A first technical definition of the Internet of Things, or IoT, could be the following:
The system of interrelated computing devices, machines, both mechanical and digital, objects, animals or people, that have unique digital identifiers ( UID ) and the ability to transfer data over a network without the need for person-person or person-computer interaction.
Within this definition, we must clarify that the concept of thing, which is part of the "Internet of Things" set, can be anything. From a simple gadget or wearable sensorized to monitor one or several parameters, a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, a car that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low, or any other natural or artificial thing or object that can be assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address and can transfer data over a network.
How does IoT work?
An IoT ecosystem consists of web-enabled smart devices that use integrated systems such as processors, sensors and communication hardware. This allows them to collect, send and act on the data they acquire from their environments. IoT devices share the sensor data they collect by connecting to an IoT gateway or other devices (creating a mesh network) where the data is ultimately sent to the cloud for processing and analysis locally. Generally, unless the purpose of the device was this, these devices do most of the work without human intervention. Although people can interact with them to configure them, give them instructions or access their data.
The connectivity, networking and communication protocols used with these web-enabled devices are highly dependent on the specific IoT applications deployed.
As we will see below, IoT can also make use of almost any available technology. Such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help make data collection processes easier and more dynamic.
Why is the Internet of Things (IoT) so important?
As you can understand from the above, in recent years, IoT has become one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. Now that we can connect everyday objects, household appliances, cars, thermostats, baby monitors, to the Internet through embedded devices. Consequently obtaining seamless communication between people, processes and things.
Through low-cost computing, cloud, big data, analytics and mobile technologies, physical things can share and collect data with minimal human intervention. In this hyper-connected world, digital systems can record, monitor and adjust every interaction between connected things. The physical and digital worlds go hand in hand and cooperate with each other.
Technologies have made the IoT possible
While the idea of IoT has been around for a long time, a collection of recent advances in a number of different technologies has made it practical.
Access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology. Affordable and reliable sensors are making IoT technology possible for more manufacturers.
Connectivity. A plethora of networking protocols for the Internet has made it easier to connect sensors to the cloud and other things for efficient data transfer
Cloud computing platforms. The increased availability of cloud platforms allows businesses and consumers to access the infrastructure they need to scale without having to manage everything.
Machine learning and analytics. With advances in machine learning and analytics, coupled with access to large and varied amounts of data stored in the cloud, enterprises can gather and analyze information more quickly and easily. On the one hand, the emergence of these allied technologies continues to push the boundaries of IoT; on the other, the data produced by IoT also feeds these technologies.
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in neural networks have brought natural language processing (NLP) to IoT devices (such as the personal digital assistants Alexa, Cortana and Siri) and made them attractive, affordable and viable for home use.
Others: Blockchain, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, etc.
Which sectors can benefit from IoT?
The sectors or industries most likely to adopt IoT are those that benefit from the use of sensor devices in their business processes.
Manufacturing
Manufacturers can enjoy a competitive advantage by using production line monitoring. In order to perform preventive maintenance on equipment when sensors detect an impending failure. Sensors can actually measure when production is compromised. With the help of sensor alerts, manufacturers can quickly verify equipment accuracy or remove equipment from production until it is repaired. This allows companies to reduce operating costs. As well as gain greater uptime and improve asset performance management.
Automotive
The automotive industry can gain significant advantages from the use of IoT applications. In addition to the advantages of applying IoT to production lines, sensors can detect impending equipment failures in vehicles already on the road and can alert the driver with information and recommendations. Thanks to the information gathered by IoT applications, car manufacturers and suppliers can learn more about how to keep cars running and inform car owners.
Transportation and logistics
Transportation and logistics systems benefit from a variety of IoT applications. Fleets of trucks, ships, trains, cars or planes delivering goods around the globe can be rerouted according to different circumstances. Such as weather conditions, vehicle availability or driver availability, thanks to data provided by IoT sensors. The goods themselves could also be equipped with sensors for tracking and tracing. As well as monitoring temperature, humidity, or any other parameter under consideration. The food and beverage, floral, and pharmaceutical industries often carry temperature-sensitive merchandise. So it is easy to see the enormous benefit that IoT applications would bring to them. For example by sending alerts when temperatures rise or fall to a dangerous level for the product.
Retail
IoT applications enable retailers to manage inventory, improve the customer experience, optimize the supply chain and reduce operating costs. For example, smart shelves equipped with weight sensors can collect RFID-based information. They can then send the data to the IoT platform to automatically monitor inventory and trigger alerts if items are running low. Beacons can send targeted offers and promotions to customers to provide an engaging experience.
Public sector
The benefits of IoT in the public sector and other service-related environments are equally broad. For example, utilities can use IoT-based applications to notify their users about traffic jams, environmental quality, and even water, electricity, or sewer service interruptions. IoT applications can greatly assist in both quickly locating a point problem and determining the scope of the problem. They can even deploy resources to help utilities recover from outages faster.
Healthcare
IoT asset monitoring brings multiple benefits to the healthcare industry. Doctors, nurses and orderlies often need to know the exact location of patient care assets, such as stretchers, drippers or wheelchairs. When these items in a hospital are equipped with IoT sensors, they can be tracked from an IoT asset monitoring application, so that anyone can locate the nearest necessary item available at any given time. IoT applications are also used for wearable devices that can monitor human health, which not only help people better understand their own health, but also allow doctors to monitor patients remotely. As you can guess, this brings significant optimization in care times and resource expenditure, especially important in areas as sensitive as healthcare.
General security across industries
In addition to tracking physical assets, IoT can be used to improve worker safety. Employees in hazardous environments such as mines, oil and gas fields, and chemical and power plants, for example, need to be aware of potential hazardous events that could affect them. When connected to IoT sensor-based applications, they can receive notifications of events such as leaks, fires, or anything else that could conclude in an incident or accident. Likewise, real-time geolocation of operators, especially in hazardous environments, can be vital to enable them to be rescued as quickly as possible.
Domotics
An important industry in which IoT technology is increasingly being implemented is precisely in the home automation sector. If you do not know what it is, I will tell you that home automation is the use of technology for the automation of processes in different areas usually applied to homes or buildings.
As you may have experienced firsthand, you know that, every day, our lives are more stressful. We have more and more obligations to attend to. That is why the optimization of time and resources is essential for us. Both mentally, economically and in terms of the overall comfort of our lives. That is why the automation and monitoring that IoT allows us to give to our homes is something we should not overlook.
Let's look at some areas in which IoT applied to Domotics is gradually changing our homes:
Energy saving.
With home automation, there is a total control of electrical or electronic devices in any environment. And thanks to the use of sensors, they can be managed and even programmed. This means significant energy savings. Since we are able to program the time that a light bulb should remain on, turning lights on and off, optimize the use of devices such as air conditioning compressors, opening and closing windows according to the time of day, etc.. All of this can be controlled by the user, adapting the use of energy and electricity to their needs and making it a much more efficient use.
Promoting more accessible environments
Thanks to the domotization of buildings and homes, it is easier for people with disabilities to control access to buildings, ramps or door openings simply from their telephone or by means of a remote control.
Security
In many cases for the surveillance of buildings or people are installed closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) or other detection devices (presence sensors, vibration, glass breakage .....), remote control alarms, etc., to see in the distance inside the homes or buildings. This allows us to remotely control the accesses making these environments safer. Another very interesting option in this sense is that we can know through our cell phone when there has been a breakdown (water leakage, power outage, etc.) in any environment of the home, building or office and be able to proceed to repair it or take security measures from anywhere we are.
Comfort
There is no doubt that a home in which we can control the lighting, air conditioning, opening and closing of blinds, opening and closing of doors, indoor and outdoor temperature, appliances or sound equipment will be a much more comfortable home. All this can be done at the touch of a button while sitting on the sofa, or even from the outside from any computer or mobile device. It is, therefore, a great innovation that is revolutionizing the world as we have known it up to now.
Improved communications
One of the greatest innovations of recent times is the inclusion of voice and data transfer systems in home automation. This makes it possible to establish communication between people, between people and home automation systems or between different systems.
Conclusion
As you can see it is an all-encompassing concept. It is therefore not surprising that more and more companies, organizations or individual users are using IoT to operate more efficiently. At the enterprise or industrial level it helps them to better understand the needs and impacts of their customers, which helps them to improve their services, thereby increasing the value and growth of their respective businesses. At the individual level, it translates into a greater optimization of time or resources that should lead to greater comfort in our lives.
As we said, it is not a new technology, but thanks to its ability to adapt and incorporate new disruptive advances that are emerging day by day, it could be considered that IoT still has a more than promising path ahead, to continue growing in the medium and long term.
