Introduction to IOT

If you sit back and observe your surroundings you are likely to find at least one object that can connect to the internet. It could be your laptop, your phone, your TV and so on. If you want to define Iot in one sentence you could say, the Internet of things is the ability of objects to connect to the internet and that’s about it basically.

Let’s keep it simple and then slowly take over the difficult material. Now, any device that can connect to the internet and has the ability to store and save data is a part of Iot. Iot is slowly taking over the world and it is paving the way for a simpler future.

The term Internet of Things is relatively new in the field of technology and dates back to just 16 years ago. Kevin Ashton fabricated the word, “Internet of Things” while working on his project under Procter & Gamble. Although the thought of connecting objects has always been an option since the 70s, Iot has gained momentum just recently. Iot guarantees a promising future and we can expect IoT to take over every giant industry.

Iot comprises of appliances with embedded electronics, sensors, actuators and communication capabilities that allow these appliances to connect, store and share large amounts of data. These gadgets include physical devices, home appliances, vehicles and consumer electronics.

Look around you and you can easily spot a couple of gadgets that are capable of being connected to the internet directly.

Birth of IoT

Kevin Ashton discovered the term “Internet of Things” in 1999 while working for a presentation at Procter & Gamble in the background of RFID supply chains. Kevin Ashton was the then executive director of the Auto-ID Center.

Here is a quote by Kevin Ashton talking about the internet of things:
“I could be wrong, but I’m fairly sure the phrase “Internet of Things”started life as the title of a presentation I made at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1999. Linking the new idea of RFID in P&G’s supply chain to the then-red-hot topic of the Internet was more than just a good way to get executive attention. It summed up an important insight which is still often misunderstood.”

IoT hardware

IoT devices are a combination of hardware and software. Hardware components are a set of elements that connect together in a particular manner. For example, consider a breadboard. We have microcontrollers, LEDs, voltage regulators, resistors, capacitors and various other things. All of these are hardware components that are wired together.

Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi built on a single board with microprocessors, memory and storage, input and output other features a functional computer contains. SBCs are ideal for user embedded computer controllers. They are portable computers that integrate all those functions on a single printed circuit board (PCB). Raspberry pi allows you to choose from a wide range of microprocessors, design and storage. They often use low cost static RAM and low cost 16 bit processors. Most of them differ in onboard flash storage, GPIO pins, processor speed, RAM and hard drive storage.

A case in point

The best way to get an understanding of Iot would be to start off by a real time, reliable yet simple example:

Imagine a man living in a house with all of the technical appliances connected to each other via the internet. Appliances such as the geyser, toast maker, coffee machine, Alarm clocks, Air Conditioners, Microwaves, Doors, Garage and cars.

Suppose, the man wakes up in the morning when the alarm clock goes off, since the IoT alarm connects the alarm clock to the geyser, it sends a message that the user has woken up and so the geyser switches on automatically and the water heats up.
As soon as the IoT turns off the geyser, the coffee maker starts making coffee
The man drinks the coffee and decides to hit the gym. When he opens the gates to leave the house, the Air Conditioner turns off automatically and the garage opens instantly.
After gym, the man drives back home. When the car gets closer to home, it sends a signal to open up the garage. The car parks automatically.
The garage sends a signal to the gates to open. The gates send a signal to the Air Conditioner to cool the home.
The AC sends a signal to the microwave to heat up the food.

All of this happens with the help of constant transfer of the data whilst also maintaining maximum security.

The home in the above scenario is known as a smart home and is a simple example to the limitless possibilities IoT offers to the world.

Working of IoT

The word “things” in Internet of Things includes innate objects such as thermostats, sensors, geysers and air conditioners. These devices can interconnect through the internet. Each of the devices can then share data through the help of a mobile application.

The user can operate these devices and gets access to information about these gadgets by the click of a button on their phones. This is all made possible by just one technology, the Internet of Things.

Despite the fact that the operation looks easy on the outside, a lot of components have to be managed to ensure proper functioning of the technology. While talking about Iot devices, they can be briefly divided into two types.

Types of Iot devices

1. General devices

These devices are important sections of the data centres and information exchanges. Large and secure databases store the data and administrators manage and overlook the data. The devices can have wired or non wired connections. These could include objects that we could identify at our homes such as the ACs, geysers, sensors, microwaves and so on.

2. Sensing devices

As the word suggests these devices include sensors. They sense changes in the external environment such as change in temperature, humidity and various other parameters.

The two kinds of Iot devices then connect to gateways. A gateway is a device that connects two different protocol networks together. These gateways then preserve and process the data to a cloud. A cloud is a network server used to store and process the incoming data.
Next, actions are performed on this data to perform further actions and for interfacing. Interfacing can be seen as a junction between two computer systems. Interfaces can be wired and non-wired such as wifi, bluetooth, zigbee and various other devices. These provide connectivity to ensure that Iot devices are constantly working.

What are IoT enablers?

IoT enablers are devices, technologies, security and network managers or anything that contributes to the growth of the internet of things. The most common IoT enablers and the widely used IoT enablers are sensors, RFIDs, Nanotechnology and smart networks.

Components of IoT

IoT has four components briefly. They are:

1. Low-power embedded systems: Embedded systems mainly include devices such as sensors and actuators. These devices gather information constantly and transmit this data for analysis.

2. Cloud-computing: Clouds are giant data servers that are capable of storing huge amounts of data coming from embedded devices. Data processing and learning takes place in cloud computing.

3. Availability of big-data: Since Iot devices sense information from the real world, they are likely to generate huge amounts of data.

4. Networking or communication: Networking ensures that there is a proper flow of the data coming from Iot devices. Networking enables Iot devices to communicate with each other or with the user or the server.

IoT embedded devices

It is important that we understand about embedded devices before we begin any project on the internet of things. Embedded devices include any digital appliance that is capable of computation. They are everywhere around us. However, Standard electronics such as Computers are not embedded devices. Embedded devices do much more than computing, they have the power to digitally process information through integration of devices.

An embedded system has three main components:
1. System software
2. System hardware
3. Real time operating system(RTOS)

Embedded system hardware

The hardware of an embedded system can be of two types: microcontrollers and microprocessors and both types include an Integrated circuit system(IC).
Microcontrollers differ from microprocessors such as 8085 as they have an internal read and write memory.

Embedded system software

The three main components of a software system are

1. Assembler: An assembler converts code written in programming into bits 0 and 1s, i.e., machine level language that is understood by the computer.

2. Emulator: An emulator runs the code written by a host system. The system is known as the guest and it allows the host to run software, tools and devices

3. Compiler: Compilers convert the code into an intermediate language that is understood by the computer.

IoT Ecosystem

The IoT ecosystem is the network of Iot devices that have the ability to store, analyse and retrieve data. These devices can also communicate with one another.

The Iot system has plenty of complications and it takes difficult calculations to define the entire ecosystem.
In the Iot ecosystem, all the devices are interconnected and they share and receive data from users all the time. The devices process the data and perform necessary actions.

The IoT ecosystem includes:

1. Sensing, embedded components: This layer provides accurate and credible data. It collects information from the surroundings.
Sensors sense or detect even the slightest changes in the environment. Whereas, actuators respond or act on the signals they receive. For example, temperature control in smart thermostats.

2. Connectivity: Networking, communication and connectivity are the fundanets of any Iot ecosystem. Without device communication and connectivity, there is in fact no IoT. IoT protocols transfer data from one place to another. The most common wireless protocols are WiFi, Zigbee, LoRa and cellular etc.
Gateways are a mode through which the data passes to reach the cloud or servers. Gateways provide security by limiting unauthorized access.

3. IoT cloud: Cloud stores all the incoming data. Here data processing takes place with the help of data analysis and actions are performed on the data to generate a response in the system. Edge computing is an action for when there is large amounts of incoming data from the user.

4. Data management: This is a proper mechanism that stores the data and remembers information for future responses.

5. End users or user interface: Users control the entire Iot device and set it according to their preferences. They can access information and details of the device through an application.

IoT decision framework

The IoT decision framework fundamentally focuses on six areas. They are as follows:
1. User interface
2. Data
3. Business
4. Technology
5. Safety and security
6. Protocols and regulations.

IoT technology evaluates each of these areas as shown in the below image:

The decision areas of the Iot framework are as follows:

1. User experience and user interface: Since the user is the one who uses the end IoT product it is crucial that the decision framework models ease the experiences and make it as reliable as possible.

2. Data decision area: Data is the main attraction in Iot system. The framework ensures to manage, compute and retrieve this data whenever necessary and accordingly.

3. Business Decision Area: IoT will be largely responsible for changing business models in the future. On the basis of the previous decisions we decide how the end products can generate more revenue. Every Iot stack goes through financial calculations in order to provide the best services.

4. Technology decision area: We chose a certain technology in a way that makes the process simpler.

5. Security Decision area: The user trusts the IoT framework with their data and private information and thus the framework must ensure that it includes data safety regulations to prevent illegal access and exploitation.

6. Standards and regulation: Rules ensure that everything works accordingly and without any discomfort. The framework takes decisions at each layer in order to ensure smooth functioning.

Key Features of IoT

Highly adaptable and reliable
IoT devices may not necessarily have IP addresses.
Iot devices consume lesser power compared to standard computers and desktops.
Through IoT, appliances can connect and communicate with each other.

Advantages of IoT

Technical Optimization: With the improvisation of data transfer, we are in a way also optimizing the devices. IoT introduces us to much more functional and progressive technology.
Modified Data collection: In old days, it took days or even months to transfer data and to store data. IoT made it possible to transfer and retrieve data from any part of the world in milliseconds.
Waste reduction: Older methodologies took time to notify users in case of dangers and emergencies but IoT sends alerts and notification before the situation escalates. This helps in saving money and energy.
Better Customer service: Since the devices can interact with each other, customers can optimise and modify their home appliances according to their needs and this improves the customer experience with any Iot brand.

Disadvantages of IoT

Despite the fact that IoT has thousands of advantages and it has the ability to transform the way we live, it comes with its own setbacks. Scientists and researchers are working on these setbacks to improve the technology. Some of the most common disadvantages are:

Security: IoT data exposes to hackers and it is vulnerable
Privacy: IoT stores our data on cloud servers located miles away from the end clients, this means the user may have to compromise on their privacy.
Flexibility: Iot devices have a complicated integration system and it gets difficult to access locked devices during an emergency.
Complexity: IoT introduces a wide range of technologies that have dozens of complex design patterns and tracks.
Compliance: IoT has a wide range of regulations as compared to other technologies. IoT devices and softwares must comply with these rules in order for proper functioning.

Challenges of IoT

Inadequate testing and updating
Threat to user data privacy and security
Complex software functionality
Interpreting large amounts of data
AI and automation integration
Iot devices need access to constant power supply
Short-range communication and connectivity

Best practices of IoT

Track and manage Iot devices
Assess your endpoints in the networks
Understand your security and privacy regulations
Conduct tests and experiments before launching the setup
Changes passwords and credentials regularly

Ways of building IoT

There are two ways for building IoT technology:

1. By forming a private, excluded internetwork with personal physical objects.

2. By expanding the internet connectivity and including more complex technologies to solve global problems. This requires cloud computing and wide area networks.

Iot lightning system

To get a general idea of the term Iot, let’s understand how an Iot device functions by taking an example of an Iot lighting system. Or you could take any electronic gadget other than traditional ones such as the laptops, PCs and mobile phones (these require an operating system).

The “thing” in this example is the lights. We add computational intelligence to this thing to improve and access its functionality with much ease. This could be a processor that runs some kind of code inside.
The word Iot includes “internet”, so obviously the thing must be capable of being connected to the internet as well.

Any “lighting system” that can be connected to an intelligence system and a network connection is called an “Iot lighting system”.

It performs the same function a normal light control would perform but it does it better this time. Let’s see how:

It monitors and responds to movement. The luminaries and lights get switched on automatically when someone enters the room and get switched off when the rooms are empty.
An intelligent lighting system changes the light levels based on conditions, time or even weather. They can be set according to user preference.
The lights get switched on during the night and automatically go off during the morning.
They can change the room’s ambience. It gets set to low levels when you come back from work to create a relaxed environment, it could regulate brighter levels while working, it could be adjusted during parties and special occasions.
With access to the internet, the ISL can adjust the lighting of the entire house for mood control. It could add warmth or brightness.
You could specify your mood to the system and the ISL changes the lights accordingly.

So much more can be done on the lighting system to match each of your preferences. All of these functions require network connectivity that is used to access websites.

Applications of IoT

The internet of things is a wide technology. It is generally known as the connection of “things” or devices via the “internet”. The internet of things is bringing the world closer by connecting devices to improve their performance. Every company is adapting to the technology and introducing it into their manufacturing standards. The reason being that IoT is sure to take over the world in the near future.

The most common IoT applications are:
1. Smart cities
2. Smart grid
3. Smart cars
4. Smart homes
5. Smart retail
6. Smart healthcare
7. Industrial automation
8. Wearables
9. Smart farming
10. Smart pollution control

Why does IoT matter?

When a device can send or receive information and can connect to the internet, it makes the device “smart”. For example, smartphones have access to billions of songs that you can stream on your phone at any given time. It is not because these songs are stored in your device, it is because your smartphone has the ability to send and receive data over a wide range of networks.

IoT devices are capable of sending and receiving data and this feature makes these devices extremely powerful and reliable. Users can sit anywhere around the world and can have access to information about their IoT devices. They can operate on these devices using an application.

How are Iot devices different from standard computers?

Standard computers refers to desktops, tablets, mobile phones and PCs. These devices have complicated built in systems, they have input-output ports, they require an operating system. Iot devices are different from these electronic devices. Computing is not their main function, whereas, computers are mainly used to compute functions and to run complex programs.

The objective of Iot devices is not to program but to improve the functionality of the devices with the help of intelligence and networking.

Computers are made to serve general purposes by running a complex set of code in an order. Whereas Iot devices are particularly effective and efficient in performing only one task. They are made specially to perform a certain task effectively.

For example, a smart refrigerator. This makes these devices much cheaper, quicker and practical at the same time.

We will look further into Iot and the bizarre power it holds in our upcoming articles.

Summary

In this article we learn the introduction of IoT and some important topics such as the IoT hardware, software, ecosystem, decision frameworks, advantages, disadvantages, challenges and best practises of IoT. We also cover topics such as the application of IoT, ways of building IoT and why IoT matters. We also provide example ioT systems and more.