What is IoT?
IoT Definition:
IoT is the system of the computing instrument, digital and mechanical machines, people, objects, animals which are interconnected that are to be provided with the unique identity and the ability to send data over the network without the need of the human to the computer and human to human interference. The concept IoT is basically an architectural framework which allows the collaboration and data replacement between physical world and computer systems over the network infrastructure exists. (singh)
IoT Components
Most of persons have an misunderstanding that think of IoT as a independent technology. The components which make IoT to be working are:-
- Hardware:-Hardware will makes the physical objects responsive and they providing the capability to retrieve data and respondent to instructions. (singh)
- Software:-Software which enables the data gathering, manipulating, guiding, storage and processing.
- Communication Infrastructure:-The valuable infrastructure of IoT which includes protocols and technologies which consists of two physical objects which exchange data.
Challenges of IoT:
By studying lowest layers of technology for horizontal nature of IoT needs manufacturers to provide the most fundamental challenges, which includes:
- Connectivity:There shall not be the one connectivity standard which won over others. There shall be a wide variety of wired and the wireless standards as well as the proprietary implementations which used to connect the things in IoT. The challenge is getting the connectivity standards to communicate to each another with one common worldwide data currency. (singh)
- Power management:Most of things within the IoT will be battery powered or use of energy harvesting to be more portable and the self-sustaining. Line-powered equipment that will need to more energy efficient. The challenge is to make it easy to provide power management to these device and equipment. Wireless charging shall incorporate connectivity with the charge management. (singh)
- Security:The amount of data being sent within the IoT, security is must. Built-in hardware security and the use of existing connectivity security protocols which is essential to secure IoT. Another challenge is to simply educating consumer to use the security that will integrate into their devices.(singh)
- Complexity:Manufacturer are looking to add the connectivity to device and equipments that have never been connected before to become part of the IoT. Ease of the design and development are essential to get more thing connected especially when Radio Frequency programming are complex. The average consumer required to be able to set-up and uses their device without an technical background. (singh)
- Rapid evolution:IoT is constantly changed and evolved. More devices are being the added every day and industry are still in it assistance. The challenge facing industry is unknown. There need to be flexibility in all facet of the development. Processor and the microcontroller that ranges from the 16–1500 MHz to addresses the full spectrum of the application from an microcontroller in an small, energy-harvested wireless sensor node to the high-performance and multi-core processor for IoT infrastructure.(singh)
- Neuro Energy monitoring:this device is basically used for real time home energy usage monitoring. These devices let you monitor your usage in real time and know ahead of time what your bills will be. It offers customized energy saving tips. Its price between $130-350. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Fortrezz Flood preservation:These devices avoid disastrous property damage from a burst pipe or supply line while you are away from home. Its price between $59-429. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Ambi climate A/c control:It’s remotely monitored and controls your air conditioning system. It uses a connected infrared add-on to retrofit your existing A/c unit. It setup system to optimize you’re A/C use for when you are not at home. Its price between $59-179. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Sonos wireless speaker system:if you like music, this wireless system is immersive. It play anything anywhere. We can install this device in kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, rooftop deck. Its price between $499. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Philips hue smart light bulbs:LEDs save money, and they can change colors to mimic a sunrise or sunset. It was programmed so that when anybody sent a text message, they all turned red. Its price is $62.96. (Mitchell, 2014)
- SmartThings system:Its allows true systematic automation, and you can set rules. You can install one sensor at second floor washing machine to ensure that it’s not leaking and damaging the house. The price of this device is $199. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Kwikset Z-wave locks:this outside door lock is used to lock and unlock doors with the tap of a finder. Its price is $208.71. (Mitchell, 2014)
- Chamberlin garage door opener: this one is pretty straightforward. I can see if my garage door is open or closed from anywhere in the world using an app on my smart phone. With one swipe of finger, I can open or close it. Its price is $99. (Mitchell, 2014)
Application of IoT
- Smart Home:The smart homes are likely the more popular IoT application at moment because it is one that is most affordable and the readily available to consumer. From the Amazon Echo to Nest Thermostat, there are the hundreds of product on market that the user can control with their voice to make their lives more connected than ever.(Rahul, 2017)
- Wearables:Watches are no longer, just for telling time. The Apple Watch and the other smart watches on market have turned our wrist into smart phone holster by enabling the text messaging, phone call, and more. Devices such as Fitbit and the Jawbone have helped revolutionized the fitness world by giving the people more data related to their workout.(Rahul, 2017)
- Smart Cities:IoT have the potential to transforms entire cities by solving the real problems citizen face each day. With the proper connection and the data, the IoT can solve traffic congestions issue and reduces noise, crime, and pollution.(Rahul, 2017)
- Connected Car:This vehicle is equipped with internet access and which can share that access with other, like connecting to a wireless network in a home or a office. More vehicles are commencing to come equipped with this functionality, so prepare to see the more app included in future cars.(Rahul, 2017)
- 5. Retail:-The potential of the IoT in retail sector is enormous. Suppose if your home appliance can notify you when supplies are short and the order them all on their own. These proximity based advertising models of the smart retailing are becoming a reality. Applications for tracking the goods, real-time inventory information exchange among the suppliers and retailers, and automated delivery capabilities exist.(Rahul, 2017)
- Health Care:-UroSense is an smart fluid management solution offered by the Future Path Medical. It automatically measures core body temperature and urine output of the patients on catheterization. Smart monitoring of these vital signs helps avoid infections while starting early care of the medical condition like diabetes, prostate cancer, heart failure and the sepsis. UroSense can wirelessly provide report data directly to nursing stations anywhere.(Rahul, 2017)
- Agriculture:-The Phenonet Project was designed to helps farmers monitor vital information like humidity and air temperature, soil quality using remote sensor. This project help farmers improve the yield, plan more efficient irrigation and make harvest forecast. It also helps biologist study effects of genomes and microclimates on the crop production. (Rahul, 2017)
- Transportation:- IoT are making self-driving and connected cars a reality. Automotive industry leaders such as BMW and Ford and newer entrants in the auto space like Google, Local Motors and Uber are announcing and the deploying innovative technologies to support the connected car platforms. These automotive IoT take initiatives to save lives reduce pollution and commute hassles and simplify transportation for the millions around the globe.(Rahul, 2017)
IoT imposes the control-theoretic challenge which we are unlikely to encounter in the usual application domain. More research is required in the many area, which includes:
- Control over nondeterministic networks:Nowadays control system assumes deterministic communication and the computation, in fact that the execution and communication infrastructure are rigorously designed to ensure the determinism. Non-determinism unpredictability in the sensor reading, packet delivery, and the processing time which complicate closed loop performance and the stability. (samad)
- Latency and jitter:Control over the Internet and clouds will require much greater attention to latency and jitter. The techniques used in control applications today to deal with these phenomena are unlikely to suffice. (samad)
- Bandwidth:Many control applications are not demanding of communication bandwidth—a few sensor reads and actuator outputs a second can suffice. But even this level of network performance may not be assured with mobile and/or Internet connectivity. Furthermore, in the IoT, closed?loop control with feedback of video and other high-dimensional data is envisaged. (samad)
- Cyber?and physical security and resilience: The physics of the things in IoT, if appropriately incorporated, can enhance detection and protection approaches for both cyber- and physical security. Conversely physics and feedback can open the door to new attack scenarios: for example, a well?performing control system may be rendered unstable by introducing small delays in communication pathways. (samad)
- Interoperable and plug?and?play sensors, models and algorithms:With current digital devices and platforms we have become accustomed to features such as auto-discovery, search, composition of services, and plug-and play integration.
Connectivity is crucial to the fact that smart technology is completely reliant upon communication. There are various communication protocols and network infrastructures that can alter the way IoT technology is used as well as its level of operation. The common types of communication protocols include Wi-Fi, Thread, ZigBee, Bluetooth, RFID, and NFC. (Rberlia)
Wi-Fi: This is an extremely common communication protocol that is essentially everywhere in our lives.
Wi-Fi makes it extremely easy to add/remove devices, has a lot of range, and is able to penetrate walls
and other obstacles. That being said, there is lower bandwidth due to the lack of wired connection, and
Wi-Fi networks are not the most secure. It is perfect for saving power and having quick and efficient
communication. Wi-Fi is a star-based network and the communication goes from various wireless nodes to the wireless access point (WAP). (Rberlia)
Thread: Thread is a communication protocol that is very reliable, consumes minimum power, and
enables machine to machine (M2M) communication. It was designed for the purpose of connected home applications. The Thread protocol can use three main device types including border routers, sleepy end devices, and routers/router-eligible end devices. It is primarily based on IP, making it extremely simple to connect with other IP-based networks. Unlike Wi-Fi, if a single point goes out, the whole network won’t go down and it supports a full mesh-based topology. (Rberlia)
ZigBee: ZigBee is very similar to Thread as it is created by an alliance of several companies in an
effort to maximize home and industrial automation. It fulfills the requirements of a mesh network, but
Components of IoT
can support star and tree topologies as well. The three main devices defined in ZigBee protocol are
different than Threads, they include ZigBee coordinator, router, and end device. It is essentially the
same thing as Thread, but it does come with some additional features. A downside of this protocol is the fact that it has short range and low data speeds. (Rberlia)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth utilizes the 2.4GHz spectrum in the ISM band. It is an ad-hoc type of network,
thus enabling M2M communications. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the current type being used within
the IoT world, but there are three different branches of Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth Classic is the
traditional type of Bluetooth, which has a higher throughput and is primarily used for transmitting files.
It transmits information and was developed for applications with low-duty cycles. (Rberlia)
RFID: Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is used as a communication method for being able to
identify and track various devices wirelessly. This is an extremely simple communication method that
can be used for a wide range of applications. RFID tags are able to read and write information and can
be either passive or active. If they are active, they have an on-board power source, giving them more
range and the ability to search for a reader. Passive tags don’t have an internal power source but can
be activated when touched against a reader. Readers are purely used for receiving information from
tags. (Rberlia)
NFC: Near-Field Communication (NFC) is a communication protocol similar to RFID, but there are
several things that differentiate the two. NFC-enabled devices are able to communicate information
from one device to another simply by tapping the two device together. This is particularly useful in
Smartphone technology because it reduces the amount of time and effort in connecting devices. NFC is
an extremely short-range communication method, but it is probably the most power efficient protocol.
NFC devices can either be the initiator or a target. (Rberlia)
- Public Perception:If IoT is ever going to be truly takes off, this need to be the first problem that the
Manufacturers address. The Icontrol State of the Smart Home study found that 44% of all Americans was concerned about the possibility of theirs information getting stolen from their smart home and 27% was somewhat concerned. (Stephenson, 2013)
- Vulnerability to Hacking:Researchers has been able to hack into real on the market devices with
the enough time and energy which means hacker would likely be able to replicates their effort. For example a team of researchers at microsoft and University of Michigan recently found a plethora of holes in security of Samsung’s Smart Things smart home platform and the methods was far from complex. (Stephenson, 2013)
- Are Companies Ready?:AT&T’s Cyber security insights report surveyed more than the 5,000 enterprise around the world and found that 85% of the enterprises are in process of, or intend to deploys IoT devices. Yet a mere 10% of these surveyed feels confident that they could secure these devices against the hackers.(Stephenson, 2013)
- True Security:By securing the IoT device means more than simply securing actual devices
themselves. Companies also need to build the security into software application and network connection that link to those devices. (Stephenson, 2013)
- Too Much Data:The absolute amount of data that IoT devices can produce is staggering. We analyses and found that the fewer than 10,000 households could generate 150 million discrete data points every day. This creates more entry points for the hackers and leaves sensitive information vulnerable. (Hajar mousannif, 2016)
- Unwanted Public Profile:You had undoubtedly agree to the terms of service at some point but have you ever actually read through an entire document? We have found that companies should use collected data that the consumers willingly offer to make the employment decisions.(Hajar mousannif, 2016)
- Eavesdropping:Manufacturers and hacker could actually uses a connected device to virtually invades a
persons home. By intercepting the unencrypted data from an smart meter device to determines what television show someone were watching at that moment. (Hajar mousannif, 2016)
- Consumer Confidence:Each of these problem could put a dent in the consumers desire to purchase
connected products which would prevents the IoT from fulfilling its true potential. (Hajar mousannif, 2016)
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Rberlia. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2017, from Sparkfun: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/connectivity-of-the-internet-of-things
samad, T. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2017, from IEEE Explore: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=7393961
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