Defining IoT
Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that is rapidly getting accepted across the world. At times I have experienced there is a lot of confusion about defining IoT and its solutions. Hence, I am putting some efforts to simplify the IoT definition with the intention to contribute to spreading some awareness about it.
let’s first dissect the words.
“Things” - Thing is any physical entity (living, non-living, machines, gadgets, sensors) that performs any activity or process (Shopping, traveling; processes, Standard Operating Procedures; manufacturing machines, smartwatch; temperature sensor, moisture sensor) and generates some data while performing activity or process.
Practically what it excludes within the universe, is NOTHING. Yet to limit the list of things, Industry focuses only on those things from which insights captured from data are worth investing in capturing the data.
“Internet” – It is a network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.
“Key highlight is fundamentally IoT is a network and nothing else.”
Now let’s check industry-wise what could be Internet and what could be things.
In the manufacturing sector, things are machines, utilities, processes, and operators that generate data while manufacturing products and transfer this data from HMI, PLC, sensors or tablets over Internet running on industrial automation communication protocols like Modbus, Ethernet/IP, profinet or serial communication to the server.
In the consumer sector, Things are buyers, influencers, and consumers that generate data while shopping and consuming. Data could be browsing history, cache memory, buying and consuming patterns that get transferred over the internet running on protocols like GPRS, HTTPS, IPv6, and FTP to the server.
In a smart city, Things are street lights, parking area, bus stops, roads, and people, that generates data while moving around campus that gets captured from sensors and connected devices that shares data over the internet on a protocol like MQTT, Bluetooth, Zigbee, NB-IoT to the server.
What is hidden inside a simple network that keeps the potential to revolutionize the world is, power of communication. It transfers reliable, accurate data in real-time which is analyzed to generate valuable insights. It has provided the potential to design newer business processes that might be impossible without IoT. It has the ability to generate insights that are useful to avoid losses. It can track and monitor operational processes in real-time which is useful in predicting and make data-driven decisions. Hence, it has evolved the ways in which business could be done.
Any solution that works on the IoT network is nowadays labeled as an IoT solution, which is one of the characteristics of IoT solution and not the final criterion. The main criteria for the IoT solution, is that it must create a cyber-physical world (Another popular word is digital twin). This particular criterion adds a lot of value to the captured data, above all the existing solutions. IoT system connects with the entire business ecosystem to bring more clarity about the Things. Other solutions may address immediate business problems directly but will eliminate larger profitable possibilities. I hope it has added some clarity about IoT.
