Introduction

Internet of Things – IoT is one of the industries that has experienced an exponential rise in the past few years. With technology on the rise, we expect this field to grow even further in the coming years. It is one of the most important technologies presently, due to its applications in a range of fields. It has huge significance in manufacturing, utility, transportation, and health care industries to name a few.

According to a report on IoT statistics, there were 10 billion active IoT devices in the year 2021. Estimates state that a total of $15 trillion would be invested in the IoT industry by the year 2025. It is expected that the industry would still evolve in the coming years with the integration of other technologies

In this article, we will be discussing 5 booming technologies in the IoT field that we need to watch out for.

IoT Technologies

1. Blockchain

Over the years, one of the major issues with using IoT devices was its security issues. Due to its vulnerabilities, it has been a common target for cyber attacks. According to a report in 2021, around a billion IoT devices were attacked, which has raised concern among users. So now, with blockchain technology being prominent, an interesting approach has risen – integrating blockchain technology with IoT devices to deal with security issues.

So basically, we can send data from IoT devices to private blockchain networks. By doing so, we can create tamper-resistant records of shared transactions. This enables us to verify the records and build a sense of trust among the members with access.

Also, with IoT, we are capable of collecting data and gaining insight from it. However, there is again the issue of trust as we are not able to validate the collected data. This is where Blockchain comes into play. The idea here is to give each device an identity that can be validated anytime with blockchain. The devices can have their own blockchain public key. With such a device identity protocol in place, devices can easily send and receive encrypted messages, and over time develop a trustable reputation.

Smart Contracts are another interesting feature of Blockchain. They are basically programs stored in blockchain, that get executed when certain conditions are met. This feature can be useful in the IoT industry. We can automate the coordination and authorization of transactions in IoT using smart contracts. This would be essential for managing the huge number of devices present in the industry.

2. Digital Twins

A digital twin is basically a digital proxy of a physical device, that is, a virtual replica of the device is created. The objective of doing so is to allow professionals to run simulations on these virtual devices before the actual device is built. Now, it is being integrated into various fields such as IoT, data analytics, AI, etc.

When we say that digital twins are used for simulation, don’t confuse it with a type of simulation. Digital Twins and simulations are different on their own. Simulations are designed by computer-aided design systems or other similar platforms. It can be used to simulate a process, but replicating a device completely is not possible. On the other hand, a digital twin replicates a device completely using data from the IoT sensors integrated into the device.

Implementing digital twin capabilities in IoT would help us in improving several aspects of it.

1. We would be able to continually monitor the processes in devices as well as the status of the connected devices too. This improves IoT visibility.

2. The digital twin technology can be used to make accurate predictions about the future state of a device

3. It can be used to optimize IoT deployment for achieving maximum efficiency, as IoT specialists would be able to predict the working by simulating the model.

4. It would enable us to connect IoT devices more efficiently with backend applications.

5. It would help us to better understand the working of the device or a collection of interconnected devices. This would make the documentation process smoother.

3. Communication Technologies – 5G

5G Technology is the latest advancement in the communication sector. With more companies deploying 5G technology, it’s hitting the mainstream quickly. In no time, we would be able to find 5G technology everywhere. It is one of the technologies that would have a huge significance in our lives as it would provide the users with higher download speeds, low latency, and increased connectivity.

Integration of 5G technology with the IoT industry would be huge. It would provide faster, more stable, and more secure connectivity to our IoT devices. This would improve the industry as a whole as we would be able to connect more devices efficiently.

Smart Cities: 5G-enabled IoT devices will be used to manage traffic and avoid traffic blocks. Also, such devices could be used in buildings and other infrastructure to monitor the usage of energy. By doing so, we will be able to lower the wastage of energy and create a sustainable environment. It would also help us save money.

4. AI Technologies – Edge Intelligence

We know that IoT involves the collection of data and its analysis to improve the efficiency of various processes. The collected data has to be sent to the cloud/IoT analytics platforms like ThingSpeak for analysis. For the last 20 years, we have been using IoT devices as peripheral devices to services running in the cloud, so their processing power was low. This is where Edge Intelligence comes into play

Edge Intelligence is a combination of AI and Edge Computing. Edge Computing is a modern computing architecture that enables us to eliminate the need to send data back to a center/cloud for analysis. Basically, it brings data storage and analysis closer to the data source. By doing so, we can benefit from faster and more stable services. This also reduces bandwidth usage and latency, thereby improving the efficiency of the process. It also solves problems like the transfer of large data volumes over the network.

By integrating Artificial Intelligence with Edge Computing, we get smarter edge platforms that are capable of running complex software on their own. Such on-device analysis results in a significant reduction in response times and also improves the reliability of the device. These edge applications make use of large processors that allow them to analyze sensor data locally rather than sending it to the cloud. Such chips also reduce development costs by supporting advanced programming methods as well as other advanced tools.

Another advancement in this field is the use of ML accelerated chips for processing. NPUs (Neural Processors and accelerators) allow even the small IoT devices to run ML applications locally without the need for the cloud. Even without NPUs, several small IoT devices can run ML applications locally, thanks to the cloud-native ML development environments.

5. IoT in SoC

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the use of technology around the globe. With the demand for smartphones and other intelligent devices on the rise, the demand for the production of efficient System-on-Chips (SoCs) has also risen. With the IoT industry booming and billions of devices being used, manufacturers have started producing IoT-specific SoCs.

These SoCs already have several built-in functionalities to build complete IoT devices. IoT is actively being used for a wide range of applications such as home automation, health monitoring, smart manufacturing, etc. Since such applications require not only computing but also sensing and wireless communication, there is a need for IoT-specific SoCs capable of high performance. These SoCs also have the capability to manage system power consumption efficiently.

Conclusion

Even though the exponential rise of the IoT industry is a positive thing, at the same time we face challenges to manage the millions of devices interconnected constantly. This also results in rising security and privacy issues as these devices become an easy target for cyber attacks. By integrating other modern technologies with IoT, we have seen that IoT has evolved even further in recent years. This has resulted in making IoT more efficient and reliable for its users as compared to the past years.