What is IoT?
IoT stands for the Internet of things. IoT is the interconnection via the internet of computing devices using physical hardware. Those devices will share data and process it without human intervention. They will take decisions and execute actions without anyone different than a machine. Machines will communicate with each other and will solve human needs only by processing data. This is known as machine-2-machine communication.
Why is IoT important in real life?
Okay, first of all, we have to understand where does everything comes from. The past century (XX), was a century where humans made great advancements in material technology. It is the century where machines started to take over human work and started to make humans life easier. Humans have been building technology for a long time, but the past century has revolutionized human lifestyle. We can't deny that technology is made for that, make life easier.
In the conquer of making life easier, the computer was invented.
What is a computer? A computer is an electronic device for storing and processing data.
Why would humans store or process data? This is a tricky question with multiple answers and the one I like the most is that we as humans like to know stuff.
We like to know why the stars are bright, why the sun is yellow, why are leaves green, why is blood red, why, why, why, everywhere. So why not keep on answering questions about life?
To keep track of the answers we get about nature, we store that information and transform it into what we know as data. Data will later be used for our convenience and will give us more data.
With the invention of the internet, human communication got faster. We have been able to transmit data faster than any other human civilization we know of. That makes us build faster, work faster, eat faster, well, do everything else faster.
IoT will connect life to the internet and help us achieve what we have always wanted to do, control every aspect of life. Well, that's not an easy task, but here we are, building the future.
IoT has 4 main components:
- The device (the thing)
- The local network, how the thing is going to transmit data.
- The internet
- Back-end services, storage, and processing.
And two main categories:
- Industrial IoT — Will broadcast and transmit data on a global scale through the internet using local networks with different technologies.
- Commercial IoT — Will broadcast and transmit locally, between local devices via Bluetooth or the Ethernet.
In general terms, IoT will only connect through local devices but will have different ranges depending on their needs. IoT will be deployed in many different ways and will be used in extraordinary ways. For example, in houses, in clothes, in factories, buildings, the soil, nature, and even in your body.
We will be able to know what is happening all around us, we will be able to connect to every aspect of life. Just imagine that the t-shirt you're wearing today could send signals about your health. Or the shoes you're wearing can tell what are your buying habits just because it sends signals of the movements you make inside a store. Stores and insurance companies could make customized products for every person depending on the information that is being sent by the IoT device we will be using.
Buildings, for example, are already taking advantage of the IoT devices by the usage of access key-cards. Access key-cards are one real IoT daily device taken into action that grants permissions to those carrying them. You can access specific doors with them and also can't be granted access to other doors. Everything depends on the information that is being held inside the card.
Usually, the access key-cards have your personal information in them, and you should be the one carrying it all the time, so if you share your access key-card and your access key-card is being misused you might get into trouble. Every door you are trying to access will be stored in a database, so using that access key-card in every door is not such a good idea.
Another card we have been using years ago to transmit data into the internet is our debit and credit cards. When we go to a store, there's a device that when we pass our card through it, will connect directly to the bank, read our information online and discount the amount we are going to pay from our bank account to the store's bank account.
Industrial IoT
Industrial Internet of Things is a concept that has been involving the industrial processes of companies. The combination of artificial intelligence (AI), wireless networks, big data, and analytics will measure and optimize industrial processes.
This will increase workforce productivity and cost savings for consumers and producers. Products will not only be sold but could also have preventive maintenance. This could reduce the number of products sold, help balance nature's direct exploitation bringing new revenue streams for businesses.
Nature Impersonation
Humans have always struggled with nature to make land productive. IoT devices will have sensors that will transmit sensible data to the internet so other devices can take action when nature won't take action itself. Just imagine we have land with fertile soil. We could use our land and make it productive by growing crops. Those crops will be planted by huge machines that will be programmed to take care of them. The rain has been delayed in the season affecting the moisture of the soil. Our IoT soil sensor device will send information to our crop machine that our soil doesn't have much moisture as it needs. That information will be processed and the crop machine will water the soil balancing nature work.
Data Storage
IoT devices will have one or more sensors that will be used to collect data. That data will be stored by centralized private cloud storage or decentralized public cloud storage services. This will also bring big-data analytics projects to develop faster. Companies will need to analyze the amount of data transmitted by IoT devices at the same rhythm that is being produced. Data collection will depend on the product and what will the device be used for. Video surveillance produces most of the data that is being analyzed using computer vision by machine learning technology.
It is expected that data growth will come from drones, medical services, and other industrial services.
There are many ways on how IoT devices will impact our future. Let's talk about security and privacy, something that can affect the IoT devices in the long run.
What security and privacy measures will be taken to safeguard our devices from malicious actors?
The main consumer concerns about IoT devices is data collection. Data collection is a major concern in our society. We have seen how companies and governments have used technology to invade individual's privacy, for example, hear private conversations, record videos without individual's consent, geographical tracking, theft of financial information, and other collected information that is shared to third parties to be later used without any consumer authorization. Data collection has been a big focus for companies producing these devices instead of data protection. This has been one major concern of why consumers are still very resilient to trust these devices.
There are other several security concerns that could affect directly these devices. For example, a denial of service attack could block these devices and make them useless until the attack is taken care of, or even worse, an attack that could make the device make different actions from what they were built for. Smart devices like refrigerators, home ovens, and dishwashers are open to hackers making these devices vulnerable to attacks. Researches found that cameras have been hacked and smartwatches have been vulnerable to attacks tracing consumers and even communicating with them.
Security's track for IoT devices has been extremely poor. Companies haven't engaged themselves in understanding the risks of selling unsecured products. Producing these devices has given little thought for basic security like encrypted data transfer and take advantage of what encryption can bring to these devices.
The infringement of IoT devices can affect other devices that might be connected to the same network. So taking care of how the data es being transferred from the device to the internet should be a priority.
Before we can think of IoT devices all over our homes and our lives we first need to understand the implications and responsibilities these types of devices could bring to our society.
Consumers need to understand what they are buying and what is the real exchange they will be done by purchasing one of these devices. Businesses will need to build better relationships with the consumer if they want to take advantage of the information that the consumers are willing to give away. Trust between producers and consumers will have to be the main goal of businesses if they want to maintain the IoT development growing in our society.
Consumers will buy every good project that is in the market but privacy and security should be a priority for any electronic and digital technology in our XXI century.
References
IoT Devices
IoT Algorithmic Foundations
IoT General
