The Internet of Things (IOT) | A Smarter Way of Living

Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to drive the shift from the traditional way of living into a high-tech lifestyle. Transformations such as smart homes, smart cities, smart transportation, smart industries, pollution control, energy saving etc. are being made a reality through IoT.

However, to achieve the full potential of IoT, there are still a lot of challenges and issues that need to be mitigated. These challenges must be considered from various elements in IoT such as applications, challenges, enabling technologies, social and environmental impacts etc.

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology that enables seamless communication between electronic devices and sensors through the internet. IoT can also be described as a system of inter-related computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

IoT uses smart devices and the internet to provide innovative solutions to various challenges and issues related to businesses, governments and public/private industries across the world. IoT is progressively becoming an important aspect of our life that will be sensed everywhere around us; informing how we interact with the world.

IoT is an innovation that puts together an extensive variety of smart systems, frameworks, intelligent devices and sensors. Moreover, it takes advantage of quantum and nanotechnology in terms of storage, sensing and processipeed which were not conceivable beforehand.

How did we get here? | Evolution of IoT

Kevin Ashton, co-founder of the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), first mentioned the internet of things in a presentation to Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1999. To bring radio frequency ID (RFID) to the attention of P&G's senior management, Ashton named his presentation "Internet of Things" to incorporate the cool new trend of 1999: the internet.

IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microservices and the internet. The convergence has helped tear down silos between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), enabling unstructured machine-generated data to be analyzed for insights to drive improvements.

For Example, the first internet appliance was a Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 1980s. Using the web, programmers could check the status of the machine and determine whether there would be a cold drink awaiting them, should they decide to make the trip to the machine.

IoT evolved from M2M communication, i.e., machines connecting to each other via a network without human interaction. M2M refers to connecting a device to the cloud, managing, and collecting data.

Taking M2M to the next level, IoT is a sensor network of billions of smart devices that connect people, systems, and other applications to collect and share data. As its foundation, M2M offers the connectivity that enables IoT.

How IoT works

An IoT ecosystem consists of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems, such as processors, sensors, and communication hardware, to collect, send and act on data they acquire from their environments. IoT devices share the sensor data collected by connecting to an IoT gateway or other edge devices where data is either sent to the cloud or analyzed on premises.

Sometimes, these devices also communicate with other related devices. These devices do most of the work without human intervention, although people can interact with the devices, for instance, to set them up, give them instructions or access the data.

The connectivity, networking and communication protocols used with these web-enabled devices largely depend on the specific IoT applications deployed.

IoT can also make use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to aid in making data collecting processes easier and more dynamic.

IOT AND 5G

One area of growth in the coming years will undoubtedly be the use of 5G networks to support IoT Technology. 5G offers the ability to fit as many as one million 5G devices in a square kilometer, making it possible to use many sensors in a very small area, making large-scale industrial IoT deployments more possible.

Recently, the UK has begun a trial of 5G and the IoT at two 'Smart Factories'. However, it could be some time before 5G deployments are widespread: Ericsson predicts that there will be around five billion IoT devices connected to cellular networks by 2023, but only around a quarter of those will be broadband IoT, with 4G connecting the majority of those.

Outdoor surveillance cameras will be the largest market for 5G IoT devices soon. According to Gartner, outdoor surveillance cameras will account for the majority (70%) of the 5G IoT devices this year, before dropping to around 30% by the end of 2023. They will be overtaken by connected cars.

The analyst firm predicts that there will be 3.5 million 5G IoT devices in use this year, and nearly 50 million by 2023. The firm also predicts that the automotive industry, in the long run, will be the largest sector for 5G IoT use cases.

As IoT develops, it could be possible that less data will be sent for processing in the cloud. To keep costs low, more processing could be done on-device with only the useful data being sent back to the cloud – a strategy known as ‘edge computing’. Implementing edge computing will require new technology such as

tamper-proof edge servers that can collect and analyze data far from the cloud or corporate data center.

IoT Solutions | Copy Cat

Copy Cat provides the various IoT solutions to solve simple and complex problems. We have a strong network of partners and skills to deliver wholistic solutions incorporating various platforms and devices.

Remote Management, Automated meter reading (AMR), Short Range Wireless, Weather Monitoring, VPN Tunneling and Managed Services are our focused solutions within IoT Technology.

Kindly reach out to us for more information.