Everything About IoT (Internet Of Things)

IoT

(Internet Of Things)

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices today, experts are expecting this number to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025.
 

What technologies have made IoT possible?

While the idea of IoT has been in existence for a long time, a collection of recent advances in a number of different technologies has made it practical.

• Access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology. Affordable and reliable sensors are making IoT technology possible for more manufacturers.

• Connectivity. A host of network protocols for the internet has made it easy to connect sensors to the cloud and to other “things” for efficient data transfer.

• Cloud computing platforms. The increase in the availability of cloud platforms enables both businesses and consumers to access the infrastructure they need to scale up without actually having to manage it all.

• Machine learning and analytics. With advances in machine learning and analytics, along with access to varied and vast amounts of data stored in the cloud, businesses can gather insights faster and more easily. The emergence of these allied technologies continues to push the boundaries of IoT and the data produced by IoT also feeds these technologies.

• Conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in neural networks have brought natural-language processing (NLP) to IoT devices (such as digital personal assistants Alexa, Cortana, and Siri) and made them appealing, affordable, and viable for home use.
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What industries can benefit from IoT?

Organizations best suited for IoT are those that would benefit from using sensor devices in their business processes.

Manufacturing

Manufacturers can gain a competitive advantage by using production-line monitoring to enable proactive maintenance on equipment when sensors detect an impending failure. Sensors can actually measure when production output is compromised. With the help of sensor alerts, manufacturers can quickly check equipment for accuracy or remove it from production until it is repaired. This allows companies to reduce operating costs, get better uptime, and improve asset performance management.

Automotive
The automotive industry stands to realize significant advantages from the use of IoT applications. In addition to the benefits of applying IoT to production lines, sensors can detect impending equipment failure in vehicles already on the road and can alert the driver with details and recommendations. Thanks to aggregated information gathered by IoT-based applications, automotive manufacturers and suppliers can learn more about how to keep cars running and car owners informed.
Transportation and Logistics
Transportation and logistical systems benefit from a variety of IoT applications. Fleets of cars, trucks, ships, and trains that carry inventory can be rerouted based on weather conditions, vehicle availability, or driver availability, thanks to IoT sensor data. The inventory itself could also be equipped with sensors for track-and-trace and temperature-control monitoring. The food and beverage, flower, and pharmaceutical industries often carry temperature-sensitive inventory that would benefit greatly from IoT monitoring applications that send alerts when temperatures rise or fall to a level that threatens the product.
Retail
IoT applications allow retail companies to manage inventory, improve customer experience, optimize supply chain, and reduce operational costs. For example, smart shelves fitted with weight sensors can collect RFID-based information and send the data to the IoT platform to automatically monitor inventory and trigger alerts if items are running low. Beacons can push targeted offers and promotions to customers to provide an engaging experience.
Public Sector
The benefits of IoT in the public sector and other service-related environments are similarly wide-ranging. For example, government-owned utilities can use IoT-based applications to notify their users of mass outages and even of smaller interruptions of water, power, or sewer services. IoT applications can collect data concerning the scope of an outage and deploy resources to help utilities recover from outages with greater speed.
Healthcare
IoT asset monitoring provides multiple benefits to the healthcare industry. Doctors, nurses, and orderlies often need to know the exact location of patient-assistance assets such as wheelchairs. When a hospital’s wheelchairs are equipped with IoT sensors, they can be tracked from the IoT asset-monitoring application so that anyone looking for one can quickly find the nearest available wheelchair. Many hospital assets can be tracked this way to ensure proper usage as well as financial accounting for the physical assets in each department.
General Safety Across All Industries
In addition to tracking physical assets, IoT can be used to improve worker safety. Employees in hazardous environments such as mines, oil and gas fields, and chemical and power plants, for example, need to know about the occurrence of a hazardous event that might affect them. When they are connected to IoT sensor–based applications, they can be notified of accidents or rescued from them as swiftly as possible. IoT applications are also used for wearables that can monitor human health and environmental conditions. Not only do these types of applications help people better understand their own health, they also permit physicians to monitor patients remotely.

ADVANTAGES

• It can assist in the smarter control of homes and cities via mobile phones. It enhances security and offers personal protection.
• By automating activities, it saves us a lot of time.
• Information is easily accessible, even if we are far away from our actual location, and it is updated frequently in real time.
• Electric Devices are directly connected and communicate with a controller computer, such as a cell phone, resulting in efficient electricity use. As a result, there will be no unnecessary use of electricity  equipment.
• Personal assistance can be provided by IoT apps, which can alert you to your regular plans.
• It is useful for safety because it senses any potential danger and warns users.   For example, GM OnStar, is a integrated device that system which identifies a car crash or accident on road. It immediately makes a call if an accident or crash is found.
• It minimizes human effort because IoT devices connect and communicate with one another and perform a variety of tasks without the need for human intervention.
• Patient care can be performed more effectively in real time without the need for a doctor’s visit. It gives them the ability to make choices as well as provide evidence-based care.
• Asset tracking, traffic or transportation tracking, inventory control, delivery, surveillance, individual order tracking, and customer management can all be made more cost-effective with the right tracking system.

DISADVANTAGES

• Hackers may gain access to the system and steal personal information. Since we add so many devices to the internet, there is a risk that our information as it can be misused.
• They rely heavily on the internet and are unable to function effectively without it.
• With complexity of systems, there are many ways for them to fail.
• We lose control of our lives—our lives will be fully controlled and reliant on technology.
• Overuse of the Internet and technology makes people unintelligent because they rely on smart devices instead of doing physical work, causing them to become lazy.
• Unskilled workers are at a high risk of losing their jobs, which could lead to unemployment. Smart surveillance cameras, robots, smart ironing systems, smart washing machines, and other facilities are replacing security guards, maids, ironmen, and dry-cleaning services etc.
• It is very difficult to plan, build, manage, and enable a broad technology to IoT framework.