An Introduction To The Internet Of Everything
IoT is driven by the curiosity of human beings — Everyone is thinking of ways to create/produce something better for our lives to be easier which lead us to the digital age. The vision is “Anything that can be connected, will be connected" to be able to produce machines that is able to reduce human labor to a fraction.
The idea of inter-connected devices is that these devices are smart enough to provide us information, share to cloud based applications and communicating with other devices. IoT can be integrated in to all shorts of devices, from wearables, appliances, cars, machines, healthcare, etc. IoT does not only mean putting different sensors in the different appliances or machines it consists of a lot of sensors, cloud infrustractures, data analytics and visualization.
Here are a few applications of IoT but not limited to. I’ve also added videos to understand what IoT can offer.
1. Manufacturing
Manufacturing industry is tied into different constraints that greatly reduces productivity, efficiency and quality output which limits the number of produce made. IoT is a critical component in transforming the industrial ecosystem, which includes the Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet. Typically different sensors are placed in assembly lines and machines to maximize output and quality of the product.
2. Smart Home
The most obvious benefit of smart homes to people is convenience. There are tons of smart home devices now a days that frees up people to perform other tasks. A few examples are smart locks, IoT enabled sockets, to smart lights. Having more connected devices present at your home will eventually handle more operations.
Part of the convenience in smart homes is it promotes energy efficiency which eventually will lower the cost of your bills. Imagine going home tired from work having installed these connected devices at home it is able to detect when you’re near, the smart lock is able to unlock your door and as soon as you open it the lights automatically turns on and your amazon echo greets you a warm welcome and starts playing music to let you relax. In promoting energy efficiency the connected device can detect if you’ve already left which enables them to turn switch off different appliances like lights, aircon, fan etc.
3. Agriculture
With the forecasted growth in the global population, agriculture faces a very big challenge to rapidly increase food production. Plant yield and quality of produce are considered to be one of the important aspects in the Agricultural ecosystem. As a farmer there are a lot of limiting factors like the weather, the quality of soil, temperature, etc. which makes it hard to attain quality produce.
Smart farming uses modern technology to increase quality and quantity of crops. Farmers have access to different technologies to be applied in Precision Agriculture like geomapping, Automated steering system in tractors, sensors and remote sensing, drones and integrated electronic communications. One example is the use of geomapping to produce maps which determines the soil type, nutrient levels etc. Farmers are able to plant their crops in strategic locations to maximize growth and quality.
4. Healthcare
Integration of IoT greatly benefits health management. Accurate reading and interpretation of indicators with the possibility of connecting sensors to mobile devices enables medical centers to replace heavy medical equipment with smaller devices. With the release of wearable devices monitoring heart rates, number of steps and calories burned is possible. Bio-compatible sensors are one of the most important elements of the healthcare digital transformation. Bio-compatible sensors also can help users in their everyday life by collecting data about all their physical activities, sleep, and overall health.
5. Transportation
A great demand of IoT is in the transportation industry where most of the population are greatly affected. With the use of IoT in transportation is is able to counteract rising transportation costs, and improve the safety of both public and private transportation.
In the public transportation sector the data from IoT sensors can help to reveal patterns of how citizens use transport. You can use this data to enhance their traveling experience. To carry out a more complex analysis, combine multiple sources, such as ticket sales and traffic information.
6. Logistics
The use of ultra wide band (UWB) and infrared technologies are greatly used in supply chain tracking and monitoring and it entails a big infrastructure which came with a cost in installation and tags that are strategically placed in warehouses which is priced per square meter.
With the rise of IoT solutions in logistics it can cover location tracking, environment sensing and fleet management. Location tracking can range from tracking vendor deliveries to materials in the manufacturing facility. Today, there are asset-tracking solutions on the market that can be installed and operated for 10 times less than UWB and infrared.
7. Infrastructure
The most common problems in the infrastructure industry are occupants comfort, maintenance, energy consumption and its structure simply because the contractors do not comply to the industry standards. By putting up different kinds of sensors to produce tons of data generated by the building it can be constantly monitored and analyzed to find on-going operational problems (hot and cold problem areas, broken dampers or valves, equipment that doesn’t turn off).
8. Smart Cities
Smart cities of having a full integration oIoT in traffic flow, public transport, utilities, street lighting, waste management, environment and safety. Tons of sensors, lights and meters are connected to collect and analyze data. This data is then use to improve infrastrucutre, public utlities and services, and more.
