Brief Overview of what Internet of Things (IoT) is all about

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Chips are inserted into toothbrushes, hairbrushes, shoes, lightbulbs, clothing, and other consumables to enable them to collect and transmit data over the internet.

Probably, you have heard of "Internet of Things (IoT)" or the sayings that we now live in smart cities and homes. What does it mean?Let’s start by defining the two terms involved "Internet" and "Things".

According to Oxford Dictionary, It’s a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. Source

Now, let’s define “things”;
From, the elementary definition of things, we know that it refers to inanimate material objects around us such as fan, curtain, door, desk, clock, shoe etc.

Let’s move on…

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Internet of Things (IoT)

When we combine the two definitions above we can easily say that, IoT is an interconnected network of things (physical devices, vehicles, electronics, home appliances etc.) communicating/exchanging data over a network.

History

The concept of IoT was conceived as early as the 1980s in Carnegie Mellon University by a group of Computer Science students. They modified a coke vending machine to enable them to check the status of coke from their desks. The students enable the vending machine to keep track of its inventory and sense if the drinks are cold enough for intake and report to the students over the internet. They were able to achieve it by installing micro-switches across the tabs of the vending machine and hooking it up to a PDP-10 (a mainframe computer), and programming the server to keep track of the state of drinks. The vending machine is regarded as the first appliance to be connected to the internet.

IoT progress over the years

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There are more and more complex things being connected to the internet every day and 2016 tends to be the biggest year for IoT companies.

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Applications of IoT

According to Gartner, a research and advisory firm in the US, there about 8.4 billion "things" connected to the internet in 2017 and analysts also predict that the number will reach 20 billion by 2020.

IoT is impacting the Manufacturing, Education, Health, and Sports industry by connecting devices and sensors to the internet in order to share data and information. It provides a pool of data for analytical systems/software to tap into and make our lives better by predicting issues, suggesting solutions and promoting leisure.

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It makes the world more connected and brings economic benefits also. It gives people and businesses the opportunity to save time and money and data/information for companies to make effective decisions on how to create better services and experience for customers.

Enough of theory, here are some list of simple IoT devices making the world a better place.

Credit	This is a smartwatch that can monitor your heart rate and report to you or your doctor if there’s cause for alarm.
Credit	This device can let you play music, request for a weather update, search for information and manage your IoT devices like lightbulbs, smart toasters etc. using just your voice.
Credit	This is a learning Thermostat of a lab reporting the usage of energy and the local weather.

These IoT solutions above are just tip of the iceberg. There are more than a billion of them out there.

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IoT in Healthcare

IoT has revolutionized the health industry by introducing smart state-of-the-art machines, tools, sensors, and devices to cater for patients & physicians, and also create room for advanced research/studies in the healthcare industry.
Tech giants like Intel, Microsoft and others are building IoT solutions transforming the healthcare.

• Monitor Patients: IoT gives patients the opportunity to be taken care of at the comfort of their homes with ease by wearing a sensor that will allow doctors to monitor their health status in real-time and respond accordingly.
• Keep track of medical resource: hospital staff can now monitor and manage medical supplies and medicines with ease giving them more time cater for patients.
• Maintenance: IoT with predictive maintenance gives hospitals an edge in terms of maintenance. It gives room for medical devices to be fixed on time and be available for patient use without any issue or problem.
• Help hospitals to keep track of patients’ equipment usage like sensors in beds that can monitor the room temperature, water and other related equipment, and tracking hygiene in the hospital.

Security, Privacy and Implications

IoT solutions are created by well-known companies like Google, Apple, Intel, Samsung, and Microsoft which we trust and think are big and strong enough to secure our data transmitted by this devices/sensors. The case is that not all are produced under standard or by well reputable companies. Some IoT devices like lightbulbs, doorbells, and security cameras are created by no so-called tech giants.

Insecurity is a major concern when it comes IoT because it infiltrates our day-to-day lives and stores the necessary data and information it requires to carry out its specific purpose. Some major cases caused by IoT in recent times include giving room for hackers to spy on homes through baby monitors, cyber-disasters, and attacks etc.

There’s no more privacy if all devices are connected to the internet. Whatever we do in the comfort of rooms or toilets is being recorded, tracked and monitored by our devices. IoT products companies can have access to the data and information stored. They can sell it to a third party(ies) and hackers can also have access to it, they can use it to blackmail us or something.

So be careful when adopting IoT because you don’t know what/who you’re giving access to your life and try to report malicious activities to the appropriate channel for safety.

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Conclusion

When next time you come across IoT just know it simply means “Network”, “Devices” and “Data”. It’s about connecting devices to a private network or cloud to transmit data and information to other devices. Chips embedded into things around us to streamline our day-to-day activities.
I believe IoT is “now” and the “future”. There are lots of security and privacy concern with IoT services so be careful not to fall prey.

A short story of me living in a smart world powered by IoT ;)

“Mr. Aliyu, it’s time, wake up and start your morning routine”, says my virtual assistant (V.A). I dressed up and before I head downstairs, V.A triggered the coffee machine to make my favorite and switch on the T.V for early morning news. My wearable sensor analyses my body and informs the fridge to suggest the best breakfast it can come up with based on what’s inside.
A Sensor detects I‘m heading towards the door to go to work, so V.A summons the car and remind me to branch to the gift shop to buy a birthday present for a colleague of mind at work. ;)
I’m back from work, the surveillance camera/sensor detects my body temperature and set the Air Conditioner to the appropriate level in my room and V.A plays a mood soothing music.

Do you want to be blown away? then check these awesome IoT solutions.

References

1. Wiki: Internet of Things
2. History of Coke Machine
3. IoT Explained
4. IoT in Healthcare