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The ever growing market for embedded system devices and their significant development over the years have earned them an important place in our lives. Day and night we come across numerous such devices that influence the way we behave, the way we picture our outside world and sometimes even the way we picture ourselves. Internet of Things or the IoT is a network of such devices that hitherto were random devices that existed only to serve the purpose for which they were created.
The Internet of Things will provide a framework under which isolated devices bearing unique identifications can share data with other devices, manufacturers and operators. This will mean that a device is not just serving its purpose but is being an efficient tool for data collection, its exchange and management. This will be very useful in various fields and become the most reliable source of performance data for manufacturers. However, it can also be a means to remotely alter the manner in which an individual interacts with a device.
The concept of IoT is more than three decades old when attempts were made to co-ordinate remote machines by employing sensors and connecting them to the internet. Due to obvious limitations in technology and connectivity the concept did not get proper attention. It was in the late twentieth century that works related to IoT began to speed up. It was only in 1999 that the name “Internet of Things” was coined by Kevin Ashton a co-founder of Auto-ID center at MIT. The progress in the miniaturization of devices and connectivity in the further years accelerated research in IoT.
The IoT follows the Event Driven Architecture (EDA). It is based on production, detection, consumption of, and reaction to events. Events are in simple words change in states. Each event produces an event notification that is propagated to the desired location. EDA can follow three different styles – simple event processing event stream processing and complex event processing.
Simple event processing is more suited for real time applications because it involves creation of notable events in response to changes in measurable physical quantities. Applications that involve events like RFID transmissions(called ordinary events) that are not measurable quantities make use of event stream processing that involves screening of events for notability. Complex event processing involves taking into consideration multiple events before taking an action. IoT may follow any of these styles depending on the application.
The current research in IoT is very much focused towards autonomous control. The concept of an autonomous IoT in which intelligent entities form an open non-deterministic network where inter-operable objects called avatars operate independently.
If things form a network it calls for a method to identify them over it. The physical world has addressing standards according to specifications like those provided by GS1. The Internet has the URI for identifying resources over the web. IoT calls for a merge of these two worlds and hence the identifying standards.
The applications of IoT range from simple data collection to complex applications in medicine, administration and urban planning. The number of devices connected to the IoT is increasing with more and more applications being discovered and implemented.
Early advertising was done based on perceptions about the mindset of general public. Recent trend is such that brands expect advertising companies to work based on more accurate data. Also, they are keen on analyzing user feedback and reviews. Internet of Things will be very advantageous to brands, advertisers and media in this regard.
The data from environment monitoring by IoT can serve environment conservation. Using IoT, large array of interconnected sensors may be deployed to collect data regarding environmental factors such as quality of soil, water and air. Another application that is under rapid development is in wildlife conservation. Sensors are used to track and monitor endangered species and their movement. Sensor data regarding their habitats is also being used to get some insight into steps needed to be taken for their conservation.
Big Data collected from IoT in applications of environment conservation can be used for disaster management also. Those applications may be extended into residential and vulnerable areas to collect valuable data in large scale. Moreover, since IoT ensures connectivity and wide availability of data rescue measures will also be assisted.
Medicine and health care sector has shown keen interest on IoT. One of the emerging concepts in medicine and health care is remote health monitoring and another is emergency notification systems. Several prototypes ranging from wearable sensors to miniature implants are being developed that can provide accurate data regarding patient’s vital signs and the condition of his/her internal organs. With the use of various communication systems this data may be transmitted to remote locations or alert messages may be sent to the concerned persons. IoT will provide a lot of boost to such projects.
Almost every city wants to be a smart city. This seemingly futuristic concept is already being realized in several places in Europe and South Korea. Urban administrations are deploying numerous sensors in large scale across their cities to collect huge chunks of data. This data is then used to provide services to citizens such as parking space search via smart phone applications. The administration can use this data for urban planning and environmental monitoring.
Early days of IoT saw several challenges regarding connectivity. The Internet revolution of the 90s helped IoT surpass this hurdle with ease. Emergence and popularity of RFID was another big boost. Limited addressability of IPV4 was another obstacle. The wide address space of IPV6 is a welcome sign for IoT. Current efforts are focussed on overcoming the hardware limitations of embedded system devices. Projects such as “Smart Dust” that are taking miniaturization to another level are very encouraging for IoT.
The technological challenges are not the only ones before IoT. There is widespread political criticism against IoT. The ability to collect large scale behavioral data and remotely change a machine’s interaction with a user are frowned upon by many. Others have raised their voice by citing privacy issues and asking the questions against autonomous devices.
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