Q. 107  Let us get conversant with emerging technologies. How is Internet of Things changing our lives? What are some of the projected uses of IoT? 

 

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Internet of Things (IoT): It is a network of physical devices which communicate data amongst themselves, through the help of enablers such as Sensors, software programs etc.,. The sensors could use say WI-FI, RFID, etc.,. to communicate the data.

Advantages of IoT:
1. Organisations get big(huge) volume of data (as part of data analysis) for processing , in a very short span of time.

2. Faster Response, since data is obtained and then corresponding relevant actions can be taken quickly, irrespective of   the industry usage.

3. Cost Reduction or Optimised Savings for an Organization while doing a business, as information is reached quickly and relevant action is done before or on time.

4. Satisfied Customers(end-user who receives the service).
    i). Gets timely information from the IoT system/device and as a result receives timely service/product.

  ii). Saves time/effort, cost, energy depending upon the type of IoT service he/she gets.
iii). Improves Operational Performance.

5. Data Communication can happen between man to machine and machine to machine seamlessly sharing useful information.

6. Its not specific to any industry. Can be used in any industry.

7. Can saves a person's life with critical information on health using IoT wearable devices and therefore acts as a potential Life-Saver.

8. Can detect potential delay in specific routes, when used in Transportation Management.

9. Any device obliged(adhering to) to the standards of Internet of things platform (designed by the manufacturing Organisation who wants to have its products/service to be tapped/consumed) , can get connected to any other devices having the same standard. This makes that the intended activities/operations can be done/achieved irrespective of the device that we use. It could be via a smart phone, wearable device, laptop, some electronic device and so on.....

10. Can greatly help in shaping/changing the Economic condition of an Organisation, even a Country.  

I have listed above, a basic set of common advantages that you normally associate with IoT.  However, Virtually , in every sector, there are many advantages using IOT. 

Examples:

Let us see few examples of IoT across few areas/sectors/Industries.

 

Transportation/Traffic Management: Imagine you are in a city which has a narrow road landscape. City administration has made several roads as One-way and there is lot of traffic jams in these roads. Now with an IoT enabled transport management system, the City Administrators, can guide the public through various points(may be to dedicated traffic mgmt teams or in vantage positions across the city or any end-users of the IOT system). This is just a basic example. IoT can be harnessed very efficiently in this sector.  There are many private transport management companies which uses IoT for their day-to-day activities and improving both their businesses and customer satisfaction. Transportation/Traffic management can happen anywhere in Road, Rail, Sea, or Air, depending on where IoT is implemented.  

 

Household(Home) Appliances: Imagine you are able to turn off your lights in your home, using your mobile. This could be one of the common and simplest usage of IoT. This way Smart Homes are created.

 

Health Management: Wearable devices ensure that your health conditions to be monitored. Imagine the power of this. Assume that a person(patient) has got a high Blood Pressure and is hospitalized recently. Now he/she has been told by the Doctor that he/she has to be monitored daily atleast for a week before being discharged. The Patient now will have to be there in that hospital and some attender might also be there from his/her family. So this one week forced stay can make the patient and his/her family with undue pressure. Having a wearable device ( a IoT based device) can solve these kind of issues. With the device, monitoring can be done as the patient wears it. That would ensure that he/she can wear the device (move out from hospital, in the process) and do his/her routine affairs. The device would keep om providing constant data about the health condition of the patient.

 

Smart Cities: Imagine a network of IoT systems constructed for various utilities and departments such as Electricity, Energy, transport, Waste Management, Water Management etc.,. Will the city itself not becoming a Smart City ? A Clean, pollution-free, less-energy consuming, structured transportation - oriented, Pure water based, Uninterrupted power supply based City would be a reality.   

 

Key Point to be taken care:

With such a improved system/technology innovation , as IoT is, security becomes a critical aspect. IoT implementers need to be careful and diligently plan on securing the customer's data and make that safe. Data safety, Personal safety is a must in such a super technology innovation system.  
 
Conclusion: IoT is increasingly becoming the style of life. With the advent of IoT, Smart homes and Smart Cities have become a reality. Urban Development Planning gets improved /sophisticated. In general, Infrastructure is structured and improvised. IoT redefines the Energy sector. Transportation Management gets managed effectively and efficiently. Health Management is radically changed!! Weather Management suddenly has more ability to get accurate prediction and warnings about forthcoming dangers/issues!! Agriculture department which is very critical to a country's progress can be leveraged with right amount of data which can help farmers. Coupled with Big Data and Cloud Computing, IoT leverages its power in exponential form. A proper secured, well-thought out IoT implementation  can do wonders to any industry. As we can seen, IoT can change the lives of people, change the face of a nation!!  

Technology in Human lives has evolved dynamically in the past few decades. Every activity is in control of Human beings with the help of gadgets and devices like fitness bands, smart watches, smart phones, smart tv's, smart appliances, smart cars and systems like Android Auto, Apple car play and the list goes on. GPS enabled infotainment systems in cars help in making our commute easier, safer and quicker. However, one con with all this revolution is we have become too dependent on technology and essence of communication is losing its human touch.

 

Internet of Things is making our lives easier, simpler, secured and entertaining. Mobile phones in 90's were just a medium of communication and now we can use mobiles for video conferencing, e-commerce, financial transactions, professional blogging etc. 

From stress levels, steps tracker, to heart rate everything can be monitored using smart devices. Starting from Fitness bands to Mobiles, Routers to Wifi Hot spots, Wifi enabled refrigerators to washing machines everything can be controlled using IR Sensors and electronic devices. Internet of Things makes everything around us connected with each other off and on the cloud.

 

To conclude IoT is the present and future of Human Lives !!

 

Internet of Things  has the power that can change the world. it is improving every aspects of life if we look around we are seeing everywhere people are habitual to use modern and new technological things.

we can see impact of IoT in different segments of life;

1. Human being day to day life:

we are using internet nowadays very much. previously we used to wait for all things but nowadays all information is in front of us within seconds. simple example of our household items, slowly our fire alarm, video camera, home security, our AC, TV, Refrigerator already connected via internet. Through various app we can switch them on or off depends on our requirement and it saves electricity too and other benefits also.

2. Agriculture: Agriculture sector is much more impacted by IoT, before we did not had very much information about weather and information about various crops, their improvement , fertility of sand, compositions, minerals and much more. nowadays we all have in front of us, we can easily know when is rain about to come so we can take countermeasure accordingly, we can cut our crops and measure its quality parameters so that we can know how we can improve our productivity and less waste while cultivating. through internet a farmer knows that rate of his crops in advance so that he can wait for the exact time to sell.

3. Food Industry:  in food industry also we use Internet very much. while processing food, we use so many sensors which identifies defective and ok . we process thousands of tons of food daily and control its output quality and can forecast its demand in future and now. 

4. Health Industry:  in health industry internet has made a revolutionary change.Complex surgeries are very easy nowadays and fast. we can see inside a human body whats going inside. For example if in a surgery MRI of human brain done but not knowing whats going, we can send reports to doctors immediately via many apps and can consult about treatment. So many technologies improvement via machine, robots and much more.

5. Manufacturing Industry:  in this sector also so many technological improvement via internet. We can control our vehicles nowadays via internet and can see even maps in our cars and can track our journey. We can see via rear camera . Nowadays so advanced cars that run automatically without any driver. We can forecast our design standard and performance of our designed cars and their simulation test and much more.

Before discussing how IoT is changing our lives and some of the projected uses, let us understand what is the Internet of Things.

 

IoT or ‘Internet of Things’ is a concept or technology which connects desired devices to the internet and have them communicate with each other with the help of internet as a medium. These devices and systems are intelligent and leverage the data gathered by the sensors fitted in it. Each device has a unique IP address thru which it is identified and communicated.

 

Human is the most intelligent creature and is capable of innovation. There are many repetitive and predictive things that can be performed by machines so that human can spend its time on more innovative things.

There are different scenarios where IoT can be used:

 

1. Repetitive activities, either it is completely mechanical or there is a particular pattern in which it operates, which can be predicted and action can be taken accordingly. These activities can be executed thru IoT. E.g. day to day activities starting from maintaining the temperature of rooms etc.
2. Activities which involves huge data analysis and security. E.g. biometric
3. With the involvement of Big data and Artificial intelligence, data can be analyzed and action can be predicted and based on the situation solution can be prescribed too. E.g. patient monitoring and basic prescriptions.

Some of the ideas which I can think of in IoT are:

• Watering and providing nutrition to plant based on moisture and nutritional requirement of plants
• Monitoring of patient and provision of help
• Automation of household inventory maintenance and refill

All in all, IoT helps in building a smart and independent world in which lesser intervention of human is required and actions can be taken with lesser efforts. This will enable human to spend more time in innovation and forward thinking.

R Rajesh maintains the winning streak for the best answer. He covers all aspects of IoT along with the examples.

 

Anju Patra has provided a very good definition. 

 

Vastupal's answer is a must read for additional examples.