Impact of Internet of Things in real life – A roadmap via five sectors

“A world where physical objects are seamlessly integrated into the information network, and where physical objects can become active participants in business processes. Services are available to interact with these ‘smart objects’ over the Internet, query, and change their state and any information associated with them.”

Borrowing the words of Michael Kassner of TechPublic, A future world is now under the construction of more lively in nature. To make an environment which is connecting a world without human touch for humanity. An incredible mixture of hardware, software and connections make the daily hours more timely and generous with each and every activity of our lives .

Its possibilities include new products and services that will help protect the environment, conserve energy, increase agricultural productivity, make transportation safer and faster, enhance public safety, and lead to better and more affordable health care. In addition, some products will simply assist busy consumers by providing timely information: thus, a smart refrigerator could remind its owner to buy milk when it is running low.

As the Internet of Things, and connectivity in general, drive consumers to bring more of their physical lives to the digital world, brands face two big challenges – One: figuring out how to track, monitor, and make sense of the ensuing troves of data outlined above, and two: finding ways to stay relevant not only in the digital world but in the physical world as well.

So here personal responsibilities of day to day are placed in the hands of digital technologies. So in order to remember, inform, and do things easier, the interaction of Internet of Things should be implemented in future.

Here are some examples of various sectors:

HEALTH

Wearable Activity Tracker

It involves not only the connection and integration of devices that monitor the physical world-temperature, pressure, altitude, motion, proximity to something else, biometrics, sound, images, and so on, but also the aggregation, relationship, and analysis of the information those devices create in order to take action on the situation, and the business and technology changes required to use the data

TRANSPORTATION

Sensor-enabled nodes

Sensing capabilities are significant in all fields, but smart buildings and smart transportation referred to as “built infrastructure,” will represent markets of primary importance. In both fields, there’s a need for many different devices that can span from nodes providing basic monitoring to active nodes with a high computational capability. The rationales for the adoption of Internet of Things in these fields are several, from social to environmental to economical. Energy conservation, environmental control, traffic optimization, infrastructure monitoring, accident prevention, and disaster containment are just some of the fields that can benefit from interconnected sensing devices.

The major characteristics of Internet of Things nodes include a sensor front-end, low-power signal conditioning electronics (typically an ASIC including a microcontroller with embedded algorithms), power supply/storage/management, and back-end, low-power communications, usually wireless and enclosed in a package (see microelectromechanical systems-based (MEMS-Based) Systems Solutions for more information). The technological challenge for the implementation of such devices is limited to the integration and packaging of different existing components, as well as the availability of energy harvesters to make the node self-sufficient.

AGRICULTURE

Meteorological Station Network

It receives real-time notifications on the air quality and weather conditions specific your personal home or office. Monitoring is done through small indoor and outdoor modules that are possibly best described as the size of a toilet paper roll. The outside unit monitors like temperature and humidity and lets you know what it “feels like” outside temperature-wise. Inside the module evaluates CO2 levels in your home, and even the sound levels, in case you want to make moves to protect your family against noise pollution as well as actual air pollution.

If the CO2 concentration in your home reaches a dangerous level, you can configure the system to send you an alert on your smartphone. Results are stored within the app, and over time, you can use the data to see weather and air quality trends specific to your home, and make plans for outdoor activities accordingly.

ENVIRONMENT

Snow Level Monitor

Snow depth is most often measured using an ultrasonic or radar sensor. The sensor is placed on an arm outstretched over the area to be monitored and the signal of the sensor is bounced off the snow surface. Internet of Things network is used for checking the snow level at ski tracks. This helps the skiers to check whether the track is fit for ski jumping or not sitting at homes. An ultrasonic sensor is employed at a place, where the level of snow is to be measured. This sensor senses the snow at that place which measures its depth by keeping ground as a base. The level of snow is continuously measured using ultrasonic sensor and sent to the microcontroller. A GPRS module is used that is used for accessing the information from the microcontroller and sending it to the internet through the network of Internet of Things.

SECURITY

Perimeter Access Controller

All user access policies are managed via the central controller. A user’s identity is verified and his/her devices are pre-registered with the central controller. When the user needs to access resources on the network, he/she authenticates to the controller, which provisions access based on the security context of the device and user.

When a new device is on a public network or a device that previously failed to log in attempts to reconnect, additional requirements can be enforced (such as two-factor authentication) or access can be denied. Because the user must have a pre-registered device and multifactor, it is more difficult to access sensitive networks or applications with stolen credentials.

These are just a few examples of the myriad ways in which IoT is making new products, business models, and processes possible. Thus, IoT will be working on behalf of us. The devices are going to disappear into what we wear and/or carry.They will be interacting with the physical and virtual worlds more than interacting with us, and make the things simple and more robust.