Define IoT and explain IoT - enabling technologies.
IoT
A phenomenon that connects a variety of things. IoT is the network of physical objects embedded with sensors, computation units, memory unit, power source, and network connectivity. The goal of IoT is to “connect the unconnected”.
IoT Enabling Technologies
IoT (Internet of Things) enabling technologies are:
- Wireless Sensor Network
- Cloud Computing
- Big Data Analytics
- Communications Protocols
- Embedded System
1. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)
A WSN comprises distributed devices with sensors that are used to monitor environmental and physical conditions. A wireless sensor network consists of end nodes, routers, and coordinators. End nodes have several sensors attached to them, and the data is passed to a coordinator with the help of routers. The coordinator also acts as the gateway that connects WSNs to the internet.
Examples include:
- Weather monitoring system
- Indoor air quality monitoring system
- Soil moisture monitoring system
- Surveillance system
- Health monitoring system
2. Cloud Computing
It provides us with the means by which we can access applications and services over the internet. Cloud means something which is present in remote locations. With Cloud computing, users can access any resources from anywhere, like databases, web servers, storage, any device, and any software over the internet.
Characteristics include:
- Broad network access
- On-demand self-service
- Rapid scalability
- Measured service
- Pay-per-use
Provides different services, such as:
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Provides online services such as physical machines, virtual machines, servers, networking, storage, and data center space on a pay-per-use basis. Example: Web Hosting, Virtual Machine.
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): Provides a platform to develop applications. Example: App Cloud, Google App Engine.
- SaaS (Software as a Service): A way of delivering applications over the internet as a service. Example: Google Docs, Gmail, Office.
3. Big Data Analytics
It refers to the method of studying massive volumes of data or big data. Collection of data whose volume, velocity, or variety is simply too massive and tough to store, control, process and examine the data using traditional databases. Big data is gathered from a variety of sources including social network videos, digital images, sensors, and sales transaction records.
Several steps are involved in analyzing big data:
- Data cleaning
- Munging
- Processing
- Visualization
Examples include:
- Bank transactions
- Data generated by IoT systems for the location and tracking of vehicles
- E-commerce and in Big-Basket
- Health and fitness data generated by IoT systems such as fitness bands
4. Communications Protocols
They are the backbone of IoT systems and enable network connectivity and linking to applications. Communication protocols allow devices to exchange data over the network. Multiple protocols often describe different aspects of a single communication. A group of protocols designed to work together is known as a protocol suite; when implemented in software they are a protocol stack.
They are used in data encoding and addressing schemes.
5. Embedded Systems
It is a combination of hardware and software used to perform special tasks. It includes a microcontroller and microprocessor, memory, networking units, input-output units, and storage devices. It collects the data and sends it to the internet.
Examples include:
- Digital camera
- DVD player, music player
- Industrial robots
- Wireless routers