Internet of Things (IoT) is Technology of the Present and The Future. Imagine a world where your health, food, entertainment, even driving is so optimized and automated just because the things you use are sharing data among each other! That is only a small portion of what is possible with this amazing technology!
So, this is how Wikipedia defines IoT: “The Internet of Things is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.”
Incredible, Right? Possibilities are endless! Enhancement, From Government to Public Health to Hospital Services to Business Operations and so much more!
Have you taken some time to think about the way life used to be without a smart phone? How about personal computer (not to age yourself!)? The Internet? Certainly, we would not be talking about social media or online ordering, just to name a few. Our way of life will be so much different. Further, things we now take for granted such as ability to easily communicate with family and friends will all not be available without the internet.
Connecting “things” to the internet creates many amazing benefits. All those benefits with our devices are true for everything else too. And yes, I do mean everything. Thus, you have the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Internet of Things is actually a pretty simple concept!
It just simply means connecting all the things we use with each other through the internet!
Surely, that is quite simple and loose and broad, right? Therein lies the confusion. It is so simple yet all encompassing that it is difficult for some people to imagine how it works. Everything and every aspect of life can be impacted by this technological revolution.
What are the Benefits? Why Bother To Connect Things? Why Does Internet of Things Matter?
These are all excellent questions. Information is very powerful. Everything needs information to improve. Many of the things we use all serve various different aspects of our human need. Our health, well being, entertainment, comfort, and so on. Therefore, to enable things that serve all the aspects of our needs talk to each other is a good thing, right? When anything is connected to the internet it can send information or receive information, or both. With this ability, things are considered “smart,” and smart is good.
To use smartphones as an obvious example. With our phones, we can basically listen to any song ever made, or watch every movie ever produced. How is this possible? There is not yet any smartphone made that has enough memory capacity to store all these. So it stands to reason that our phones are merely accessing these resources that are stored in several other places. With the internet, we can have access to these, even though they are not stored on our phones. Thus, our phones can send information (asking for that song) and then receive information (streaming that song on your phone). A basic transfer of information.
Bringing this to our human interactions, who are those we usually refer to as “smart”? They are the people who have access to incredible information about almost everything, right? Likewise, A “smart” thing doesn’t have super storage or is a super-computer. All a smart thing needs to do is connect to a super storage device or to a super-computer. Being connected is key to being a “smart” device.
Internet of Things Can be Put into Three Basic Categories. They are Things that:
- Collect information and then send it
- Receive information and then act on it.
- Do both.
Now, Let’s Further Explain These Internet of Things Categories in Detail
Collecting and Sending Information
Ever heard of a thing called sensors? We use sensors to collect data from things around us. Now, these sensors are of several different types. They can range from temperature sensors, motion sensors, moisture sensors, air quality sensors, light sensors, on and on. The sensors collect the data, and then when we connect to them, we get access to this data automatically. This data is then the feed to enable intelligent analysis of the data we collect.
Let’s use Farming as an example. Yes, Internet of Things can have a huge benefit to our farming. Imagine if the farmer is able to automatically receive information about the moisture content of the soil. They can then know exactly when to water their crops, based on this information. Moreover, they will even be able to determine exactly how much water is needed at which time. So you can see how the farmer will not need to waste water, and also protect the crops from too little or too much water? All this is possible due to IoT. The result? More money for the farmer, more food in the world, less use of water, less impact on the environment. Hence, win in all ways!
Receiving and Acting on Information
We can all give several examples of how machines respond to information. For example, we tell our printers to print and they act, we tell our car doors to open and they act accordingly, we tell our television to show different channels and they obey. And so on and on. All these are examples of machines receiving, analyzing and acting on the information they receive.
So, when you really break it down, you see the whole thing is very simple. Machines receive information, analyze and act according to the command.
In a nutshell, Internet of Things consists of things collecting information, transmitting it to other things which receive and analyze and act on the information.
Combined: Collecting, Sending, Receiving and Analyzing Information Through IoT
The real power lies in gadgets that can do it all!. So, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the phrase: “remove the middle man” before, right? Let’s go back to the farming example. Sensors collect information about the soil moisture. Here, Instead of the farmer to analyze the data, the irrigation system can analyze and automatically turn on as needed, based on how much moisture is in the soil. The transfer of data between the sensors and the irrigation system allows the farmer to concentrate on other duties. In fact, additional set of gadgets can even analyze the data as a further check on the performance of the whole system. The farmer only gets an alarm warning if something goes wrong somewhere.
Now, to take this even deeper. How about if the irrigation system can receive weather information and based on the probability of rain, decides whether or not to water the crops? Information transfer on the internet can make all this possible.
And further still, how about the performance of the farmer’s plot? How fruitful is this soil in terms of crop yield? How much watering is needed every month on this soil versus all the other plots? There are supercomputers that can analyze all these and more, based on the information that is transmitted through these gadgets. Amazing, Right?
Now, take this single example and multiply it. With thousands of farms all collecting this type of data, multiple algorithms can create incredible insights. Imagine using this data to help feed the world’s growing population. Again, let’s go deeper and apply to anything else we can think of. Where to park, quality of the air we breathe, best time to take medication? How to share food and resources to eliminate waste, end poverty, and on and on!
So, In a Nutshell:
The main purpose of the internet of Things, or “IoT” for short, is to extend the power of the internet. It impacts all aspects of our lives, beyond computers and smartphones. It simply enables things to collect information, send back and forth through the internet so that we can analyze and make use of it to better our lives.
With IoT, businesses, governments, and people can have access to data far beyond what the current internet can reach and provide. Thus, Humanity will live in a better world, with things working to their best ability. All this based on effective transfer of information.
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