What is an IoT?
It is an Internet technology connecting devices, machines and tools to the internet by means of wireless technologies. It unifies the technologies such as low-power embedded systems, cloud computing, big-data, machine learning, and networking . Over 9 billion .The “Thing” in IoT can be anything from toasters, thermostats, wearable electronics, assistive devices, smart-vehicles, structural health monitoring systems, environmental monitoring, agriculture, smart homes, and industrial automation systems.‘Things’ connected to the Internet, as of now,‘Things’ connected to the Internet are projected to cross 20 billion in the near future.
We are heading into 5G era where users of the internet are increasing they are billions in number and where humans may become the minority as generators and receivers of traffic.Instead, most of the traffic will flow between devices and all kinds of “things”, thereby creating a much wider and more complex Internet of Things.
Definition:
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment.”
In simple words IoT means taking all the physical (every possible) places and things in the world and connecting them to the internet.
How does IoT system work?
The following block diagram shows the basic bi directional flow of an IoT system . IoT is business solution to existing problems of the world.A complete IoT system Integrates distinct components : sensors/devices,connectivity ,data processing and a use interface . Below I will briefly explain each component and what it does.
Sensors:
Sensors and smart devices are able to collect terabytes of data including sensitive information such as business data or customers’ personal information. Additionally, IoT platforms can be connected to critical systems, such as traffic, power or transportation processes, which makes it vital to ensure their continuity and integrity.
By itself, a sensor is useless, but when we use it in an electronic system, it plays a key role example, your phone is a device that has multiple sensors (camera, accelerometer, GPS, etc), but your phone is not just a sensor.
Low power Embedded device:
Low power consumption has become an important design goal in many electronic systems.The voltage obtained by the senor is transduced to require format. Initially the embedded systems were standalone devices running assembly or bare metal c code, as the technology evolved, the embedded systems were capable of running OS and could connect to wired or wireless network
Now which means that it will gather this information from surroundings with help of sensors(like we humans have) and now when we are talking about sensors then we have to talk about micro-controllers to interact with sensors so indirectly we are talking about Embedded systems .
Wireless Transceivers:
As the electronics industry looks for ways to implant intelligent wireless interfaces/controllers in everything, many RF companies have already developed low-power, low-cost, and compact transceivers to help realize that future. Transceivers as the name suggest which transmits and receives the data from an embedded system.
Modern implementations of high-level communications protocols are paving the way toward the development of a Web of personal-area networks (PANs) that will rely on ever-more integrated microprocessor and sensor platforms. These technology include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, 3G/4G/LTE /5G cellular technologies, and custom RF-transceiver technologies.
Internet Gateway:
Any communication device which connects end terminal devices like sensors or even computers from internet is called a gateway. like your modem or router. internet of thing is a ecosystem of internet connected devices .
It exactly works as a opening path from IoT enabled home or office to the internet.Gateway as it means, is used to bridge two different environments to Allow them to be able to communicate with each other.
Application Management in cloud:
The Cloud is a very useful way to create a IoT platform that monitors different devices spread over a large area.The cloud and the IoT are related in that smart devices, like lightbulbs and thermostats, talk back to their vendor in the cloud to be accessible from outside the home. Your smart-phone can talk to the vendor’s cloud presence, too, allowing you remote control, monitoring and more.
IoT requires to be operated in a hassle-free manner. Cloud helps in this regard by providing device makers and service providers with access to advanced analytics and monitoring.
