What is Internet of Things (IoT)?

Definition of the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things is through radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared sensors, global positioning systems, laser scanners and other information sensing equipment, according to an agreed protocol, connect any item to the Internet, exchange and communicate information, in order to achieve intelligence A network of identification, location, tracking, monitoring and management. The concept of the Internet of Things was proposed in 1999. The Internet of Things is the "Internet of Things Connected". This has two meanings: first, the core and foundation of the Internet of Things is still the Internet, which is an extended and expanded network based on the Internet; second, its user end extends and extends to any item and item to carry out information Exchange and communication.

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The “things” here must meet the following conditions to be included in the scope of the “Internet of Things”: 1. A receiver with corresponding information; 2. A data transmission path; 3. A certain storage function; 4. Have a CPU; 5. Have an operating system; 6. Have a special application; 7. Have a data transmitter; 8. Follow the communication protocol of the Internet of Things; 9. Have an identifiable number in the world network.

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On January 28, 2009, after Obama took office as President of the United States, he held a "round table meeting" with American business leaders. As one of the only two representatives, IBM CEO Samuel Palmisan first proposed the concept of "Smart Earth”, It is recommended that the new government invest in a new generation of smart infrastructure. This is also one of the reasons why the Internet of Things has "fever" recently.

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In September 2009, at the China-EU Symposium on the Internet of Things and Enterprise Environment in Beijing, Dr. Lorent Ferderix, head of the RFID department of the Information and Social Media Department of the European Commission, gave the EU's definition of the Internet of Things: the Internet of Things is a dynamic global Network infrastructure, which has self-organization capabilities based on standards and interoperable communication protocols, in which physical and virtual "things" have identity, physical attributes, virtual characteristics and intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated with information networks. The Internet of Things will form the Internet of the future together with the Internet of Media, the Internet of Services and the Internet of Enterprises.

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IoT layering

Specifically, the Internet of Things is divided into a perception layer, a network layer, and an application layer. The following are introduced separately:

1) The perception layer is the skin and facial features of the Internet of Things to identify objects and collect information. The perception layer includes two-dimensional code tags and readers, RFID tags and readers, cameras, GPS, sensors, terminals, sensor networks, etc. It mainly recognizes objects and collects information, which is similar to the role of skin and facial features in the structure of the human body.

The perception layer is also called the source layer. Taking the Internet of Vehicles as an example, the source layer is the base station cluster layer composed of car digital standard information sources (commonly known as electronic license plates): it is composed of different types and different functions of base stations, which realizes the collection of car-related information and is the transmission layer of car-related information.

2) The network layer is the nerve center of the Internet of Things and brain information transmission and processing. The network layer includes a converged network of communications and the Internet, a network management center, an information center, and an intelligent processing center. The network layer transmits and processes the information obtained by the perception layer, similar to the nerve center and brain in the human body structure.

The network layer is divided into the support layer and the data layer. The data layer is composed of multiple databases (including part of the data collected by the existing vehicle-related management platforms of public security, transportation and other departments). It is the storage layer of vehicle-related information, and the definition of its data structure is the most critical.

3) The application layer is the combination of the "social division of labor" of the Internet of Things and industry needs to achieve extensive intelligence.

Going back to the case of the Shanghai World Expo: Assume that every car is equipped with an electronic license plate. What is an electronic license plate? Electronic license plates are vehicle electronic tags, which belong to the source layer of the Internet of Things. The electronic license plate contains encrypted ID data and stores encrypted vehicle data. Electronic license plates can serve as various types of documents. The current situation of vehicle monitoring and management in the World Expo after the introduction of the Internet of Vehicles: rapid electronic identification; multiple vehicles can be inspected at the same time; work efficiency is greatly improved, and intelligent management is realized.

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Uses of the Internet of Things

Of course, the Internet of Things will have many wide-ranging uses, covering smart transportation, environmental protection, government work, public safety, safe home, smart fire protection, industrial monitoring, elderly care, personal health, flower cultivation, water system monitoring, food traceability, enemy conditions Various fields such as investigation and intelligence gathering.

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A report of the International Telecommunication Union in 2005 described the picture of the "Internet of Things" era: When the driver makes an operating error, the car will automatically alarm; the briefcase will remind the owner what to bring; the clothes will "tell" the washing machine about the color and water temperature requirements and so on. For example, a logistics company uses a truck with the Internet of Things system. When the load is overweight, the car will automatically tell you how much is overloaded, and how much is overloaded, but there is still space left, telling you how to match the light and heavy goods; The packaging of the goods may yell “You’re hurting me by throwing it away” or “Honey, please don’t be too savage, can you?”; When the driver is gossiping with others, the truck will pretend to be the boss and yell “idiot, Time to start!"

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The Internet of Things makes full use of the new generation of IT technology in various industries. Specifically, it is to embed and equip sensors in power grids, railways, bridges, tunnels, highways, buildings, water supply systems, dams, oil and gas pipelines, etc. Then integrate the "Internet of Things" with the existing Internet to achieve the integration of human society and physical systems. In this integrated network, there is a central computer group with super powerful capabilities that can provide information to the personnel in the integrated network, Machines, equipment and infrastructure implement real-time management and control. On this basis, humans can manage production and life in a more refined and dynamic way to achieve a "smart" state, improve resource utilization and productivity levels, and improve human relations. The relationship between nature.

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There is no doubt that if the era of "Internet of Things" comes, people's daily lives will undergo earth-shaking changes. However, regardless of privacy and radiation issues, it seems unrealistic to implant all items with identification chips. People are moving towards the "Internet of Things" era, but this process may take a long time.