The Internet of Things (IoT) describes a system of ‘things,’ which are tangible assets equipped with sensors, software, and connectivity to invest in one or more networks and exchange data with other systems and devices over the internet. For example, most of these things that we use daily nowadays in our homes, smart TV, smart home appliances, wearable devices, and even cars — these are slowly becoming smart home devices that make our lives more convenient. In this article, the reader will learn what the IoT is all about, what it offers and how it is likely to influence our lives in the next few years.
What IoT is and How It is Changing our Lives
It is greatly agreed that the IoT market has expanded greatly over the past decade and that industry gurus are expecting the number of IoT devices to exceed 50 billion by the year 2020. Of course, this growth is the result of various factors that include reducing costs for the sensors and the connectivity today, as well as further enhancing artificial intelligence and machine learning, the need for convenience and furthering automation.
Introducing IoT to people’s lives gives an incredible boost as it directly changes the way people interact and the way things respond to one another. A paradigm shift that was once thought to still exist in the distant future distance is what the internet of things can bring to the society, ranging from the ability of a home to regulate the heating and lighting system on its own up to the ability of cars to share information to prevent future accidents and tracking our health and fitness using fashion accessories for instance wristbands.
Potential uses of the Internet of Things
1. Smart Homes and Buildings
Smart home and building are among the areas where IoT applications are today the most frequently implemented. Such systems use networked devices and equipment to deliver an integrated, self-sufficient environment for inhabitants. For example, smart thermostats have the ability to adapt the temperature regime based on your preferences or simply based on time of day, while smart lighting can work based on your voice command or using smartphone.
Furthermore, IoT has the potential for transforming the life within cities. Smart cities employ IoT technology to facilitate the improvement of the physical and social environment of a city thus making life easier for the residents. The possibilities of control and enhance air quality, traffic junctions, waste disposal, and management of energy use are realizable from linked sensors and devices.
2. Healthcare and Wellness
Yet another potential area where IMM will find plenty of use is in the sphere of health and fitness. Smart gait apparels, fitness bands, smart watches, and smart clothes can track physical movements, sleep activity, and even the physiological parameter of the body in a better way than other gadgets.
Information gathered from these gadgets can be processed to generate advanced analytics from which the machine learning systems can identify health risks and provide preventive measures. For instance, patient health can be closely tracked using IoT in connected medical devices, detect any abnormalities of the patient in real-time and report same to the health practitioners, this can save lives and overall admissions.
3. Transportation and Logistics
The use of IoT is also reflected in the transportation and Logistics sector where IoT is facilitating efficient methods to be incorporated. Automotive functionality which enables different automobiles and also their environment to exchange important details thereby enhancing their safety. Vehicle to vehicle communication and vehicle to infrastructure communication can warn the drivers of any danger in the line of the vehicle or road, and also can help vehicles to avoid traffic jams.
In this case also, IoT would help in making the supply chain efficient and better control on tracking and monitoring of products as well as consignments. Such devices can help logistics provider to know about delays and deviation from expected routes so as to make faster delivery of goods.
4. The results of agriculture and environment monitoring are the areas of knowledge, in which the usage of innovative technologies and effective innovations can elevate the results by many levels.
Another industry where IoT is creating a breakthrough is the agricultural industry. Sensors can be connected, and will help farmers control soil moisture, temperature and nutrient levels which will help in increasing crop yields as well as will cut down water and fertilizer consumption. In addition to this IoT technology, the use of this also can be used for disease surveillance, tracking animal movement and disease outbreaks.
Outside of farming, IoT is being deployed to gauge and preserve our planet. Different sensors are capable of transmitting and recording data on air and water quality, animals and flora and fauna behaviour and even the health status of the environment. The information can be applied for the conservation of the species, development of better policies and enhancement of other practices.
Risk and Concerns of Adopting the IoT
At the same time, there are several emerging issues and risks concerning the IoT among which the following should be distinguished. The inherent protection of data collected and transmitted by smart devices is one of the major challenges. The number of connected devices has skyrocketed, and this means that today’s threats are considerably larger than they used to be.
Manufacturers and developers should therefore make sure that secure and private IoT devices are well enhanced in order to avoid such risks. Such can be achieved via efficient encryption, trustworthy authentication and software regression. Further, consumers need to be informed on the need to protect their gadgets, and the data produced by their devices.
The IoT industry also has some issues in dealing with the problem; one of them is the absence of standardization between IoT devices and multiple platforms. This is because the IoT ecosystem is continuously expanding with increased incorporation of more devices, and it would be very ideal to have standard ways of communicating with the different devices.
The Future of IoT and the effects on Society
While considering the role of IoT as a part of the process towards increased connectivity and automation of numerous processes of people’s life, it becomes possible to realize the great potential of this concept in changing the society. Smart homes, smart cities, smart healthcare, smart car – the possibilities of IoT are virtually endless, as it gates the potential to change the paradigm of human life.
It is therefore important that the success issues such as security, privacy as well as standardization issues are dealt with fully in order to unleash the full potential of the IoT. That way, we can make sure that the future of the IoT will only work towards making the word a better place.
Thus I feel confident calling the Internet of Things an inspiring and developing technology that has real potential to change the world as we know it. There is a common misconception that linking everything around us will somehow make the world a worse place; however, this is not true- integrating everyday items and appliances can make the world a better place for everyone and humanity in general. In other words, the immense potential of the Internet of Things cannot be unleashed until we begin to address the issues that are a headache to many; security, privacy and standardization for a smarter tomorrow.
