Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an associated system of distinctive physical items with various degrees of processing, sensing, and actuation ability, carrying out interoperability and communication through the Internet as their joint platform. These “things” are equipped with processors and sensor systems, along with embedded communication systems and information technology, so that they have some sort of basic computing programme linked to them. Depending upon the application requirements, they communicate with other things around them and provide different services of that particular IoT device. Thus, the main objective of the Internet of Things is to make it possible for things to be connected with other things, individuals, at any time or anywhere using any network. IoT made it possible for ordinary devices to be linked to the internet to achieve countless goals.  As the internet continues to evolve, it has become more than a simple network of computers, but rather a network of various devices, while IoT serves as a network of various “connected” devices of a network. Presently devices like mobile phones, laptops, home appliances, industrial appliances, systems and countless others can all share information over the Internet. Despite their sizes and functions, these devices can accomplish smart reorganizations, tracing, positioning, control, real-time monitoring and process control. In the past years, there has been an influential invention of Internet-capable devices. Its most remarkable commercial impact has been observed in the electronics field; i.e. particularly the revolution of smartphones and wearable devices (watches, headsets, fit bands, etc.), IoTs are serving for a substantial development concerning the alliance of the reel and real worlds. The Internet of Things (IoT) is anticipated to take up expanding its reach as it belongs to the number of devices and functions, which it can execute. This is obvious from the vagueness in the interpretation of the word “Things” which makes it complicated to mark the progressive limits of the IoT.

Domains of IoT Application

Recently, IoT technology has appeared as one of the basics in our lives because it touches a lot of the important aspects such as healthcare, smart water, transportations, surveillance and so on. Moreover, many applications have emerged to serve this concept-

Smart Environment: The key idea to gain a smart environment such as a smart city or smart home while maintaining the level of service without degradation has relied on the IoT. Smart environment strategies integration with IoT technology should be created for sensing, tracking and assessment of objects of the environment that offer potential benefits in achieving a sustainable life and a green world. The IoT technology allows observing and managing air quality through data collection from remote sensors across cities and providing round the clock geographic coverage to accomplish better ways of managing traffic jams in major cities. Additionally, IoT technology can be applied in measuring pollution levels in water and consequently enlighten decisions on water usage.  In weather forecasting, IoT can be used to deliver a significant accuracy and high resolution for monitoring the weather by information sharing and data exchange. IoT sensor networks can control radiation through constant monitoring of its levels, particularly around nuclear plant premises for detecting leakage and propagating deterrence.

Smart Living: Use of Internet of Things providing with the data and services to live lives more efficiently like automatic light switches, coffee maker, automatic washing machine, unlocking homes with a single swipe, robot vacuum-mop, Smart home with Amazon Echo, Homekit by Apple, etc

Smart Energy: The Internet of Things enabling the collection of information on the consumption and treatment of energy users and the results that help decision-makers make decisions to help reduce energy waste, apply more economical methods, save energy and money, and users can see the nature of their energy consumption from To increase awareness and understanding of the use of energy correctly and adequately and cleverly and also make room for the use of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, etc.

Healthcare: The IoT Cloud paradigm has been widely used in the healthcare sector to diagnose, treat and track the status of patients remotely. The paradigm must serve four pivots namely, i) tracking: is a function aimed to identify the patient in motion, ii) identification and authentication: identification aimed to reduce mistakes in diagnosis and authentication used to meet with security requirements, iii) data collection: usually aims to reduce processing time and it is related to integrating RFID technology with other health information, lastly iv) sensing: used to provide real-time information about the patient. 

Smart Mobility & Transportation: Improving transportation and transport through increasing safety on roads, reducing congestion, controlling traffic and giving drivers real-time traffic reports, detecting and responding to traffic incidents, car navigation, container management system, automatic number plate recognition or speed cameras. Can be considered the IoT as a promising opportunity to find effective solutions characterized by high performance, security and lowest cost. Amazon Prime Air working on drone deliveries and autonomous truck deliveries and Tesla working on self-driving cars can be the best example of smart mobility through IoT.

Challenges

Security and privacy: The security rule aims to protect IoTs from threats; these threats classify into two kinds are external threats such as attacks on systems from attackers and internal threats represented in misuse of the system or information. There are three main factors of security: data confidentiality, privacy and truth. Data confidentiality guarantees only the authorized users to access and modify data, and it includes two aspects: first, an access control mechanism and second, an authentication process. Truth is guaranteed to apply security rules into the system and a common example of truth is digital certificates. Controlling access to personal data, and allowing to keep certain information and data confidential, the features of privacy are secrecy, anonymity and solitude. There are chances of various attacks and weaknesses on IoT systems that need wide-ranging security designs that will protect data and systems and will give an end to end encryption and making systems less prone to vulnerability.

Power Consumption: The power consumption issue is a critical point in wireless networks. The regulation of the sensors in IoT depends on the lifespan of the battery. Nowadays most devices are equipped with sensors such as smart mobile phones, tablets and laptops to deal with modern applications. Either the objects are equipped with chargeable batteries or need a power connection. Continuous usage of the GPS also a reason for battery drainage. 

Monitoring and Sensing: Even if technologies concerned with monitoring and sensing have made tremendous progress, they are constantly evolving, particularly focusing on the energy efficiency and form aspect. Sensors and tags are normally expected to be active constantly to obtain instantaneous data, this aspect makes it essential for energy efficiency especially in life extension. Simultaneously, new advances in nanotechnology/biotechnology and miniaturization have allowed the development of actuators and sensors at the Nanoscale.

Data processing and management: The procedure for processing, analysis and data management is tremendously challenging because of the heterogeneous nature of IoT, and the large scale of data collected, particularly in this era of Big Data. Currently, most systems utilize centralized systems in offloading data and carrying out computationally intensive tasks on an international cloud platform. 

Conclusion

The IoT will continue to evolve hence requiring new and innovative forms of software engineering, systems engineering, project management, as well as numerous other disciplines to develop it further and manage it in the coming years. The application areas of IoT are quite varying to entitle it to give out to individual users, who in turn have different needs. The technology serves three categories of users, individuals, society or communities and institutions. As discussed in the application section, the IoT has without a doubt a massive capability to be a tremendously transformative force, which will, and to some extent does already, positively impact millions of lives worldwide.

By: Geetanjali Pawar

(Legal Intern, WCSF)

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