You We and IoT!

Today the Internet is massive global network that allows people to communicates with each other, we send Email, instant messages, use websites to communicate to share data and it is the people who drive the internet, the data that we send comes from client devices such as smart phones, tablets, PC or laptop and then it goes to servers and the servers then transmit that data on further.

In that sense we can say that the entities are made up of three major actors

·        The people

·        The client devices that we use

·        The servers.

The whole new category of actor is being added to the Internet they have been called things, hence it termed Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT device is any object that has sensor attached to it that can transmit the data from that sensor further up into the cloud where it can be analyzed and used to make decisions. These includes sensors like

·        Temperature sensor

·        Light Sensor

·        Hall sensor

·        Pressure sensor

·        Touch sensor

·        Energy monitor sensor

This is relatively new concept, in our modern technological world the internet is now widely available to public, so almost anyone to connect to the web a variety of devices. The connectivity between these devices over the internet is essentially the idea of the Internet of things.

According to analysis by Cisco by 2020 there will be over 50 Billion connected devices another study conducted by Morgan Stanley suggests there will be more than 75 Billion connected devices. Samsung’s Co-CEO took the stage on Consumers Electronic Show CES2015 to declare that all Samsung’s products will be Internet of Things enabled by 2020. Samsung’s plans are of every Microwave oven, washing machine, fridge should to be Internet of Things enabled.

At the end of 2014 ARM announced new Operating System to boost the development of IoT devices called mbed OS, it is a free operating system for ARM’s Cortex-M ranged microcontrollers. One of the key points of mbed OS is that it supports the important IoT protocol and allows anybody to prototype and develop IoT devices. mbed OS includes all the functionality needed to create an IOT device and transmit that data to the cloud, it supports different stacks like IPv4, IPv6, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

So there is going to be an increase in technological devices and software, this essentially means more data. In once sense more data is better, it contributes to our overall knowledge which helps us solve every day problems, to make any device Smart.

The IoT can change much about the world we live in from how we make purchases online, how we get gas or electricity for our homes and the way how we travel and drive, as mentioned different types of sensors can be embedded in the physical things that are around us each transmitting data, this data can let us better understand how this things works and work together, but how these devices can share this Big Data and how can we put this Big Data to work?

Whether we are improving the production of factories, recommending products online to the customer to purchase or giving city real time data on where to park our vehicle or monitoring our personal health, its common IoT platform that brings us diverse information together and provides the common language for the devices and apps to communicates with each other.

This process starts from the devises which communicates securely with the IoT platform, this platform integrates the data from many devices and applies analytics to share the most valuable data with applications that address industry specific needs.

Examples of IoT are differentiates on the basis of its applications, there are many example like

·        Home Automation

·        Intelligent traffic system

·        Smart Health care

·        Industrial Automation

·        Smart city

One example scenario can be a most common means for transport A CAR.

After taking a long road trip if you notices that your check engine light switches on, by then you know that you need to have your car gets a service from a mechanic, but you are not sure if that problem is something minor or major and needs immediate check. As this turn out that the sensor that triggered your check engine light monitors the pressure in your brake line, this sensor is one of the many monitoring processes in the car which are continuously communicating with each other.

A component in a car called as the diagnostic bus collects this data from sensors then passes it to a gateway in the car, the gateway integrates and sorts the data from the sensors, this way only the relevant diagnostic information will be transmitted to the cars manufacturers platform, but before sending this data the cars gateway and platform must first register with each other and confirm a secure communication. The platform is continuously gathering and storing thousands and thousands of bits of the information from hundreds of thousands of cars, building historical record in a secure database. The manufacturers added rules and logic to the platform, so when your car sends signals that your brake fluid has dropped below recommended level the platform triggers an alert in your car, the manufacturer also uses the platform to crate and manage applications that solves specific issues. In above scenario the manufacturer can deploy an application on the platform called the asset management system, this application over sees all of their customer’s cars on the road as well as all the parts in the warehouses. It uses data from your car to offer you a potential appointment time to service check, directions to nearest certifies dealer and discount coupon for the service and that app with ensure that your brakes are covered under warranty, that the correct replacement part is ordered and then sent to the dealership so it is ready when you arrives there. But the manufacturer’s analysis does not stops there, they have also deployed a continuous engineering application that tracks hundreds of thousands of cars looking for ways to improve the design and manufacturing process of the car itself.

If the same problem in your brake line pops up in a critical number of other cars, the manufacturer uses apps custom built for the automobile industry to pin point the exact problem, they can see if these cars were made at the same factory, used the same parts or came off the assembly line on the same day.

So how this could be beneficial

Streamlined inventory management for the dealer, a better safer car from manufacturer, and for customer they can be on road safely all thanks to IoT.                        

Few benefits can be mentioned as, It increases ease and efficiency in the world, connected devices can share data quickly and operate according to that data, it also increases our knowledge, this concept also urges where we can need for new innovative and creative devices which can also be solutions for current problems. It can improves convenience, comfort, efficiency and security,

With every new technology it comes some disadvantages, the connectivity of so many different devices there is higher risk of security threats, this along with who the data from devices are being monitored can bring up concerns about privacy, in addition more data is produced and shared so another concern would be the need for more resources to organize and maintain all of this data

If all these smart devices are connected to each other this would create a city as smart city and if this idea is implemented all over the global then we would be living in smart world

This technology sounds great for the consumer but probably the big money can be made on larger scale projects. Smarts buildings, Smart cities and Internet of Things enabled businesses are the large contracts are to be focused. Whole infrastructures enabled for IoT or end to end business processes using IOT in every step. Everything from train’s cars to trains, from parcels to production lines can be built to use IoT. The initial investment will be high for businesses, however benefits will likely save money in long term.

The IoT revolution started and there is going to be lot of advancement over coming years, it would be interesting to be the part of its journey until we reach seamless IoT experience, on the way we can see great innovations coming from surprising sources.