You may have been looking at things that are happening around and noticed that the Impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) gradually is transforming and changing everything from business to life.
Everything is gradually being connected wirelessly or being wired up. GIS-based visualization, participating sensing, quality of service, architecture, cloud computing and a host of other areas of industries, businesses, and people’ lives.
What Exactly is Internet of Things?
IoT is a huge network that comprises inter-linked digital devices that receive information in a system and then share that information with other devices in the system or share the information with other devices in other similar systems to do specific programmed tasks assigned to them on a regular basis without human intervention or with minimal human intervention through a wireless network. In other words, it is a system that is heavily automated and uses sensors a lot.
According to Business Insider “by 2023, consumers, businesses and governments will install 40 billion IoT devices globally .”In fact, this change is going to revolutionize the way people live their lives.
Working:
The Internet of Things has the following components:
- The things themselves which can be a household appliance, a car, an assembly machine, etc.
- Basic hardware and software that allows everything to be connected to the Internet. They are called SoC (System on Chip) microcontrollers
- Sensors: SoCs will collect the information from the sensors and send them to the Internet. There are very different types of sensors (movement, temperature, pressure, presence, etc.).
- Actuators: Based on the information received from the SoC, Actuator will trigger an action (for example, accelerating a machine, turning on a light, allowing current to pass through a circuit, opening or turn off a tap).
- Communication protocol for things to send and receive information from the Internet. There are many protocols depending on the type of solution.
- Application layer for providing services to the end-user and across devices.
Real-Time Applications of IoT
- Smart Home Automation – This application of IoT allows homeowners to control various aspects of their home remotely, such as lighting, temperature, and appliances, through a smartphone or tablet app. This can be done using devices such as smart thermostats, smart lights, and smart plugs.
- Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – The IIoT uses IoT technology to monitor and control industrial equipment and machinery in real-time. This can include things like predictive maintenance, remote monitoring, and real-time data analysis to optimize production processes.
- Smart Energy Management – Smart energy management systems use IoT technology to monitor and control energy consumption in buildings. This can include things like real-time monitoring of energy usage, automatic shut-off of lights and equipment when not in use, and even the use of renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power.
- Healthcare – IoT technology is being used in healthcare to monitor patients remotely, such as through the use of wearable devices that track vital signs and send the data to healthcare providers in real-time. This can include things like remote monitoring of chronic conditions, telemedicine, and medication management.
- Smart Cities – IoT technology is being used in smart cities to improve the quality of life for citizens by making the city more efficient and sustainable. This can include things like traffic management, public transportation, and environmental monitoring.
- Intelligent Transportation Systems – IoT technology is being used in transportation to optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion. This can include things like real-time traffic monitoring, intelligent traffic signals, and connected vehicles.
- Agriculture – IoT technology is being used in agriculture to optimize crop yields, reduce water usage, and improve the overall efficiency of farming operations. This can include things like precision farming, soil monitoring, and weather monitoring.
- Retail – IoT technology is being used in retail to improve the customer experience by providing real-time data on inventory, pricing, and product availability. This can include things like RFID tags, digital kiosks, and smart shelves.
- Building Management – IoT technology is being used in building management to optimize building operations, such as HVAC systems, lighting, and security. This can include things like real-time monitoring, energy management, and predictive maintenance.
- Security – IoT technology is being used to improve security in various industries and applications, such as smart homes, buildings, and cities. This can include things like surveillance cameras, access control systems, and intrusion detection systems.
Advantages of Internet of Things
1. High efficiency and time-saving rates
The way that machines handle tasks is way faster than the way humans do them. This is why machine-to-machine interaction usually provides faster and more efficient results when compared to humans.
Though most machines operate as GIGO (Garbage in Garbage Out) which makes most processes need human intervention, deep learning or machine learning offer new prospects where that is not the case. So, when it comes to higher efficiency and time-saving rates that save very valuable time, IoT is the preferred choice to make.
2. IoT saves a lot of money
And there is the enormous advantage of saving money. Tagging and monitoring equipment cost a lot of money over a considerable period of time.
However, the process could be effectively automated, which will cut down on cost and increase efficiency significantly because machine-to-machine interaction is faster than machine-to-human or human-to-human interactions.
3. Greater quality of results
The concept of Machine-to-machine (M2M) interaction of IoT encourages the communication between devices.
Because of this, digital devices always stay connected and constantly interact with one another in a home, office or any public setting.
This leads to high-quality results and clamps down on inefficiencies in the system and promotes total transparency.
4. Improve the living standard tremendously
It is very difficult to always do hectic domestic chores and couple that with very active work life, especially for breadwinners.
But this is possible through IoT, it improves the living standard of people tremendously.
With IoT, you can achieve quite a lot of things without doing anything. Such as the smart coffee makers making coffee all by itself or the switching on and off of the light in the rooms in your house before you enter it or after you exit it, or the air conditioning could switch itself on whenever you need it to.
Many IoT software development companies have already started offering IoT Development Solutions and Services for wearables & smart devices.
Disadvantages of Internet of Things
1. Privacy and Security issues:
Everything that has to do with the internet always faces one major problem. Lack of adequate security measures to curb the stealing of sensitive information.
Such as personal and corporate confidential information that unscrupulous people with malicious intents will consistently want to lay their hands on.
Since IoT is built on receiving and transferring of data from one system to another over the internet.
This will give hackers an opportunity to invade systems that are vulnerable. What is worse about IoT is that even properly encrypted devices can also get hacked.
Since they are connected over the internet, which is obviously a major disadvantage of IoT.
2. Compatibility issues:
This is a major drawback as there is currently no international standard of compatibility for the monitoring and tagging equipment.
Final Thoughts
It is obvious that the Internet of Things is going to create life-changing conditions for everybody. Literally change the world for the better.
Although this much-needed change is great, it does not come without some conspicuous shortcomings as you have seen in this post.
Notwithstanding, there are a lot of other benefits of IoT apart from a greater quality of results, improving the standard of living, and saving money; such as information and automation and control.
