Introduction to the Internet of Things(IoT)!

“With the IoT, we’re headed to a world where things aren’t liable to break catastrophically - or at least, we’ll have a hell of a heads up. We’re headed to a world where our doors unlock when they sense us nearby” by Scott Weiss.

The Internet of Things (IoT) comprises a system of interlinked, internet-connected objects that are capable of collecting and transferring data over a wireless network without human intervention which are provided with unique identifiers(UID).

In simple words, it is a network of physical things that are implanted with sensors, processors or other devices for exchanging data with other devices over the internet. For example, A lightbulb that can be switched on using a smartphone app is an IoT device.

Components for IoT systems:

- Sensors: The components of the layer of networking are computers and sensors. These intelligent sensors continuously capture and relay data from the environment to the next layer.

- Gateway: The bidirectional data transport between various networks and protocols is handled by IoT Gateway.

- Cloud: IoT cloud provides tools for data collection, retrieval, management and storage in real-time. Industries and utilities can access these data remotely easily and, when appropriate, make important decisions.

- Analytics: Analytics is the mechanism by which thousands of smart devices and sensors transform observational data into valuable insights that can be interpreted and used for deep analysis. For the IoT method, intelligent analytical solutions are unavoidable for handling and developing the whole system.

IoT works as:

Collect data - collate and transfer data- analyze data, take action

In a layman's language:

• Devices have hardware such as sensors that collect data.
• The sensor data are then exchanged and incorporated into software through the cloud.
• The programme then analyses and sends data through an app or website to users.

Application of IoT:

- Consumer: IoT is being used for home automation like lighting, air conditioning, camera and security systems. It encourages energy savings by ensuring they are off when not in use by making the residents to known about it.

- Commercial: IoT is not only used for home automation, it is widely used for business operations also. IoT enables companies to automate their business processes hence reducing their labour cost. It helps companies to improve productivity and generate more profit.

- Industrial: For industrial use IoT, it helps to regulate and monitor industrial systems and devices.

- Infrastructure: The IoT infrastructure may be used to track incidents or changes that can impact protection and raise the risk in structural conditions. It helps to reduce cost and time and increase productivity.

Some of the benefits of IoT are as follows:

• It has the ability to access data from anywhere on any computer at any time.
• Money and time saved by transferring data packets over a network connection.
• Enhanced communication between connected electronic devices.
• Automation tasks help enhance the quality of the services of an organization and reduce the need for human interaction.

Some of the IoT's drawbacks include:

• The growing number of connected devices and the sharing of more information between devices also increases the probability that a hacker can rob confidential information.
• If the system has a flaw, any linked computer is likely to be corrupted.
• It is difficult to obtain and handle data from all devices as companies have to deal with large numbers of IoT devices
• It is hard to communicate with devices from different manufacturers.

Hope you enjoyed reading!