The future is now: How IoT is transforming our industries and Lives.
Imagine a world where your alarm rings at 6:30 am, you wake up and switch it off. As soon as you turn off the alarm, it alerts the coffee maker and it starts making coffee and a fridge that knows when you are running low on food and automatically orders more. These may sound like something out of a sound fiction novel, but it is just few of the examples of the “Internet of Things”. The Internet of things (IoT) is a network of “things” that are embedded with technologies like sensors and software for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. This “things” could be anything as fluffy as a child’s toy or as a serious as a driverless truck. A door that can be unlocked using a smartphone is an IoT device, as is a connected streetlight or smart watch that tracks your daily activities. So, anything that has the ability to connect to the internet and collect and share data is a part of Internet of things.
For an instance, how are you reading this article, either you are using phone, tablet or Personal Computer (PC). Well, whichever device you are using is definitely connected to the internet and that means you are already using an IoT device that is embedded with sensors like gyroscope, GPS sensors, compass, etc. Wondering what a sensor is? Well, a sensor is a type of device that detects the change in the environment and give responses to some type of input. The input can be environmental phenomena like light, heat, motion, moisture and pressure. IoT devices are embedded with the sensors which continuously emit data about the working state of the devices, but the important question is “how do they share this huge amount of data and how do we use this data to our benefit”. For storing the data provided by the sensors, IoT provides a common platform for all these devices to dump their data and a common language for all the devices to communicate with each other. Data from various sources are emitted and sent to IoT platform. Then, the IoT platform integrates the collected data from various sources and further analytics is performed on the data and valuable information is extracted as per the requirement. Finally, the results are shared with other devices for better user experience, automation and improving efficiency. Let’s take an example- consider a condition that you need to bath and you bath same two days in a week, for this you have to make hot water ready to bath and you feel lazy to this, now think of a geyser that is smart and connected to the internet. Now, with the help of internet and IoT platform, smart geyser can easily detect the days of the week and the time of the day, then using the sensor it is implanted with, it can detect the temperature of the surrounding and make the water ready according to the your preference. Since the tedious work is automated now you just need to go to the bathroom and bath without needing to worry about the water temperature.
In a world where device is connected, the possibilities are endless. The world around us is becoming smarter and more responsive thanks to the Internet of Things, which combines the digital and physical worlds. Connecting up all the different objects and adding sensors to them has added a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise dumb, enabling them to communicate real-time data without involving a human being. Internet of Things is influencing our lives from way we react to way we behave to the way we react, from air conditioners that you can control with the help of your smartphones to Smart cars providing shortest route to your destination or your smart watch that is tracking your daily activities.
The IoT is widely used in today’s world from simple household to big industrial level. The smart home which can automatically turn on the light, maintain the house temperature or automatically locks the door when we leave the house has made the day to day life of a normal person easier, faster and convenient. Similarly, smart cars which can drive by itself following the shortest route to our destination and informing the co-workers in case of late arrival can largely benefit the office workers. In healthcare, the IoT can improve patient’s care by allowing medical services to send data to healthcare providers in real time. In industrial level, the IoT has the potential to bring many changes by allowing for the collection and analysis of data for the automated process of manufacturing products and supply chain management. The use of IoT in larger scale such as a smart city with services like smart lighting, environment monitoring, smart water supply and transportation management can help to improve the quality of life for citizens and increase efficiency and sustainability. Overall, the IoT has the potential to greatly improve our daily lives and revolutionize industries.
The Internet of Things is revolutionizing the way we live and work, but at what cost? We know that anything that can be connected to the internet can be classified as IoT device but we should also consider the fact that everything that’s connected to the internet can also be hacked. The fact that IoT devices are connected to the internet raises the possibility that hackers may attempt to cause malfunction of the devices and use our data for unethical works. Similarly, the reality of IoT devices are that they were not designed with security in mind and thousands of new devices are introduced early without considering the basic measures such as unique passwords, encrypting our data or updating software to address vulnerabilities. Let’s take an example-a couple returned home to find their carpet had been damaged by the internet connected vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner was hacked and made to clean the same area for several hours. This is just one of the few examples of problems in IoT. The existence of these kinds of potential threats emphasize the need for the IoT industry and the academic community to develop solutions to these problems. The value realized with IoT can only be improved with enhanced security to be scale with other technology that will mitigate risks and increase rewards.
In conclusion, we can say that Internet of Things (IoT) will definitely be the paradigm shift of effective multitasking with massive applications potentially bringing many benefits to individuals and society, such as increased efficiency, enhanced safety, faster and convenient transportation and cost savings. However, there are also potential problems and challenges that need to be addressed, such as security, privacy, and ethical considerations while using the IoT devices. Change is the only constant, and the world will never be the same with the growth of ubiquitous connectivity and IoT is sure to change the way billions of people live their life today. With the estimation of increment in the IoT devices to 80 billion by 2025, the best we can do is to educate ourselves about IoT because IoT storm is here to stay and the new rule of the future will be anything that can be connected will be connected. Some will welcome the new era of smart things. Others will pine for the days when a home was simply a home sweet home.
