What is Internet of Things (IoT)?

November 4, 2020

Author: Mansoor Ahmed

The web of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the online, collecting, sharing and analyses of data. It describes the network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the aim of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the online.
Because of cheap processors and wireless networks, it's possible to point out anything, from a pill to an aero plane to a self-driving car into a neighborhood of the IoT.

Overview

IoT will control the Fourth industrial revolution.
The Fourth industrial revolution is changing the very software-defined automation allows manufacturers to link all stages of the price chain, rapidly adapt to changing markets, and make highly personalized products on a mass scale.
The opportunities presented by this revolution are incredible. According to McKinsey, the economic impact of smart factories could reach up to $2.3 trillion once a year by 2025.
At the center of the Fourth industrial revolution is that the Internet of Things (IoT), which uses digital technology to connect sensors, actuators, and machines to each other and to factory workers.

The web of Things is that the network of physical devices that combine IP connectivity with software, sensors, actuators, and other electronics to directly integrate the physical world into our computer-based systems, resulting in efficiency improvements and economic benefits.

the web of Things could also be a network of Internet connected devices that communicate embedded sensor data to the cloud for centralized processing.

The extensive set of applications for IoT device is typically divided into consumer, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure spaces.

A growing portion of IoT devices are created for consumer use, including connected vehicles, home automation, wearable technology, connected health, and appliances with remote monitoring capabilities.

IoT devices are an area of the larger concept of home automation, which can include lighting, heating and air conditioning, media and security systems and camera systems.
Long-term benefits could include energy savings by automatically ensuring lights and electronics are turned off or by making the residents within the home aware of usage.

Smart Planet (Green environment)

Smart cities (Connected communities)

Smart Energy (Electric grid)

Smart Industry (Industrial environment)

One key application of a wise house is to provide assistance for those with disabilities and elderly individuals. These home systems use assistive technology to accommodate an owner's specific disabilities.
Voice control can assist users with sight and mobility limitations while alert systems are often connected on to cochlear implants worn by hearing-impaired users.
They can also be equipped with additional safety features. These features can include sensors that monitor for medical emergencies like falls or seizures. Smart home technology applied during this way can provide users with more freedom and a far better quality of life.
The term "Enterprise IoT" refers to devices utilized in business and company settings. By 2019, it's estimated that the EIoT will account for 9.1 billion devices

The IEEE has compiled data and makes the next claims about its current and future impact:
In 2015, the worldwide wearables market had already increased 223% from the previous year (and data on Statista shows it increasing by another 243% between 2015 and 2022)
By 2020, 250 million vehicles are getting to be connected to the online
IoT will add 15 trillion dollars to the worldwide economy over subsequent 20 years
There are getting to be 50 billion Internet-connected devices by the year 2020.

The interconnection of these multiple embedded devices are getting to be resulting in automation in nearly all fields and also enabling advanced applications. this is often often resulting in improved accuracy, efficiency and economic benefit with reduced human intervention. the most benefits of IoT are:
Improved Customer Engagement
Technical Optimization
Reduced Wastage
Integrate and Adapt Business Model
Better Business Decision

IoT Device features a main function break free Computation
Cars drive, Phone make calls, TVs displays shows
Computation could also be a means to an end
Computers main function is to compute, they're general purpose machines
IoT Devices are Special Purpose Devices, software and hardware are efficient for the task - but inefficient for other tasks

Cost of hardware has decreased allowing to be added to devices
Smaller size and lesser weight needed to incorporate computation into devices
Computation ability has increased tremendously
Internet is out there everywhere
Wireless Access (4G, Wi-Fi) has become cheap and ubiquitous, 5G on the way (No physical cables required)
Data transmission cost is fairly low, internet bandwidth is high
Cloud computing is getting used extensively (IoT devices are a window to those cloud services)
Rise of Open Source Software (Rust, Web Assembly, Docker, Kubernetes, etc.)

a priority regarding Internet-of-things technologies pertains to the environmental impacts of the manufacture, use, and eventual disposal of of those semiconductor-rich devices.
Modern electronics are replete with an honest sort of heavy metals and rare-earth metals, also as highly toxic synthetic chemicals.
This makes them extremely difficult to properly recycle. Electronic components are often incinerated or placed in regular landfills.
Furthermore, the human and environmental cost of mining the rare-earth metals that are integral to modern electronic components continues to grow.
Although IoT devices can help in some cases to reduce the energy consumption of certain applications, the impact of getting billions of devices connected and consuming power from batteries and from the grid will have a huge impact on energy consumption and CO2 emissions.