Internet of Things

by 13:40 0 comments INTERNET OF THINGS

By: Arpit Sharma, BCA 2nd Year, 2nd shift                                                                      

The internet of things (IOT) is an environment in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

These all objects are connected to the internet just like your smartwatch, Fitbit, or even your refrigerator. These devices are able to collect and transmit data via. the internet, contributing to our big data world.

A thing, in the internet of things, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when the tire pressure is low or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and ability to transfer data over the network.

How will this impact you?

The new rule for the future is going to be, “anything that can be connected will be connected.”  But why on earth would you want so many connected devices talking to each other?  There are many examples of what this might look like or what the potential value might be.  Say for example you are on your way to a meeting, your car could have access to your calendar and already know the best route to take if the traffic is heavy your car might send a text to the other party notifying them that you will be late.  What if your alarm clock wakes up you at 6 am and then notifies your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you?

 What if your office equipment knew when it was running low on supplies and automatically re-ordered more?  What if the wearable device you used in the workplace could tell you when and where you were most active and productive and shared that information with other devices that you used while working?

On a broader scale, the IOT can be applied to things like transportation networks “smart cities” which can help us reduce waste and improve efficiency for things such as energy use; this helping us understand and improve how we work and live.  Take a look at the visual below to see what something like that can look like.

You can have a look at visual to see what something like that will look.

According to the Gartner ( a technology research corporation), there will be nearly 26 billion on the internet of things by 2020.

Integration with the internet implies that devices will use an IP address as a unique identifier. Due to the limited address space of IPv4 ( which allows for 4.3 billion unique addresses) objects in the IoT will have to use IPv6 to accommodate the extremely large address space required.

How would this help the world?

•    Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring applications will help in environmental protection by monitoring air or water quality, atmospheric or soil conditions, and can even include areas like wildlife and monitoring their habitats.

•    Infrastructure management
Monitoring and controlling operations of urban and rural infrastructures like bridges, railway tracks etc.
IoT devices can also be used to control infrastructure like bridges to provide access to ships.

•    Medical and Healthcare systems
IoT devices can be used to enable remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems. These health monitoring devices can range from blood pressure and heart rate monitors to advanced devices capable of monitoring specialized implants, such as pacemakers or advanced hearing aids.

•    Transportation
The IoT can assist in the integration of communications, control, and information processing across various transportation systems.
Dynamic interaction between the vehicles will provide smart traffic control, smart parking, electronic toll collection systems, logistic and fleet management, vehicle control safety and road assistance.