Hello there! A very warm welcome to all my readers. In today’s blog, I am going to discuss an interesting topic called ‘Internet of Things‘ (IoT). What is IoT and how does it work?
What are the basic human requirements? Food, clothes, shelter and Internet! In this period of the pandemic, we all are stuck at homes. Unable to step out, socialize and resume offices, we all are still doing fine. Do you know what can worsen this pandemic situation? No internet connection.
This message can be a nightmare in any situation and at any time. We all can communicate with colleagues, friends, and family through messages, audio calls, and video calls. The major part of the IT sector is sitting back and working from their homes; thanks to the internet.
The Internet does not just help you communicate with each other, but also help devices communicate with one another. This is possible with the talk of the town technology; ‘internet of things’.
On this page
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
“If you think that the internet has changed your life, think again. The Internet of Things is about to change it all over again!”
Brendan O’Brien
The Internet of things is nothing but a system that allows computing devices, machines, and objects to communicate with each other and transfer data without any sort of human interference.
The Internet is no more restricted to computers and smartphones. IoT has made it possible for objects to get connected via the internet and exchange information.
Let me boil it down for you. Connecting various devices capable of requesting data, sending data, or both. Wonder what these devices can be? It can be a refrigerator, an air conditioner, or even a car. The number of connected devices is more than the total human population on Earth.
Isn’t that cool? Did you know that there are 20 billion IoT devices in use all over the globe? This rapid growth in IoT devices shows promising advantages of the industry. As per Gartner’s report, the enterprise and automotive Internet of Things (IoT) market is estimated to grow to 5.8 billion endpoints by the end of 2020.
Now that I have given the simplest definition of IoT, let us learn how exactly this system works.
Every device has computer chips or sensors that fetch the data and send it to the cloud using a connection. This connection can be mobile internet data, LAN, Wi-Fi, WAN, etc. The sensors are programmed to work smart.
Hence, these sensors fetch the most relevant information and send it to the cloud. Once it reaches the cloud server, the data is processed and sent to the receiver’s device. Usually, it is sent to the user’s mobile app.
Let me give an example that can simplify the above mechanism. Your refrigerator sending you a message right on your smartphone; that it is not set on enough temperature to form ice. Isn’t that cool? Imagine your car sending you a reminder to fill gas as it is running out of it.
IoT technology is helping individuals as well as organizations by saving time and offering smart solutions. A farmer can get a notification on his mobile alerting him about the less moisture level in the farm soil and ultimately preventing crop loss. There are millions of ways IoT can be a great help.
Let us see some cool and mind-blowing real-life IoT projects that are taking the spotlight.
Driverless cars:
We all have read about it, seen the prototypes on the internet, heard about it and some might have seen it in real. Driverless cars are one of the most promising technologies. It is not the near future but a reality now.
These cars are based on various technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. These cars possess various chips, sensors, gyroscopes, cloud architecture, etc. that enable super-fast data collection, transformation, and processing.
These technologies notify the processor about other vehicles running on the road, pedestrians, speed breakers, potholes, etc. A car running at a high speed can receive such data and process it in real-time. IoT technology plays a vital role in the success of driverless cars.
Wearables
You must have used or at least seen Fitbit, smartwatches, smart glasses, and many more. All the wearables are connected to the internet and use sensors to collect data. There are smart wearables that can count the blood pressure of the user with the help of sensors.
The devices can share detailed reports on your smartphone in real-time. These devices are based on IoT. Other wearables that are based on Virtual Reality also use IoT to a great extent.
Smart cities:
IoT technology is all set to build smart cities. San Francisco, Austin, and New York City are some popular smart cities in the USA. Everything has to be smart in smart cities, such as smart surveillance, smart water management, smart security, automated transportation, smart industries, and smart homes. Using IoT, these cities can solve major problems related to traffic, energy resources, security, pollution, etc.
Here are some amazing benefits of IoT technology:
Easy monitoring:
IoT has made monitoring very easy. Businesses can benefit from IoT by using it as a source of monitoring resources. IoT technology enables devices to send notification regarding resource activities. Machines can notify a lack of resources, requirements of maintenance, and much more.
Employees can easily track the number of raw materials available and decide when to put the next order without visiting the warehouse. Machines notify about technical issues in real-time.
Such messages sent directly from machines help organizations identify the issue and resolve it immediately, preventing future complications. Be it raw materials, machines, infrastructure, or even human resources; everything can be monitored with the help of IoT.
Lesser human errors:
The Internet of Things is a great way to eliminate human errors. Human error is the primary reason behind mistakes in the manufacturing, IT, security, and healthcare industries. Hence, IoT can be a good option to supervise areas that are prone to mistakes.
Research:
As explained above, IoT requests, processes and sends data in real-time. The smart sensors identify important data and notify about it to the user. Every device stores a huge amount of data, which can be a great help in analyzing user behavior.
What data is requested often, which user has maximum requests, what are the user inputs, etc. insights are fetched from the big data. This insightful data is extremely valuable for marketing departments.
Security:
Smart surveillance is a new trending thing. IoT has become so smart that sensors such as cameras can identify suspicious activities and detect unknown users. Imagine your surveillance camera sending you a message that somebody is on your door and also tells you whether the person is a stranger or has visited you before.
Technically speaking, any unknown user requesting data can be a malicious activity and a device might detect it. Such smart devices can be a great help in performing security measures.
Though there are tons of benefits of IoT, I have managed to list down the few most popular ones.
Conclusion
IoT is our future. The alliance of technologies, such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and much more, can create miracles. That is why millions of organizations are investing in IoT. Stay tuned to know more about IoT and its latest trends.
Image source: Freepik Premium