Assume you’re on a road trip and realize you haven’t switched off the lights. What if, instead of returning home, you could use your smartphone to confirm and maybe turn off the lights? Isn’t that fantastic? This is possible with the Internet of Things.
The Internet of Things (IoT) makes life much easier for us. It allows us to monitor and operate almost all appliances remotely.
IoT is a network of physical objects (things) integrated with sensors, software, and other technologies to communicate and exchange data with other devices and systems over the internet.
The following are good examples of IoT that have been making life easy;
- Smart Agriculture
IoT can be applied in farming to make for easy management. In the case of watering farmland, IoT can be adopted for automatic watering when the moisture level drops by installing sensors that transfer the soil information to the IoT gateway with the help of communication protocols like MQQT or HTTP. The gateways aggregate data and feed it to the cloud using WIFI.
Nowadays, farming may be a reasonably high-tech business. Farmers are increasingly turning to IoT-enabled technologies to keep track of the weather, soil composition, and soil moisture levels. They also use IoT gadgets to evaluate crop health, growth, and livestock behavior. We can also use the information to determine the optimal time to harvest plants and establish fertilizer profiles and schedules. Drones can also be used to capture images and data about the weather.
- Smart Cities
People are going crazy with smart cities, one of the most powerful IoT applications. Everyone aspires to live in a smart city with smart monitoring, automated transportation, and various other innovative features.
IoT will be used to address a variety of issues that city dwellers face, including pollution, traffic congestion, power shortages, and many others. Smart cities use IoT equipment such as connected sensors, meters, and lights to evaluate and collect data.
For example, by using web applications or deploying sensors, you can quickly locate free parking spaces across the city at any given time. In addition, smart transportation, energy, infrastructure, data, IoT devices, and mobility are just a few of the essential technologies that smart cities rely on to function.
- Automated Cars
Tesla and Ford are the two carmakers who have already made smart cars a reality. Before now, having a smart car used to be a big deal, but today we live in a time where almost everyone owns a smart car.
Tesla is one of the most successful companies in this industry. Tesla automobiles have wowed the public with their unique features, such as a car that can open the garage gate for you before you arrive, as well as the ability to manage the lights, temperature, and charging of the vehicle remotely.
It also offers an App model that allows you to design your own app to track the car’s position, speed, and battery level from anywhere.
The Tesla Model S, for example, has a constant 3G cell connection to the internet, making it part of the “Internet of Things.” It also boasts Wifi, Bluetooth, a built-in garage door opener, and a rear camera.
The Ford Figo is equipped with cutting-edge technology that keeps you informed and engaged. It offers built-in navigation, rain-sensing wipers, automated headlights, and push-button start.
- Smart Homes
Smart homes are a great illustration of the Internet of Things. Nest, Ecobee, Ring, and other smart home businesses are preparing to release something unprecedented. Smart houses are expected to become as prevalent as smartphones soon.
Refrigerators, speakers, water heaters, smoke alarms, televisions, and lighting are examples of smart home appliances. When your alarm goes off in the morning, you can also open the window blinds to enjoy a stunning sunrise view.
- IoT Data Analytics
More businesses now rely on IoT data analytics to determine trends and patterns by analyzing large and small data sets.
Different electronic gadgets are connected to the internet and share data via sensors daily, but this data is useless unless it is analyzed.
Nonetheless, the company collects and stores data with the help of IoT analytics, resulting in better-optimized operations at all levels. As a result, IoT data analytics software may look at structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data to extract useful information.
IoT Analytics is the key to constructing helpful information from the massive amounts of data that arrive daily, just as IoT is the core of an IT system.
For example, we can see how businesses might use it to improve operations, automate procedures, attract more customers, and authorize staff.
It is possible to develop result-based pricing and subscription models using IoT analytics to improve a company’s business by predicting consumers’ demands by evaluating their data and collecting accurate information from various sources.
- Barcode Scanners
Retailers benefit significantly from IoT barcode readers since they aid in managing inventory.
Cloud data connections are emphasized by IoT-based bar card readers to communicate with other systems. As a result, employing the attached bar code reader will streamline the inventory management process.
IoT barcode readers could be integrated into shopping carts to detect items as they are added or discarded. As a result, customers and sellers save time and have a more effortless experience.
The barcode scanner’s sensor detects reflected red light from the illumination system and sends an analog signal to the decoder. The decoder recognizes that signal and validates the barcode using the check digit before converting it to text.
- Wearables
Large corporations are heavily spending on the development of these devices. IoT includes any gadget connected to the internet, such as a smartwatch or a Fitbit.
Smart jewelry, AI hearing aids, fitness trackers, and body-mounted sensors that track and communicate biological data for healthcare analytics are all examples of wearable tech.
These devices contain sensors and software that may track user information. These devices are mainly used for exercise, health, and recreation. As a result, these gadgets can transmit data to present you with the most precise information about your preferences.
In a fitness tracker, IoT assists in continuously sensing the body’s movements on a three-axis accelerometer and recording the data anytime you wear it and turn it on, allowing the tracker to determine if the person is jogging, walking, or just standing.
- Smart healthcare
Different health ecosystems have emerged to provide better care and lower healthcare costs. Within the healthcare ecosystem, many IoT applications have emerged, including remote patient monitoring, personal healthcare, smart sensors, medical device integration, pharmaceutical industry, healthcare insurance, smart pills, and so on.
The entire healthcare system can keep patients safe and healthy while improving physician services. Healthcare encourages patient-doctor interaction and provides satisfaction to patients by allowing them to spend more time with their doctors.
- Shipping container tracking and logistics management
Many businesses use IoT solutions to track their assets. IoT asset tracking devices use GPS or radio frequency (RF) to track and monitor properties. Smart gadgets can be used to identify and verify assets over great distances.
- Microchips
Microchips are well-known and are utilized for various applications, including safety and defense. Microchips are typically employed to track something or detect data. However, you can now use it to keep track of your pets’ activities.
Microchips are tiny, run-on-a-low power source, and have limited computing power.
People working in shelters, for example, can scan a chip for an animal’s unique ID number and assist chip-carrying pets in locating their owners.
You could implant a tiny IoT-based microchip in your pet or attach it to its collar so that you don’t have to physically seek for them and can quickly track their movements. As a result, your pet will feel free, and you will be able to keep track of their medical history.
Microchips are also beneficial in other ways. They can be used by biologists to monitor wild animals and learn about migration. Credit cards are getting a lot of chips to make them more secure for payments. Thirsty plants can potentially utilize chips to alert people when they require water.
- Supply Chain Management
Smart routing and rerouting algorithms can help supply chain managers make better predictions. In addition, smart IoT devices connected to shipments can provide real-time after-the-event information via GPS and RFID signals, allowing supply chain managers to make more informed decisions.
IoT applications can aid in the reduction of supply chain management risks. As a result, supply chain managers can use smart supply chain management solutions to reduce variance, save money, and boost profits.
The programs can help with inventory management, vendor relationships, fleet management, and scheduled maintenance.
Amazon and Volvo are two good instances of how the Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing supply chain management.
- Detecting Motion
Sensors can detect subtle disturbances and trends that could lead to catastrophic breakdowns in large-scale structures like buildings, bridges, and dams. In places prone to landslides, avalanches, and earthquakes, networks of detectors are also deployed.
- Household Safety
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the driving force behind a smart and safe home. The Internet of Things (IoT) connects a variety of sensors, alarms, cameras, lights, and microphones to provide security 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days in a year—all of which can be controlled from a smartphone. The Ring doorbell video security system, for example, enables users to see, hear, and speak with visitors at their doors using a computer, tablet, or smartphone.
- Activity Monitors
These sensor devices are intended to be worn in the daytime to track and transmit critical health indicators such as fatigue, appetite, physical mobility, oxygen levels, blood pressure, fall detection, and medication compliance in real-time. At-home health monitoring helps elderly or disabled persons live more independently by reducing the intervention of an emergency doctor or hospital visits.
- Digital Twins
A digital twin is essentially an identical digital replica of a physical object in the manufacturing industry. Using technology such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, the digital twin may update itself when the actual object changes in response to its surroundings. As a result, engineers can make tweaks or test updates using the digital twin rather than the physical device.
- Self-Correcting Machines
Manufacturing equipment can be built to notice and rectify irregularities in its own operation using hundreds of sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning before they become problems that require shutdowns and maintenance. This keeps costs down for businesses and allows personnel who ordinarily monitor equipment and perform maintenance to focus on more critical activities.
- AR Glasses
Augmented Reality Glasses are gadgets that combine a front-facing camera with software to recognize specific anchors and landmarks -and create tangible objects.
The following are a few examples of AR features that various firms are working on:
AR glasses with a microphone can communicate with Alexa or Siri for voice-controlled searches, with the results appearing directly in front of your eyes.
Your smart AR glasses can gauge the area around you using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms, allowing you to control the visuals you view using hand gestures.
Without taking your phone out of your pocket, you can acknowledge and reject message alerts that appear inconspicuously in the field of vision.
Virtual arrows will float up into view thanks to embedded GPS technology, assisting you in finding your path, so you never get lost again.
- Ingestible Sensors
Swallowable electronic devices, about the size of a pill and equipped with a power source, microprocessor, sensors, and controller, can be used to monitor illness states and transmit data from within the gastrointestinal tract — for example, to identify bleeding or medicinal absorption. The first pill with a digital tracking device to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration was Abilify MyCite (aripiprazole tablets with sensors).
- Contact Lenses With Built-In Intelligence
Smart contact lenses that can collect health data or treat specific eye problems are the subject of extensive research. For example, SENSIMED, a Swiss startup, has created Triggerfish, a soft smart contact lens with a sensor built-in soft silicone eyewear that senses small fluctuations in an eye’s volume, which can be a sign of glaucoma. Data is wirelessly transmitted from the sensor to a sticky antenna worn around the eye.
- Industrial Safety and Security
IoT has made it possible to employ sensors and cameras to keep an eye on the border of restricted zones and catch lawbreakers in unlicensed regions. Small chemical leaks or pressure accumulations can also be detected and repaired before they become severe issues.
Spotting and repairing fluid leaks decreases corrosion and lowers maintenance expenses. Chemical plants, nuclear power plants, and mining operations are all monitored by IoT-enabled detection systems.
Overall, the Internet of Things is a game-changer, the one technological breakthrough that the world has been waiting for. Although it is still being developed and improved, it is here for the long haul and to make our lives easier.
