The A to Z of IoTs

The Internet of Things is everywhere and all around you. The IoT device is so small that it can fit in any other device or appliance or be connected to any sensor. The data transfer can be seamless and you may not even notice how the IoT is pervading into every corner of our lives.

A for Agriculture: This is an important component of AgriTech and something which India desperately needs. IoTs can be embedded in pumps and tractors, then linked to the farmer’s mobile, provided he has the right apps. This can be done nationally right away. From the government’s point of view, they can collect data about soil content, temperature, rainfall and wind speed in real time for all the geographical zones in the country. A is also for AIoT: Artificial Intelligence + IoT.

B for Building automation: It's not only the digital aspect of a Smart Home. IoT devices can control the electric-electronic and even mechanical part of the buildings for complete integration and control. The Smart Home usually refers to the inside part of it, the interaction between humans and gadgets-devices. Smart Building management looks into occupant behaviour, energy management and the environment around it.

C for Carnegie Mellon & Coca-Cola: The World Wide Web came in the 1990s, but the Internet has been around for much longer than that. It all began in 1982 at Carnegie Mellon University. A Coca-Cola vending machine was connected to the Internet and gave the following data: 1. An inventory report. 2. Whether the drinks were cold or not. You could say that the IoT was born here, though it would actually take off in the next century. Microsoft did look into this in the 1990s.

D for Data: This is what it is all about. Already we have billions of devices connected with millions of data centres. After a few decades the Earth could be teeming with trillions of IoT devices. What will we do with all that data. What will be its quality? The data crunching and analytics required will be great indeed. In data that would be the era of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

E for elderly care: If the aged are surrounded by IoT devices, they can be monitored 24X7 and problems can be alerted on a real-time basis. There are innovations like cochlear implants being integrated with the IoT network. E is for Enterprise IoT and as the name suggests, it is in the business domain. E is also for early warning systems for earthquakes and tsunamis, which could be big in the future.

F for Four point O: They will be an integral part of Industry 4.0, called the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoTs). Operational Technology can monitor entire industrial systems and look at the performance of both machines and people. IoT devices embedded throughout the manufacturing process are helpful for management, optimization and predictive maintenance. The use of IoTs in heavy industry is called the Internet of Heavier Things.

G for Google Nest…: Also for Amazon Alexa or Echo Ring. Then there’s Apple Homepod or Homekit and Samsung’s SmartThingsHub. The Smart Home is the house of the future, especially as a result of post-Covid changes. The Smart Home will be an intricate network of appliances powered by IoT devices. All the top tech companies are totally into smart speakers and virtual assistants or one IoT device to rule them all! Almost every component of a Smart Home can have IoT devices.

H for Healthcare: Also called IoHT or IoMT or MIoT where H & M stand for “healthcare” and “medical” respectively. So that’s why it’s called simply Smart Healthcare. This will be useful for remote health monitoring with trigger alerts in case something goes wrong. That way you can be under a sort of health watch 24X7. Smart Beds in hospitals are another innovation that is slowly gaining ground. A network of sensors in the hospital can also keep tabs on both patients and hospital-lab equipment.

I for IPv6: One day we may have trillions of IoTs. The capacity for IPv4 was an inadequate 4.3 billion, but when it comes to IPv6, it’s more than 340 undecillion, or 340 trillion trillion trillion. Now we’re talking! IPv6 and IoT are a perfect fit.

J for Juicero: What if you embed an IoT device into a juicer and make it a Wi-Fi device? Sounds good? Well the idea seemed so good that Juicero got a whopping $120 million funding way back in 2014. This was one of the biggest disasters of Silicon Valley. But since then IoT devices are getting big in fridges, dishwashers, ovens and other kitchen appliances.

K for Kevin Ashton: Kevin was behind the global standard for RFIDs and some other sensors. He was into supply chain management for that. But his biggest contribution is phrasing the term IoT. He wanted to popularize Internet For Things (IFT?), but acronyms and popular terms have a life of their own and IoT it was.

L for Lighting, heating and cooling: IoT devices can be embedded in every factory, home and establishment to take care of these things. Based on motion sensors and temperature, they can be automatically switched on or off. This is also part of an energy management system.

M for Military: The Internet of Military Things (IoMT) is being fine tuned for warfare. With physical data being collected on the field and it being crunched in the cloud, this will make way for the soldiers and generals to concentrate on other things. That’s why it’s also called Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT). IoTs could be placed on ground vehicles, drones, human armour, weapons etc. M is also for Mobile IoT.

N for NB-IoT: Tomorrow we may have 5G all over India which will revolutionize the usage of IoTs. But before that we had NB-IoT, or Narrowband IoT, which was developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project or 3GPP.

O for Ocean of Things: The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s OoT consists of thousands of IoT enabled floats all over the oceans to monitor all kinds of vessels and also collect data related to temperature. Boats also use IoTs to monitor sea activity and they can also be monitored when they are lying idle.

P for Privacy: With first the computer and then the smartphone, privacy already seems to have been thrown out of the window. But IoT devices will be almost everywhere and even in places you can’t think of. What will happen to privacy at that time?

Q for QR Codes and NFC tags: They are already part of the packaging and distribution system. They can be integrated with IoT systems and there’s a term for this kind of Smart Packaging too: Internet of Packaging. This will be great for digital tracking.

R for Remote monitoring: Ideal for keeping track of remote operations related to offshore oil drills, railway tracks, wind farms etc. Without human presence Real-Time Data Analytics can be shared with the command centre. Useful for knowing if everything is running smoothly and help can be sent immediately after something breaks down.

S for Security: How safe are all of us and our homes and offices if they are swarming with IoT devices open to data thieves and hackers? In fact they are a very part of our security systems. S is also for the embedded sensors by which data is captured and sent. S is also for Songdo (South Korea) and Santander (Spain), where large-scale Smart City experiments are happening. There’s also the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City.

T for Transportation: IoTs are great for keeping track of all kinds of vehicles. The IoT device can interact with tolls, smart traffic systems, other connected vehicles (that really helps with autonomous vehicles) and is great for fleet and logistics management. Terms that could gain popularity in the future. V2V: Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication. V2P: Vehicle-to-Pedestrian communication. Or we could simply call it V2X or Vehicle-to-Everything communication, which will lead to the Brave New World of autonomous vehicles.

U is for Utilities: A city’s water, electricity, sewage and traffic can become a Smart Grid and it becomes quite easy for utilities to monitor, bill and manage their systems. The environment outside the city can be monitored similarly, including forests and wildlife. U is for “Use and Throw”, IoT devices are really small and cheap. They can be made part of really low-cost sensors that can be “use and throw” ones. They can be embedded in plastic and fabric. Some are already calling this the Internet of Disposable Things.

V for Voice control: First the input was via the keyboard and then the mouse. With the advent of the smartphone, it was the touchscreen. But if you have a Smart Home full of IoT appliances, you can interact with all of them with just voice commands, it’s not just Alexa. It would be a boon for the aged who usually struggle handling high-tech devices.

W for Wearables: This is a huge industry. They are worn both for pleasure and fitness. They can track information on a real-time basis and transmit it to the family, doctor or hospital, as required. They can monitor heart rate, perspiration, temperature, sleep patterns and glucose (for diabetes patients). Connected with your car, the AC level could automatically be set based on these indicators. You can seamlessly monitor your fitness levels at all times. Insurance agencies also prefer it if you wear IoT devices.

X for Xerox & other printers: If everything can be embedded to an IoT device, why not a printer. Businesses can use these smart devices to gauge operational efficiency at all times. As mentioned above, remote monitoring is also an application in Smart Printing.

Y for Yottabytes: 1000 terabytes is 1 petabyte. 1000 petabytes is 1 exabyte. 1000 exabytes is 1 zettabyte. Right now the world is dealing with zettabytes. Now 1000 zettabytes is 1 yottabyte. One day when we have trillions of IoTs, we will be dealing with yottabytes of data on a regular basis.

Z for Zigbee, Bluetooth & Modbus: The IoT network may not directly connect to the cloud via the Internet. There may be other tiers involved. For example the IIoT network uses protocols like Zigbee, Bluetooth, Modbus or proprietary networks which connect to the Edge.