Internet of Things: Once a dream now a Reality

The ‘Internet of things’ (IoT) is becoming an increasingly popular and hot topic of conversation among educated and tech savvy people. It’s a concept that not only has the potential to impact how we live but also how we work. One may ask, what is the ‘Internet of things’ and how does it work. Internet of Things or more precisely the internet of devices is all about connecting devices over the internet and letting them ‘talk’ to us, applications and each other. Internet of Things doesn’t necessarily have to be connected to the internet; it can also be a network of things. Technically speaking Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics , software , sensors , and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. IoT is a combination of sensors, people and processes, and connectivity. 

The Internet of Things allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. These devices often called ‘connected’ or ‘smart’ devices, can sometimes talk to other related devices through a process called machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and act on the information they get from one another. Humans can also interact with the gadgets to set them up, give them instructions or access the data, but the devices do most of the work on their own without human intervention. 

The concept of a network of smart devices was discussed as early as 1982, with a modified Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University becoming the first internet-connected appliance that was able to report its inventory and whether newly loaded drinks were cold. But the concept of the Internet of Things first became popular in 1999, through the Auto-ID Center at MIT and related market-analysis publications. RFID was seen by Kevin Ashton as prerequisite for the IoT at that time. ‘Things’ in the IoT sense, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochemical transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters, automobiles with built-in sensors, DNA analysis devices for environmental/food/pathogen monitoring or field operation devices that assist firefighters in search and rescue operations. 

According to Gartner, Inc. (a technology research and advisory corporation) there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things by 2020. Not only internet of things applications is enhancing the comforts of our lives but also it giving us more control by simplifying routine work life and personal tasks.

Applications of IoT are currently seen in education, retail, logistics, food, management and pharmaceuticals. Once upon a time we just dreamt of these but now with technological advancement and research it is becoming slowly a reality.

The classic example is a Smart refrigerator that can read RFID tags on grocery items as they’re put inside, and then look up those tags via the Internet to identify milk, eggs, butter, and other items that we just bought from the market. The fridge tracks usage, then alerts owners when they’re running out of groceries or need more food .The refrigerator could even place a grocery order automatically. Similarly, that smart fridge could warn about products nearing (or past) their expiry dates.

Another example is wristwatches with sensors that can track the wearers’ heartbeat and pass on the information to our smart phones via Bluetooth. The Smartphone can store that data on cloud after which it can be accessed at any point of time to view a report card of how our heart has been behaving for over a period of a week or a month. Products like the cellular communication enabled Smart Belly or ‘smart trash’ use real-time data collection and alerts to let municipal services know when a bin needs to be emptied. This information can drastically reduce the number of pick-ups required, and translates into fuel and financial savings for community’s service departments.  

Using our Smartphone’s range of sensors (Accelerometer, Gyro, Video, Proximity, Compass, GPS, etc.) and connectivity options (Cell, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.) we have a well-equipped Internet of Things device in our pocket that can automatically monitor our movements, location, and workouts throughout the day. Smart thermostats such as Google’s Nest Learning Thermostat, can tell us when we leave the house and lower the temperature accordingly so as not to waste energy, as well as adapting and learning based on our routine and how long it takes to heat our house. It’s another application is in industry for maintenance and repair as Sensors installed inside equipment will monitor if any parts have exceeded their designed thresholds, and will automatically send reports to owners and manufacturers if they have. Early predictions on equipment malfunctions can be made with parts and service maintenance can be automatically scheduled ahead of an actual part failure. Another example is the band we usually wear to keep us up-to-date about our health and fitness level. Driver less cars like those manufactured by Google that use sensors while driving on road is also based on IoT concept.

Intelligent shopping systems, for example could monitor specific users' purchasing habits in a store by tracking their specific mobile phones. These users could then be provided with special offers on their favourite products or even location of items that they need, which their fridge has automatically conveyed to the phone. Got an important phone call and left the TV on. The house could turn the TV off (to save power). Sensors in a bed (or an alarm clock) could notify other devices when we wake; in turn, they could open drapes, start the coffee maker, and discretely turn on the TV in the breakfast nook for news, weather, and traffic. When the clothes dryer finishes, maybe an alert appears on your TV so we can grab items before they wrinkle. If it’s dark outside a sensor in our front door lock could turn on the inside lights before we step inside like all cars have been doing things like that for decades.

Besides some examples given above IoT is one of the platforms of today's Smart City, and Smart Energy Management Systems. IoT is more than smart homes and connected appliances, however it scales up to include smart cities like connected traffic signals that monitor utility use, or smart bins that signal when they need to be emptied and industry with connected sensors for everything from tracking parts to monitoring crops. It can do surveillance through a camera at home to see what our baby is doing. In future its application can be seen to monitor and controlling operations of urban and rural infrastructures like bridges, railway tracks, on and offshore wind-farms. There’s a lot of scope in the future, such as repair work for electronics with no moving parts like television sets. Since it is a completely electronic device, there is no need for a repair guy to come over. We can simply connect it to the internet and let it be repaired over the cloud.

As per the report published in PC World, to become an emerging player, Samsung is developing a new operating system for the Internet of Things, hoping to make a bigger role for itself in the millions of smart home appliances. The OS which will be open source hasn't yet been named. It will help devices to execute simple tasks quickly without human intervention. For example, the software could instruct a door lock to open and the lights to come on.

We are in the early stages in the creation of ‘Internet of Things’ and its future will not be possible without the support of latest technology. The above examples provide just a glimpse into what is possible when we combine sensors, actuators, and networked intelligence. Let us hope these things make life easy and productive for us and help to make this world a better place to live in.