Internet of Things (IoT)
In the world we live in today, almost every single thing is connected in some way to the internet. The Internet of Things is a pretty simple concept — taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly expanding technology that is shaping up to bring the next revolution in computing and information technologies. IoT system has applications across industries through their unique flexibility and ability to be suitable in any environment.
Why the Internet of things?
The IoT offers new and innovative organizations ways to manage and monitor remote operations. It allows having eyes and ears in remote places, constantly feeding applications and data stores with information. The low cost of “things” allows observing and managing activities that were previously out of reach. With the Internet of things, it is also possible to collect information about events that were once invisible, such as correlating weather patterns with industrial production.
Very briefly, the Internet of Things is a concept that is based on the interconnection of any product with any others around it. From a book to the refrigerator in your own home. The goal is to make all these devices communicate with each other and, therefore, be more intelligent and independent. For this, it is necessary to use the IPv6 protocol and the development of numerous technologies that are currently being designed by the main companies in the sector.
Overview Examples
Example-1
Imagine you have put sensors on your doors and windows and you forget to close them while going out then all doors and windows would be shut automatically and you would receive a message on your phone stating that the house has been locked.
Example-2
Now imagine if a problem occurs with your car and there's a device in the car that allows you to communicate with the car manufacturer and resolve the problem yourself. For example, in case of increased engine temperature ,you could communicate with the manufacturer through that device and he would notify you on your phone and resolve your problem.
Example-3
The day will come, not far from now when your alarm will be synced to your email account and if early meeting is cancelled, your alarm will automatically reset to a later time, which will also postpone the coffee machine to the new wake-up time. Your fridge will know what's in it and place online order to replenish stocks without you having to do anything.
Example-4
Your wearable device or smart watch will monitor your health through the day, watching your calorie intake and making sure you stay active and don't sit too long at your desk.
How it works:
1. First, We have sensors, These are small pieces that can be placed anywhere(Car,Home,Fridge). Sensors collect data and send to some processing device.
2. Next level in Iot is local processing. So we have device that processes some data received from sensors and take some decision also.
3. Then we have local storage. Data collected from sensors is huge so we need to store it locally.
4. Next we have to set up network. Since we need to interconnect things, we have to send data to cloud for processing.
5. Then we have a cloud storage to store data.
6. Next we need to process the data in the cloud to get some good result and provide notifications to the user on his/her phone.
Security
As I’m sure you’ve heard, everything connected to the internet can be hacked (yes, everything), and IoT products are no exception to this rule. With everything being connected to the internet, anything could be hacked and messed with. Following the previous example, one cyber attack could ruin an entire crop in a day.
One other issue is the amount of data being stored. If every device is constantly storing all the data it’s collecting, there is a possibility of someone reaching all this data and using it for other purposes.
Also, what about your personal privacy? If everything in your house is connected to the internet, everything could be hacked and information about you and your habits come out. With a smart fridge, everything you eat and when you eat will come out. With your smartwatch, every heartbeat and step could be accessible. With almost all devices around you having some kind of sensor (some with cameras), hackers would have access to every aspect of your life.
Conclusion
IoT brings to our society uncountable possibilities for the next industrial revolution where coming devices will be autonomous enough, to perform a repetitive task that we do nowadays, and the possibility to have interconnected cities, communities, and people through technology.
