Is There Seriously a Sensor in That?
An Intro to the Internet of Things and its Implications
“Mom, why’d you buy a smart toilet?”
“It tracks how often you go to the bathroom and can monitor your health, honey.”
Haha, just kidding. Well, actually, who knows this could become a thing.
Sensors are becoming increasingly present in nearly all parts of our lives. They can track our day to day activities and give us personalized data. I’ll talk a bit about the pros and cons of this later, but for now, let’s talk about the branch of technology these sensors are categorized in: the internet of things (IoT).
What is IoT?
IoT is a system of connected devices communicating with acquired data. Basically, it’s connecting things (devices or machines) to the internet. Connecting these ‘things’ via the internet then unlocks new or combined abilities. Just look at all the apps on your smartphone and the devices or data it connects to. Think about all the sensors in your car or any other thing you own that is tracking and storing data. You may have a smart thermostat which you can change the temperature in your house via an app, lights that are activated by voice or detect motion, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, the list goes on.
The end goal of IoT is to take human intervention out of the equation: do the job for us. It aims to limit the tedious tasks in our daily lives to then open up time for us to work on the more difficult and important ones.
Here are the three main components of IoT
- Sensors
These are the devices that collect and send the data. There are several types of sensors. Some of these include temperature sensors, motion sensors, pressure sensors, etc.
2. Gateways (Edge devices)
Gateways are what collect the data from the sensors. Gateways filter out non-important data and select only the data for the specific task it’s assigned to. Edge devices are primarily used when there is too much data to be stored in the cloud. After sieving through the data, it is sent to the cloud where machine learning models process the data. Following this, the last step involves the machine learning models to send commands to the actuators.
3. Actuators
Actuators take in the data and show the end reaction or output based on the data. So, for example, water coming out of the sprinkler in the picture above.
The Future of IoT
IoT technology can connect literally anything to the internet via sensors. We bring in new data and can dramatically enhance our lives. But how disruptive is this technology really? Here are some of the major industries it impacts:
Smart Home Appliances
Imagine waking up one morning to a display board of the effectiveness of your sleep and data on your mood for the day as your blinds open up, your coffee is ready, and your lights slowly turn on. Honestly, we already have most of these things, and others aren’t that far off in the future. There are app-controlled thermostats Nest and Honeywell. There’s the self-automating vacuum Roomba. There’s voice and motion-activated lighting and more.
Not only can IoT eliminate specific tasks around the house, but it can also save money and apply to sustainability. With motion sensors only turning on the light when you are in the room or apps allowing you to control the temperature of the house and remotely shutting it off when you don’t need it.
Retail
IoT even disrupts the action of restocking shelves. Weight sensors attached to them can transmit data to gateways when the stock on the shelves is low, which can then notify store employees to restock or automatically place an order for more. On top of this, shelves can be digitally labeled and dramatically increase the efficiency of this process.
The most modern example of IoT in retail is the Amazon Go stores. I was lucky enough to experience shopping in one myself. These stores are wired with cameras and sensors utilizing artificial intelligence to track everything you pick off the shelf through in-depth image processing and classification. You just scan yourself in via the Amazon Go app, pick up what you want, and walk out. It almost feels like you’re stealing. As you walk out, your Amazon account is charged for the items you picked up. All this with no human contact with a cashier, no waiting in lines, and no cash. More stores like this would be especially helpful now considering COVID-19.
Healthcare
In terms of healthcare, IoT has already been prominent. Sensors can be placed into patients while IoT networks track and monitor the data and health of the patient. They can monitor blood glucose levels for diabetics and pacemakers for heart disease. Healthcare services can be notified immediately if there is an issue or a heart attack is detected.
There are even sensors that can be ingested. Proteus smart pills are designed to dissolve in the stomach as a way of sensing if the right medication was taken at the right time.
Especially now, hospitals are packed with patients requiring tons of paperwork and doctors, resulting in inefficiency. With IoT, doctors can be tracked via smart ID tags or their phones, and the vitals of patients can be monitored outside of their rooms.
Agriculture
There are so many different things that need to be monitored and checked on a farm. Why not use IoT? Several sensors can be used for smart farming, including ones that monitor light, humidity, temperature, moisture, etc. Utilizing these sensors, farmers can apply even amounts of pesticides and water to crops; thus, in the end, reducing costs and taking away some human intervention.
Another great use of IoT in the agriculture setting is monitoring livestock. Farmers can utilize wireless sensors to monitor the location, vitals, and meals of their livestock. This will both save a tremendous amount of time for the farmer and also provide tons of data to keep their farm healthy.
There has also been the use of agricultural drones. Aerial drones can be an effective fertilization method, monitor crops, plant, irrigate, and more. Newer drones use sensors in the ground connected to IoT hubs and GIS mapping to guide them towards the area of crops that need to be tended to. Once again, this dramatically reduces the work and time required for this job.
Smart Cities
With increasingly dense urban populations, transforming a city with IoT will be vital. IoT can prevent gridlock with intelligent traffic flow. Smart traffic lights can decongest areas based on the busiest avenues. In the future, they may communicate with autonomous vehicles to ease traffic flow. On top of this, companies are working on displaying open parking spots via an app and object detector in real-time.
Lighting is another significant aspect of cities that can be addressed with IoT. Inefficient lighting systems are horrible for the environment and cause electricity bills to skyrocket. By utilizing sensors in streetlights to track the movement of people throughout the day, the lights can brighten and dim themselves.
Waste management is another issue. Rather than making trips for half-empty trash bins, utilizing weight or sensors detecting if garbage passes a certain height threshold, truck drivers can be notified which households to pick up trash.
The Importance of Data
So now you know what IoT is and its incredible applications, but there’s always a trade-off. Especially in today’s digital world, data is precious. Data is the reason IoT is so beneficial and helpful. By 2025, there’s expected to be around 238 zettabytes, which is equal to one sextillion bytes worth of data. Monitoring and understanding this data will be revolutionary and drive advancement. The concern though, is where this data is coming from and how much of your data do you want to give up?
The Transaction You’re Really Making
Your not only giving away your money for the IoT device; you are also giving away your data. This depends on the company, but a majority in today’s world love data — and love selling your data. That free wifi isn’t necessarily “free.” For more info on this topic of smart city privacy, check out the first article below, which explains this dilemma perfectly.
For Further Research
👆 I highly recommend checking out this article.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the article!
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