What is IoT (Internet of things)?
Trying to board this topic brings to my mind memories of those cartoons in which the technology governs the earth’s future: flying cars, robots doing housework and many other jobs, etc. I remember shows like The Jetsons where Rosey is doing all the housework, or Futurama where people interacts with Robots, or sci fi movies like Star Wars.
But what is IoT?
In a Nomveber 2014 Harvard Business Review article, Michael Porter and James Heppelmann describe IoT devices as “smart, connected products that have three core elements:
- Physical components that comprise the product’s mechanical and electrical parts
- Smart components that comprise the sensors, microprocessors, data storage, controls, software, and typically, an embedded operating system and enhanced user interface
- Connectivity components that comprise the ports, antennae, and protocols enabling wired or wireless connections with the product[1]
In other words, the IoT describes the network of physical objects (things) that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other device and systems over the internet and is common refer to this physical objects as smart things: smart tv, smartphone,etc.[2].
The term “Internet of Things” is accredited to Kevin Ashton, who used it for the first time during a presentation in 1999 on supply-chain management. He believes the “things” aspect of the way we interact and live within the physical world that surrounds us needs serious reconsideration, due to advances in computing, Internet , and data-generation by smart devices. Since the, many definitions for IoT have been presented adding more value to the need for ubiquitous and autonomous networks of objects where identification and service integration have an important and inevitable role [3].
Why IoT?
IoT is the near future which pretends to improve the quality of life and will have a great impact. IoT can revolutionize the way our medical systems and businesses operate by[3]:
- Expanding the communication channel between objects by providing a more integrated communication environment in which different sensor data such as location, heartbeat, etc.
- Facilitating the automation and control process, whereby administrators can manage each object’s status via remote consoles
- Saving in the overall cost of implementation, deployment, and maintenance, by providing detailed measurements and the ability to check the status of devices remotely
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has studied the industrial aspects and implications of IoT and outlined how the Industrial IoT is transformative. WEF has identified that the key business opportunities are to be found in four areas [4]:
- Firstly, it is about significant improvements in operational efficiencies, such as resource utilization and improved equipment uptime via remote management, and predictive maintenance of assets, i.e., to be able to predict and schedule when a machine servicing is needed
- Secondly, it is the emergence of an outcome economy, which implies that businesses will increasingly shift from selling products to selling the value their customers expect from the products
- Thirdly, ecosystems will be connected using software platforms that enable online collaboration based on the exchange of data and information, which then become tradeable assets.
- Lastly, it will also enable new means for collaboration between people and machines, to augment workers, increase safety and efficiency, and also make work more engaging and inspiring
IoT has great potential, McKinsey Global Institute studied the economic reach of IoT solutions. The study estimated the total potential economic impact of IoT to be in the range of 3.9–11.1 trillion US dollars per year in 2025. This can be compared to the World Bank projected global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 99.5 trillion US dollar in 2025, taking this into account, IoT could have a potential about as high as 11 percent of the total world economy.
Architecture of IoT
To understand how IoT works, an architectural model is required. One of the basic models consists of three components[5]:
1- Hardware: which is made of sensors and actuators
2- Middleware: for data processing and data transfer
3- Presentation for ease, understandability, and portability.
Having all these components interacting with each other
Another model is given in a pyramidal form:
In general, the architecture of the IoT can be compiled and generalized in three layers: the application, network and physical
- Application: It is the presentation layer which provides an interface to users, using intelligent computer technology, management services, authentication and authorization services, etc.
- Network: It has the communication protocols providing for Internet connections, network infrastructure, and gateway functions. This layer is the most important of all the three layers as it is the main functioning unit of the architecture, because, IoT will be nothing without Internet connection
- Physical: It has the data collector things or sensors, RFID, raw data, and real-time information which are coordinated and collaborated to be forwarded to the upper processing layer
In general, these models try to explain what happen behind our smart devices.
Applications
It is well known that IoT is going to be the most viral phenomenon in the coming future. This technology will not only take over the existing ones but also use them as components to construct even bigger applications than those already running. Following are general applications of IoT:
- Transportation: real-time traffic information collection, storage, aggregation, and analysis can lead to intelligent transportation as well as path optimization for travelers or tourists. Traffic problems can also be quickly sorted using such techniques. Traffic information grid (TIG) is an example of an application of IoT in this domain, which has been implemented on the Shanghai Grid. Live parking, assisted driving are other examples of the application of IoT in transportation
- Healthcare: A person and his health can be traced using combination of RFID and NFC technology. For example, the measurement of body temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat rate, etc.
- Home and personal use: regular appliances at home, like the refrigerator, lighting system, ventilation and air conditioning system, power supply, or water pump can be modified by employing IoT. Depending on conditions, refrigerator can automatically cool the food items up to specific temperature, stove could heat your food while you get home, air conditioner can adjust the room temperature, and lighting system can adjust the brightness according to day or night.
Many other applications can be found and could be applied, only imagination is the limit.
Security
The main issue for IoT is maybe the security. The concern is that rapid development is happening without appropriate consideration of the profound security challenges involved and the regulatory changes that might be necessary. A high level of heterogeneity in the system leads to higher risks of threats on the system. The large number of things to be used, important data stored on the systems and the fact that the processing and communication occur over a wireless channel, makes the IoT systems more susceptible to attack and thereby requires an even greater level of security as compared to the existing one. The existing security algorithms and methods are not enough for securing the entire IoT system.
Conclusion
IoT is our future, it has the aim of improve quality of life, providing solutions for integration, communication, data interpretation and application of smart devices and there are still problems to be solved such as security, but it looks great as future.
References
[1] Internet of the things for dummies
[2] Internet of the things — Wikipedia
[3] Internet of Things — Principles and Paradigms: Chapter 1 — Internet of Things: an overview. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-805395-9.00001-0
[4] Internet of Things (Second Edition) — Technologies and Applications for a New Age of Intelligence: Chapter 1 — Why the Internet of Things. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814435-0.00012-2
[5] Healthcare Paradigms in the Internet of Things Ecosystem: Chapter 1 — The fundamentals of Internet of Things: architectures, enabling technologies, and applications. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819664-9.00001-6
[6] A survey on internet of things: Security and privacy issues. International Journal of Computer Applications. doi: 10.5120/15764–4454
