The Internet of Things

IoT Defined

The Internet of Things, ubiquitously abbreviated as IoT, refers to the connection of different types of devices to the internet. By “different” I mean devices that are not PCs or smartphones. Any device that connects to the internet for the purpose of being remotely monitored, optimized, and controlled is an IoT device.

Cees Links, founder of GreenPeak Technologies says that “probably the best way to describe the Internet of Things is as an application or as a service that uses information collected from sensors (the “things”), analyzes the data, and then does something with it (e.g., via actuators – more “things”).” The end of all this is to make better decisions faster. In the end IoT systems allow people, companies, and governments to make better decisions faster.

Origins

Links even argues in a white paper that the IoT concept is actually decades old, predating widespread use of the internet itself. Two examples he uses are vending machines and security services, which leveraged simple telephone technology. In the vending example, machines would call a central dispatch office to report inventory data, allowing the vending companies to service machines with refills only when necessary, eliminating the need to systematically drive to each machine to manually check inventory. Home and building security systems worked in a similar fashion, calling designated people, security personnel or police whenever a motion, door, or window sensor was activated. Links calls ADT Security Services “one of the older IoT companies” in existence.

Postscapes is a company specializing in the IoT ecosystem, and they have compiled a nice history of IoT. They are one of many sources to credit an internet-connected toaster developed in 1990 by John Romkey as the world’s first true IoT device. It simply had the ability to be turned on and off over the internet.

It took almost twenty years for critical mass to be achieved, when, at some point in 2008, the number of “things or objects” connected to the internet eclipsed human internet users. Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group has labeled this moment as the birth of the Internet of Things.

Today

IoT has become increasingly common and popular as a result of near-ubiquitous internet access and cheaper, more powerful devices with greater battery efficiency that allowed increasingly prolonged low-maintenance, low energy-use connections to the internet.

Researchers at ABI estimate that wireless IoT devices will number greater than 40 billion by 2020. Another firm estimates that by 2025, that number will double to 80 billion, generating a staggering 180 trillion gigabytes of new data per year.

Perhaps the two biggest hurdles that the IoT paradigm faces are a lack of standards and security/safety issues.

Standards

At the 2015 IoT 360 International Summit in Rome, experts noted that IoT currently “lacks a common set of standards and technologies that would allow for compatibility and ease-of-use. The war of IoT protocols has already started and hardly any winner can be identified… There are currently few standards/regulations for what is needed to run an IoT device. Instead of a single standard for connecting devices on the IoT there are several competing standards [run by multiple coalitions of tech giants] and [a] huge number of smaller non-standardized protocols in use.”

Safety & Security

Cees Links takes the common-sense approach that IoT is only “as secure as the internet, which is to say, not entirely secure.” And Rob Conant of IoT firm Cirrent say that important prophylactics against IoT security breaches include regular device updates and the development of a standardized authentication protocol to prevent device spoofing.

Ironically, the previously mentioned lack of clear standards may actually be a good thing for security. According to Geotab CEO Neil Cawse, “the IoT industry is fragmented, lacking a standardized approach, operating system, and communication system,” making it “more difficult for ransomware criminals to conduct a generalized attack. Each attack would need to target a specific type of IoT device, which reduces the number of devices that can be targeted at the same time.”

But recent ransomware attacks have raised concerns that ransom seekers will shut down vehicles, power grids, and production lines (as IoT’s implementation in the industrial sector is growing). Aside from shutdowns that could cripple essential societal systems, theft of private, potentially embarrassing data transmitted between IoT devices and servers could be leveraged for ransom.

Richard Stallman takes the more radical view that the companies that produce IoT devices that collect individual data are in fact criminals who are compromising the public’s privacy and freedom. He amusingly insists on referring to IoT as the “Internet of Stings, Snoops, Cheats and Telemarketers.”

Privacy concerns also intersect with the apparatus of the surveillance society, as public surveillance cameras can certainly be classified as IoT devices. A particularly draconian example is that of the Chinese man caught on camera at a concert, recognized by facial recognition software, and then promptly arrested. In China, police also wear “camera sunglasses,” presumably connected to the facial recognition database that netted the concert-going fugitive.

The intelligence community has also raised national security concerns about IoT. The National Intelligence Council has commented that “to the extent that everyday objects become information security risks, the IoT could distribute those risks far more widely than the Internet has to date,” and that “we may be unable to deny access to networks of sensors and remotely-controlled objects by enemies of the United States, criminals, and mischief makers.”

Indeed, the possibilities for mischief, murder, and terrorism through foul-IoT-play are endless. That said, there are also many practical and helpful real-world examples of IoT devices and systems. Here is a sampling:

Real World Examples

Health and Fitness:

• Health Trackers / Fitbits
• Drug infusion pumps
• Pacemakers
• Other life-saving devices: Benson Hougland dreams out loud of a scenario where a person in their sleep is saved from cardiac arrest by IoT devices that immediately contact emer gency responders and enable timely, saving care.
• Tracking devices to prevent loss of expensive pharmaceuticals (among other valuable goods)

Home

• Thermostats
• Baby Monitors
• Smart door locks
• Smart sprinkler control systems

Transit

• Smart parking: allowing cars to directly go to an optimally-located, un-occupied parking spot, thus minimizing wasteful block circling while the driver manually searches for a spot.
• Self-Driving Cars
• Traffic Light optimization: some traffic planners dream of a Utopian “traffic-free” future.
• Public transit optimization

Personal Productivity

• Smartwatches
• Virtual Assistants

Municipal

• Smart Street Lighting to improve safety and reduce crime.
• Waste management: Copenhagen/Cisco case found 70% of trash bin emptying was unnecessary

Agriculture

• Crop Productivity Optimization based on measurements of humidity, acidity, temperature, etc.
• Animal tracking
• Air quality monitoring

Utilities

• Power grids: to better optimize load distribution and potentially prevent costly outages like the great northeast blackout of 2003, which was primarily caused by a software bug.
• Water pumping stations

Audio and Music

Because my first love was music, I am pursuing a career somewhere inside the intersection of tech and audio. To that end, I’ve taken a particular interest in IoT implementations related to music and pro audio. While many such implementations involve Pandora-like recommendation services, which to me are not at all exciting, there are some interesting applications of IoT and music. Here are a few.

• Basslet is a “silent subwoofer” on a wristband that delivers low-frequencies straight to the listener’s body.
• Aumeo is an interesting mix of audiology and frequency equalization. Every person that uses the “headphone personalizer” has their ears measured in eight frequency bands by a companion app. The measurements are saved to a personal audio profile which then changes the output EQ of playback music to compensate for an individual’s hearing deficiencies. The product promises fuller, richer, more balanced, and more enjoyable sound in addition to marketing itself as hearing protection, claiming that users won’t have to turn the volume up so loud to hear frequencies that the individuals ears don’t detect very well.
• Concert & Festival optimization: The three-day 2016 Wayhome Music Festival in Canada had attendance of 40,000 people, all of whom where given an RFID bracelet upon entry. The RFID signature was synced to each individual’s credit card that they purchased tickets with, and thus all in-festival commerce was conducted with “a quick tap of the wrist.” It was a cashless, wallet-less festival and the organizers harvested a trove of data that would assist in optimizing stocks of concessions and merchandise in future days and years. 

Conclusion

IoT is an emerging technological paradigm that is growing at an exponential rate, with the potential to make the world a better, more efficient place. Major tech companies are keen to be in the IoT game, spending billions of dollars on IoT acquisitions. It can also be exciting for everyday folks and hobbyists, as many devices are cheaply available and easy to deploy, even for non-technical people. As someone who believes that, over the long arc of history, technology has generally made the world a worse, more stressful, less humane place, I don’t hold out much hope that IoT is the panacea that will solve most of our problems. I do, however, acknowledge that there are many interesting, useful projects, as well as copious amounts of opportunity in IoT for the entrepreneurs of the world.