Connecting the Physical World, The IoT Way
All of us are a bit used to sensors, receivers and transmitters from the past, but the idea of devices communicating and working automatically was never heard of. If you sneak back into today’s world, Internet of Things (IoT), has come to reality by actually making the devices communicate and perform. IoT is a large network of connected devices in the physical world that communicate and perform the desired action on their own.
If we are to define IoT, it is an amalgamation of physical devices, appliances, and other things that consist of sensors, embedded software, that are connected over the internet to collect and exchange data. In lay man terms, IoT works like a thermostat that moulds itself to the temperature based on our choices. There are complex applications like city traffic monitoring or energy monitoring aspects.
IoT works based on three critical components – Devices, Data Collected, the Data Analysis. These components whey they work in tandem, they enable data driven decision making, effective monitoring and the desired automation that improves our lives and lead to business transformation across multiple industry verticals.
IoT in Daily Life
The automation that we are able to see at our homes is one of the impacts of IoT revolution. We call this automation as Smart Homes. There is a huge demand for smart homes, as they offer a set of devices in a network, that provides features like energy monitoring, CCTV Surveillance, and so on. Smart devices like Amazon Echo, Google Mini have become a part of daily lives as virtual assistant that interact with us through voice commands and also control a set of devices in the home.
IoT enabled devices, also known as wearables have taken the fitness aspects by storm. Smart watches can have a check on our physical activities, heartbeat, sleeping patterns that give us a hand on information on what changes we need to have to our lifestyle to be healthy. These wearable devices can help communicate to selected care takers in case of emergency and can save lives. Wearable devices with mobile connectivity can actually save lives.
Applications in Industries
IoT has diverse applications in multiple industries, changing the way they operate by increasing efficiency with innovation. For example, let us consider healthcare and supply chain industries.
IoT applications in healthcare are quite important in the patient monitoring, maintaining patient records, allow timely instructions remotely without the patient being there in person. Also, IoT applications can manage inventory in the hospitals by ensuring availability of essential medicine supplies and cutting down wastage.
IoT has actually transitioned the supply chain space. Logistic vehicles with IoT can gather and transfer real time data on its performance, traffic and weather. This will enable to better manage things with a save driving experience. Emergence of autonomous vehicles is something in the store for future for all of us.
The Future of IoT
With 5G hitting most parts of the world, IoT will just keep growing. System integration becomes the key. The world will witness high data transfer speeds, enabling high availability of IoT devices. Edge Computing will ensure things happen closer and reduce the dependence on cloud servers enhancing real time capabilities. IoT in smart cities is a whole new world of automation, that leads to more sustainable living with optimized energy usage, waste management and transportation. Increased automation and predictive maintenance are the key. For more information, please reach out to www.blancoinfotech.com
