Navigating the Connected World: Understanding the Internet of Things (IoT)
Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices equipped with sensors, computing power, software, and other technologies that communicate and share data with other devices and systems via the Internet or other communication networks. Electronics, communication, and computer science engineering are all part of the Internet of Things. The term “Internet of Things” has been deemed misleading because devices do not need to be connected to the public internet; instead, they must be connected to a network and be individually addressable.
Because of the confluence of many technologies, such as ubiquitous computing, commodity sensors, and increasingly sophisticated embedded systems, as well as machine learning, the field has progressed. Embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, and automation (including home and building automation) are older domains that independently and jointly enable the Internet of Things.
There are several concerns about the risks associated with the growth of IoT technologies and products, particularly in the areas of privacy and security, and as a result, industry and government initiatives have been developed to address these concerns, including the development of international and local standards, guidelines, and regulatory frameworks.
History
The basic idea of a network of smart devices was explored as early as 1982, when a modified Coca-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University became the first ARPANET-connected appliance, reporting its inventory and whether newly loaded drinks were cold or not. The present vision of the IOT is based on Mark Weiser’s 1991 work on ubiquitous computing, “The Computer of the Twenty-First Century,” as well as academic forums such as UbiComp and PerCom. In IEEE Spectrum in 1994, Reza Raji characterized the concept as “[moving] small packets of data to a large set of nodes in order to integrate and automate everything from home appliances to entire factories.” Several firms presented solutions between 1993 and 1997, such as Microsoft’s At Work and Novell’s NEST.
The term “Internet of Things” was coined in a speech given by Peter T. Lewis at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 15th Annual Legislative Weekend in Washington, D.C., in September 1985. Lewis defines the term as follows: “The Internet of Things, or IoT, is the integration of people, processes, and technology with connectable devices and sensors to enable remote monitoring, status manipulation, and evaluation of trends of such devices.”
Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble, later of MIT’s Auto-ID Center, invented the term “Internet of Things” independently in 1999, although he prefers the phrase “Internet for Things.” At the time, he saw radio-frequency identification (RFID) as critical to the Internet of Things, which would allow computers to manage all individual things. The central topic of the Internet of Things is the incorporation of short-range mobile transceivers into numerous devices and everyday requirements to enable new types of communication between people and things, as well as between things themselves.
The Internet of Things (IoT) was “born” between 2008 and 2009, according to Cisco Systems, with the things/people ratio increasing from 0.08 in 2003 to 1.84 in 2010.
Applications
The extensive set of applications for IoT devices is often divided into consumer, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure spaces.
Consumers
Consumer IoT technologies, such as connected vehicles, home automation, wearable technology, connected health, and appliances with remote monitoring capabilities, are becoming increasingly popular.
Home automation
IoT devices are a subset of home automation, which includes lighting, heating and cooling, media and security systems, and camera systems. Long-term benefits could include energy savings by automatically turning off lights and devices or by keeping occupants aware of consumption.
A platform or hub that controls smart gadgets and appliances could be the foundation of a smart home or automated house. Manufacturers, for example, can use Apple’s HomeKit to have their home appliances and accessories controlled by an app on iOS devices such as the iPhone and the Apple Watch. This might be a separate app or an iOS native app like Siri. There are also specific smart home hubs available as separate platforms for connecting various smart home items. Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple’s HomePod are among them.
Elder care
One important use of a smart home is to help the elderly and crippled. These home systems make use of assistive technology to accommodate the individual limitations of the owner. They can also be outfitted with extra safety measures, such as sensors that detect medical crises like falls or seizures. When smart home technology is used in this manner, it can give consumers more flexibility and a higher quality of life.
Organizations
The term “Enterprise IoT” refers to devices used in business and corporate settings. By 2019, it is estimated that the EIoT will account for 9.1 billion devices.
Medical and healthcare
Remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems can be enabled by IoT devices. These health monitoring gadgets can range from simple blood pressure and heart rate monitors to sophisticated systems capable of monitoring specialist implants like pacemakers, Fitbit electronic wristbands, and advanced hearing aids. Some hospitals have begun to use “smart beds” that detect when they are occupied and when a patient attempts to get up. It can also adjust itself to apply proper pressure and support to the patient without the need for human intervention from nurses. According to a 2015 Goldman Sachs analysis, healthcare IoT devices “can save the United States more than $300 billion in annual healthcare expenditures by increasing revenue and decreasing cost.”
Specialized sensors can also be installed in living spaces to monitor elderly people’s health and overall well-being while also ensuring adequate treatment is delivered and aiding seniors in restoring lost mobility through therapy. These sensors form a network of intelligent sensors capable of collecting, processing, transferring, and analyzing useful information in a variety of settings, such as connecting in-home monitoring devices to hospital-based systems. With the IoT, other consumer gadgets to promote healthy living, such as connected scales or wearable heart monitors, are also a possibility. Complete health monitoring For prenatal and chronic patients, IoT technologies are also available to help manage health vitals and periodic drug requirements.
Plastic and fabric electronics fabrication processes have advanced, allowing for ultra-low cost, use-and-throw IoMT sensors. These sensors, along with the RFID chips necessary, can be printed on paper or e-textiles to create wirelessly powered disposable sensing devices. Applications for point-of-care medical diagnostics have been developed where portability and low system complexity are critical.
As of 2018, IoMT was being used not only in the clinical laboratory industry but also in healthcare and health insurance. IoMT in the healthcare industry now allows doctors, patients, and others, such as patient guardians, nurses, families, and others, to be a part of a system in which patient records are saved in a database, allowing doctors and the rest of the medical staff access to patient information. In the insurance sector, IoMT enables access to new and improved types of dynamic information. Sensor-based solutions for tracking customer activity include biosensors, wearables, connected health devices, and mobile apps. This can result in more precise underwriting and innovative pricing strategies.
The use of IoT in healthcare is critical for managing chronic diseases as well as disease prevention and control. The attachment of powerful wireless solutions enables remote monitoring. The link allows health practitioners to collect patient data and use advanced algorithms for health data analysis.
Transportation
The Internet of Things can help with the integration of communications, control, and information processing across different transportation systems. The Internet of Things is being applied to all parts of transportation systems (including the vehicle, the infrastructure, and the driver or user). Inter- and intra-vehicular communication, smart traffic control, smart parking, electronic toll collection systems, logistics and fleet management, vehicle control, safety, and road assistance are all enabled by the dynamic interaction of various components of a transportation system.
Industrial
Industrial IoT devices, also known as IIoT, collect and analyze data from linked equipment, operational technology (OT), places, and people. IIoT, when combined with operational technology (OT) monitoring devices, aids in the regulation and monitoring of industrial systems. The same application can be used for automated asset placement record updates in industrial storage units, as the size of the assets can range from a little screw to an entire motor spare part, and misplacement of such assets might result in a loss of labor, time, and money.
Manufacturing
The Internet of Things can connect numerous manufacturing devices that are capable of sensing, identification, processing, communication, actuation, and networking. IoT can be utilized for industrial applications and smart manufacturing through network control and management of manufacturing equipment, asset and situation management, or manufacturing process control. Intelligent IoT systems offer rapid product development and optimization, as well as rapid responsiveness to product demand.
The IIoT includes digital control systems to automate process controls, operator tools, and service information systems to improve plant safety and security. To maximize reliability, IoT can also be applied to asset management through predictive maintenance, statistical evaluation, and measurements. Smart grids can be connected with industrial management systems to provide energy optimization.
Agriculture
In farming, IoT applications include data collection on temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, pest infestation, and soil content. This information can be utilized to automate farming processes, make educated decisions to improve quality and quantity, reduce risk and waste, and reduce crop management work. Farmers, for example, may now remotely monitor soil temperature and moisture and even apply IoT data to precise fertilization regimens. The overarching goal is for sensor data, together with the farmer’s expertise and intuition about his or her farm, to help enhance agricultural productivity while simultaneously lowering costs.
Toyota Tsusho announced a collaboration with Microsoft in August 2018 to develop fish farming solutions using the Microsoft Azure application suite for IoT technologies linked to water management. The water pump mechanisms, developed in part by Kindai University researchers, use artificial intelligence to count the number of fish on a conveyor belt, assess the quantity of fish, and calculate the effectiveness of water flow from the data the fish offer. The Azure Marketplace now includes the FarmBeats project from Microsoft Research, which uses TV white space to connect farms.
Maritime
Boat and yacht environments and systems are monitored using IoT devices. Because many pleasure boats are left unattended for days in the summer and months in the winter, such devices provide crucial early warnings of boat flooding, fire, and battery-deep drains. The utilization of worldwide internet data networks like Sigfox, in conjunction with long-life batteries and microelectronics, enables the engine rooms, bilge, and batteries to be constantly monitored and reported to connected Android and Apple applications, for example.
Infrastructure
An important use of IoT is monitoring and controlling the operations of sustainable urban and rural infrastructure such as bridges, railway tracks, and on- and offshore wind farms. The Internet of Things infrastructure can be used to monitor any events or changes in structural conditions that could jeopardize safety or raise danger. The Internet of Things can help the construction sector save money, save time, have a better workday, eliminate paper, and boost production. Real-time data analytics can aid in making faster decisions and saving money. It can also be utilized to efficiently schedule repair and maintenance activities by coordinating duties between various service providers and users of these facilities. IoT devices can also be used to control essential infrastructure, such as bridges that allow ships to dock.
Metropolitan-scale deployments
There are various large-scale IoT installations planned or underway to improve city and system management. Songdo, South Korea, for example, is building the first completely equipped and wired smart city of its kind, with over 70% of the business district completed as of June 2018. A large portion of the city will be networked and automated, with little or no human participation.
Another application is now being worked on in Santander, Spain. Two approaches have been used for this deployment. This 180,000-person city has already had 18,000 people download their city smartphone app. The software is linked to 10,000 sensors, allowing it to provide services such as parking search, environmental monitoring, digital city agendas, and more.
Other large-scale deployments underway include the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, efforts in San Jose, California, to improve air and water quality, reduce noise pollution, and increase transportation efficiency, and smart traffic management in western Singapore. San Diego-based Ingenu has established a statewide public network for low-bandwidth data transfers using the same unlicensed 2.4 gigahertz spectrum as Wi-Fi using their RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) technology. Ingenu’s “Machine Network” spans 35 major cities, including San Diego and Dallas, and serves more than a third of the US population. Sigfox, a French company, began establishing an ultra-narrowband wireless data network in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014, becoming the first company to do so in the United States.
Another big deployment is the one done by New York Waterways in New York City to connect all of the city’s watercraft and monitor them live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Fluidmesh Networks, a Chicago-based business that develops wireless networks for crucial applications, planned and engineered the network. Currently, the NYWW network covers the Hudson River, East River, and Upper New York Bay. With the wireless network in place, NY Waterway can now control its fleet and passengers in ways that were before impossible. Security, energy and fleet management, digital signs, public Wi-Fi, paperless ticketing, and other new uses are possible.
Energy management
Many energy-consuming items (e.g., lamps, household appliances, motors, pumps, etc.) now have Internet connectivity, allowing them to communicate with utilities not just to balance power generation but also to optimize overall energy use. These devices offer functions like scheduling (e.g., remotely switching on or off heating systems, operating ovens, changing lighting settings, and so on) and allow for remote control by users or central management via a cloud-based interface. The smart grid is a utility-side IoT application in which systems acquire and act on energy and power-related data to increase the efficiency of electricity production and delivery. Electric utilities employ advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) Internet-connected devices to collect data from end consumers as well as manage distribution automation devices such as transformers.
Environmental monitoring
Environmental monitoring IoT applications often use sensors to aid in environmental protection by monitoring air or water quality and atmospheric or soil conditions, and can even encompass topics such as tracking wildlife movements and habitats. The development of resource-constrained devices linked to the Internet also means that additional applications, such as earthquake or tsunami early-warning systems, can be employed by emergency services to provide more effective assistance. In this application, IoT devices often cover a vast geographic region and can even be mobile. It has been proposed that the uniformity brought about by the IoT will transform wireless sensing.
Living Lab
Living Lab is another form of IoT integration, since it integrates and combines research and innovation processes within a public-private relationship. Currently, there are 320 Living Labs that use IoT to interact and share knowledge among stakeholders in order to co-create creative and modern products. Companies need incentives to install and develop IoT services for smart cities. Governments play critical roles in smart city initiatives because policy changes will assist cities in implementing IoT, which delivers effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy of the resources being used. For example, the government provides tax breaks and low-cost housing, enhances public transportation, and fosters an atmosphere in which start-ups, creative industries, and multinational corporations can collaborate and share infrastructure and labor.
Military
The Internet of Military Things (IoMT) refers to the use of IoT technologies in the military domain for reconnaissance, surveillance, and other combat-related goals.
The Xaver 1000 system is an example of an IOT gadget utilized in the military. Camero Tech in Israel created the Xaver 1000, the newest in the company’s line of “through wall imaging systems.” The Xaver series employs millimeter wave (MMW) radar, which operates at frequencies ranging from 30-300 gigahertz. It has an AI-based life target tracking system as well.
Internet of Battlefield Things
The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) is a project created and carried out by the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL) that focuses on basic science linked to IoT that improves Army soldiers’ skills. The Internet of Battlefield Things Collaborative Research Alliance (IoBT-CRA) was established in 2017 by ARL to develop the theoretical foundations of IoT technologies and their applications to Army operations.
Ocean of Things
The Ocean of Things project is a DARPA-led program that aims to develop an Internet of Things across huge ocean areas in order to gather, monitor, and analyze environmental and vessel activity data. The project calls for the deployment of around 50,000 floats equipped with a passive sensor suite capable of autonomously detecting and tracking military and commercial vessels as part of a cloud-based network.
Product digitalization
There are various smart or active packaging applications in which a QR code or NFC tag is attached to a product or its container. The tag is passive in and of itself, but it contains a unique identifier (usually a URL) that allows a user to access digital content about the object using a smartphone. Such passive devices, strictly speaking, are not part of the Internet of Things, but they might be viewed as enhancers of digital interactions. The term “Internet of Packaging” refers to applications that use unique IDs to automate supply chains and are scanned on a broad scale by consumers to access digital content. The unique identifiers, and hence the product itself, can be authenticated using a copy-sensitive algorithm.
Trends and characteristics
The fast rise of devices connected and controlled via the Internet has been a key noteworthy trend in recent years in the IoT. Because of the wide range of applications for IoT technology, the specifics might vary greatly from one item to the next, but there are some basic qualities that most share.
The Internet of Things enables more direct integration of the real world with computer-based systems, resulting in increased efficiency, economic rewards, and less human effort.
The number of IoT devices climbed 31% year on year to 8.4 billion in 2017, and it is expected to reach 30 billion by 2020.
Intelligence
Ambient intelligence and autonomous control are not part of the original Internet of Things concept. Ambient intelligence and autonomous control do not necessitate Internet infrastructure. However, there is a shift in research (by firms such as Intel) to blend the concepts of IoT and autonomous control, with first results pointing in this direction, with most IoT systems providing a dynamic and interactive environment. Traditional machine learning algorithms, such as supervised learning, cannot be used to train an agent (i.e., an IoT device) to behave intelligently in such an environment. A lethe driving force for autonomous IoT using a reinforcement learning technique.
There are three tiers of IoT intelligence available: IoT devices, Edge/Fog nodes, and cloud computing. The necessity for intelligent control and decision making at each level is determined by the IoT application’s timing sensitivity. To avoid an accident, an autonomous vehicle’s camera, for example, must detect obstacles in real time. This rapid decision-making would be impossible if data were transferred from the car to cloud instances and forecasts were returned to the vehicle. Instead, all operations should be carried out locally within the vehicle. Integrating powerful machine learning techniques, such as deep learning, into IoT devices is a hotly debated research topic in order to bring smart things closer to reality. Furthermore, by assessing IoT deployments, it is feasible to maximize the value of IoT deployments.
Architecture
In its most basic form, IoT system architecture comprises three tiers: Tier 1: devices, Tier 2: edge gateways, and Tier 3: cloud. Devices include networked devices such as sensors and actuators found in IoT equipment, particularly those that link to an Edge Gateway via protocols such as Modbus, Bluetooth, Zigbee, or custom protocols. The Edge Gateway layer is made up of sensor data aggregation systems called Edge Gateways that provide capabilities such as data pre-processing, securing connectivity to the cloud, and even edge analytics or fog computing in some circumstances.
Network architecture
To manage the influx of devices, the Internet of Things necessitates massive scalability in the network area. To link devices to IP networks, IETF 6LoWPAN can be utilized. With billions of devices joining the Internet, IPv6 will play a critical role in network layer scalability. Constrained Application Protocol, ZeroMQ, and MQTT from the IETF can all enable lightweight data transfer. Many groupings of IoT devices are buried behind gateway nodes in practice and may not have unique addresses. Also, the idea of everything being interconnected is not required for most applications because it is mostly the data that requires interconnection at a higher layer.
To avoid such a massive burst of data flow across the Internet, fog computing is a feasible option. The compute power of edge devices to analyze and process data is extremely restricted. IoT devices have limited computing power because their function is to provide data about physical objects while remaining autonomous. Heavy processing demands greater battery power, reducing IoT’s ability to operate. Scalability is simple since IoT devices simply send data over the internet to a server with enough processing power.
Decentralized IoT
Decentralized Internet of Things (IoT) is a modified IoT that uses fog computing to handle and balance requests from connected IoT devices in order to reduce loading on cloud servers and improve responsiveness for latency-sensitive IoT applications such as patient vital signs monitoring, vehicle-to-vehicle communication in autonomous driving, and critical failure detection in industrial devices. Performance is enhanced, particularly for large IoT systems with millions of nodes.
A mesh network connects traditional IoT devices, which are headed by a big head node (centralized controller). The way data is created, stored, and transported is determined by the head node. Decentralized IoT, on the other hand, aims to break IoT systems into smaller parts. Under mutual agreement, the head node delegated some decision-making authority to lower-level sub-nodes.
Complexity
Due to the large number of diverse links, interactions between autonomous actors, and its capacity to integrate new actors, the IoT will frequently be treated and analyzed as a complex system in semi-open or closed loops (i.e., value chains, where a global finality can be established). Overall (complete open loop), it will most likely be perceived as a chaotic environment (since systems always have a finale). In practice, not all aspects of the Internet of Things operate in a global, public arena. Subsystems are frequently used to address privacy, control, and reliability problems. Domestic robotics (domotics) operating within a smart house, for example, may only share data within the smart home and be accessible over a local network.
Size considerations
The exact scale of the Internet of Things is uncertain, with billions or trillions of dollars frequently cited at the start of IoT publications. There were 83 million smart devices in people’s homes in 2015. This figure is predicted to rise to 193 million by 2020.
From 2016 to 2017, the number of online-capable gadgets increased by 31% to 8.4 billion.
Space considerations
The specific geographic position of a thing—as well as its precise geographic dimensions—can be crucial in the Internet of Things. As a result, facts about a thing, such as its location in time and space, have become less important to track because the person processing the information can decide whether or not that information is important to the action being taken and, if so, add the missing information (or choose not to take the action). It should be noted that certain items on the Internet of Things will include sensors, and sensor position is usually critical.
A solution to “basket of remotes”
Many Internet-of-Things devices have the potential to capture a portion of this market. Jean-Louis Gassée (Apple initial alumni team member and BeOS co-founder) addressed this topic in a Monday Note article, predicting that the most likely problem will be what he calls the “basket of remotes” problem, in which we’ll have hundreds of applications interacting with hundreds of devices that don’t share protocols for communicating with one another. Some technology leaders are banding together to set standards for communication across gadgets in order to increase user involvement. Others are turning to the concept of predictive device interaction, “where collected data is used to predict and trigger actions on specific devices” while making them operate together.
The social Internet of things
The social Internet of Things (SIoT) is a new type of IoT that emphasizes social interaction and relationships between IoT devices. SIoT is a pattern of how cross-domain IoT devices enable application-to-application communication and collaboration without human intervention in order to serve their owners with autonomous services, and this can only be realized when both IoT software and hardware engineering support are obtained.
