Internet of Things

Internet of Things

As the name suggests, Internet of Things, where multiple things are involved. Not only involved but connected. They are all connected in a way to achieve greater results, which are beneficial to society and its users. In simple terms, IoT is the collection of interrelated devices, digital machines, objects and people that can be uniquely identified, and they have capabilities to transfer data without need of human intervention. The ‘Thing’ in this IoT can be anything which can have an IP assigned and are able to transfer data over a network, i.e., Heat Monitor, Sensors, emergency alarms to command control centers. It has been proven time and again that IoT can be a useful tool to enhance serviceability and experience, to improve decision making.

ECO System

An IoT ecosystem consists of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems like processors, communication devices, common platforms, sensors which collect and send the data they acquire from their environment. The devices in any IoT ecosystem share the data which they collect by connecting to IoT gateways or other devices where data is exchanged to be analyzed. The devices act upon the data received from each other. These devices work without human intervention, however some of them can interact with humans too.

Importance

The Internet of things helps people plan things and work smarter. To some extent it gives them an option to gain control of their lives in much planned manner. Not only they can automate their homes, but with the help of sensors they can take care of their health also. It makes them proactive, rather being reactive. The use of IoT is very beneficial to the business environment. It may provide a business the real time investigate their installed systems, real time performances and critical indicators. Various departments like supply chain, logistics etc. can be managed better with the help of IoT.

One of the key importance of using IoT is that it enables the organizations to automate their processes and cut on the human intervention, hence reduction in cost. Helps in waste management and improvement of critical resources, which can finally result in better performance in terms of manufacturing, service delivery and transparency in transactions. It can be beneficial to everyday life, however, it has still to reach an optimum level to make use of its capabilities in the business environment.

Benefits to Organizations

The benefits IoT can reap can be measured in various ways, however, they can be measured mainly in two ways – industry specific and applicability across multiple industries. The generic benefits of an IoT environment can be as below.

·      Business Process Monitoring

·      Save time and investment

·      Increased productivity

·      Enhance customer experience

·      More revenue generation

·      Better decision making

The major used case can be found in industries like public utility, manufacturing, transportation, SCM, and similar industries by making use of sensors and other IoT devices. However, the new systems and devices are also paving ways for automation, agriculture and digital transformation. The ability to monitor operations around it where IoT can be useful. For example, the sensors installed in a building can report an event or any change to the standard setting, which might help in saving emergency situations or can trigger alarms.

Similarly, the same sensor settings can be applied in home environment, which makes life easier, and all the systems deployed at home can be monitored and managed with the help of IoT. Healthcare is also one key area where IoT is making it’s way. The critical patient monitoring systems are deployed at places to keep track of the health of the patients. Smart City applications help in reducing waste – waste management and energy efficiency using smart metering.

Pros & Cons

Benefits are many, but some cautions are also required. Few of them are listed below.

·      Ability to access information from anywhere possible.

·      Communication ease due to connected devices

·      Saves time and money for data transmission on connected devices

·      Automation, Enhanced serviceability & improved communication and decision making

Cons

·      Security of network is essential

·      Increased number of IoT devices, increases manageability issues

·      Corruption in one system can replicate as all the devices are connected

·      Lack of interoperability protocols makes different devices to communicate

Emerging Frameworks

·      LoRaWan

·      IPV6

·      Zigbee

·      CoAP

·      NBIoT

IoT has evolved over the years with the convergence of wireless technologies, improvements on the internet and availability of microservices. This convergence has helped in enabling the unstructured data to be analyzed and turned into a more useful tool to drive improvements. IoT is also an extension of SCADA (Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition), which is a category of software application programs for process control, gathering the data from remote location in real time. SCADA make use of hardware and software both. In coming days, we shall see much improved and useful IoT applications and systems, which shall give a better meaning to the data and turn it to processed information, which can help the surrounding human has today.