7 Things You Need To Know About IoT (Internet of Things)

What if your car could tell you a tire was damaged and needed to be replaced? Or a health care device could alert you to a potential heart attack? What was once science fiction is now becoming reality, thanks to a fast growing technology called IoT (Internet of Things).

Innovation has led to smaller electronic devices called “smart objects.” Most any object can be a smart object with computing, sensing, actuating, and communication capabilities. Smart objects have given us better health care monitoring, smart homes, smart cities, transportation alerts, industrial optimization, and more. Appliances, autonomous vehicles, thermostats, light bulbs and even baby monitors can all be smart devices.

1. What is IoT?

IoT is the term used to describe the billions of devices connected to networks sharing data. The process that led up to IoT was the digitization of life and business. Communication started transforming with the creation of email and instant messaging. Businesses connected to the Internet, and ecommerce was born. Not long after, cloud services started to appear. IoT describes this phenomena and the place they have in our everyday lives — technology that is always with us.

2. What can IoT do?

IoT-connected devices allow for predictive analysis. By storing data from smart devices to the cloud, a business can better understand customers’ needs and respond and adapt to problems faster. Cloud computing allows for speed, performance, reliability, security, and lower costs. Connecting to the cloud also helps devices overcome processing, interoperability, and scalability issues.

The strength of IoT lies is making an ordinary object smart and interactive. Smart objects can be linked together to collect data. This data is then sent to a centralized data center or the cloud where it can be processed. Businesses can use this data to make better decisions, drive innovation, and provide more resources better tailored to their consumers. Industries that rely on IoT include: manufacturing, health monitoring services, aerospace, aviation, transportation, telecommunications, logistics, home automation, and smart agriculture, to name a few.

3. Applying IoT

IoT can be applied almost anywhere. Smart objects vary in technical requirements, functionality, and deployments. Components in smart objects are getting smaller and easier to embed in everyday objects. Processors in these objects are becoming faster and more complex. One example is an Arduino, which is a small open-source electronics platform with hardware and software. Arduino is capable of controlling devices, automating a home, providing home security, and a lot more. The applications for IoT are limitless.

4. Making connections

We refer to IoT service platforms as middleware. Some popular examples are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. These networks provide a secure gateway connection to capture and store data. Middleware services can include analytics, authentication, AI (artificial intelligence), and 3rd party tools for support and integration. Developers can find APIs (application programming interfaces) for most programming languages. Scaling, resource management, faster processing, visualization, availability, and easy deployment, are just some of the advantages to using cloud platforms.

5. Privacy and security

Like everything connected to the internet, IoT devices are vulnerable to privacy and security risks. They are exposed to both cyber and physical attacks. The devices themselves are small and have limited or no built-in security. Most security protocols are monitoring the data when its transferring to the cloud. However, things like default passwords are often hard coded into a device and can be difficult to change — far away from the protection of those cloud-based protocols. It’s important to understand how these devices work and what data is being collected. 

Companies are always actively addressing security concerns. For now, consumers should always assess the safety, privacy, and cyber security of using an IoT device before integrating it into their life.

6. Overcoming challenges

Besides security and privacy, one of the biggest challenges for IoT devices is their ability to communicate with one another. For example, a factory may employ several smart devices to monitor machinery. These devices can be large or small and provide different capabilities. The challenge is getting these devices to work together and provide real-time computations and communications. The data being collected and transmitted — as well as the methods it uses to either of those things — differs with each device.

Scalability is another challenge as IoT networks continue to grow. Our current information infrastructure is limited and not suited to the number of devices that will eventually be connected to global networks. It’s estimated that IoT devices will number 75 billion by 2025. As 5G (5th generation mobile networks) advances, so will our ability to connect more devices.

7. The future of IoT

The future looks great for IoT. As processing power improves, devices are gaining more capabilities. Sensors are becoming passive and self-powered, leading to less energy consumption. Advancements in the development of smart cities and manufacturing are also growing. These advancements help save costs through automation and infrastructure management. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will provide IoT with a better understanding of data leading to system improvements.

Developments in communication and wireless technologies have opened up new areas of growth for smart devices. As we become more dependent on these smart objects, the need for faster network connectivity increases. Faster wireless technologies like 5G will help address some of these issues.

Technological advancements have given us greater access and control of our physical environment. These digital advancements will improve our lives and ultimately reshape the world — and that’s pretty exciting.