprised at what a watch can do? Well, it has a lot more features for you to explore and make life easier.
Estimated Cost: $200 for the series 3
The Future Of IoT
There is no shortage of IoT market estimations. Below are some examples:
- Bain & Company expects annual IoT revenue of hardware and software to exceed $450 billion by 2020.
- McKinsey & Company estimates IoT will have an $11.1 trillion impact by 2025.
- IHS Markit believes the number of connected IoT devices will increase 12% annually to reach 125 billion in 2030.
- Gartner assesses that 20.8 billion connected things will be in use by 2020, with total spend on IoT devices and services to reach $3.7 trillion in 2018.
Global IoT
Having a global IoT benefits you in other ways. More countries will develop communities of IoT companies. They can share solutions and overcome challenges together. Start-ups can work on ideas and collaborate to create new products.
Employees can circulate between start-ups, spreading their skills and knowledge. Countries that adopt the IoT early gain better employment opportunities within the sector.
It also leads to a better choice of devices. You don’t have to buy everything from a handful of manufacturers. Such competition encourages innovation in the marketplace, not stagnation.
You can take a look at the UK-based EVRYTHNG creates hub devices to help devices connect to one another. They focus on huge brands like Coca-Cola. But those hub devices would be useful to home consumers who want to mix and match brands. “Trickle down” technology can only help domestic users.
Which Countries Are Adopting IoT Technology?
According to a 2015 survey, the United Kingdom boasted 96 IoT companies with company headquarters in London. The 2017 Autumn Budget saw an emphasis on technology.
That means more research into artificial intelligence (AI), investment in 5G networks, and accessible regulations for driverless cars. The budget showed a commitment to technology and innovation.
Only the USA has more IoT company headquarters than in the UK. Other countries with over 20 IoT companies are France, India, Canada, Japan, and China.
Switzerland and Denmark both lead the way with smart farming. Switzerland uses connected feeding machinery to improve their dairy industry. Denmark uses GPS to guide mowing machines in apple orchards.
But these countries have a long way to go to catch up with the Netherlands. In July 2016, the Netherlands became the first country to have a national network for IoT traffic.
This specific network, known as LoRa, is an alternative to Wi-Fi or 4G. LoRa is also known as a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN). It uses less power than traditional data networks and works across a wider range than Wi-Fi. LoRa uses existing cell towers to boost the signal.
By December 2017, the Lora Alliance operated in 41 countries
Resources:
iotforall.com, pocket-lint.com, internetofthingsagenda.com, softwaretestinghelp.com, circuitdigest.com, internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com, sureuniversal.com
