Today wherever we go, we hear a term called “IoT” which is creating more buzz in the list of emerging technologies embraced by many big brands, consumers, and startups paving way for lots of innovation in technology.
On a lazy morning, our biggest problem is waking up from bed to on/off the fan. Luckily we have got the solution for this kind of problem in the form of IoT. It may sound new to many, but we have already leveraged IoT in our daily life.
Many things around us are connected to each other through the Internet of Things. It has been here for many years. Internet Of Things history shows the complete evolution from the beginning to the present. It states the concept of the Internet of Things started back in 1832 when an electromagnetic telegraph was created by Baron Schilling in Russia.
The below graph shows how the Internet of Things is gaining interest and growing bigger day by day.
Internet of Things can be defined as a network that allows things around us to interconnect and talk to each other. We live in a smart world. Things around us are smart, smartwatch, smart T.V, smart mobile and more. The future of IoT is vast, We can experience it from the minute we wake up. Let me explain how IOT can bring magic into our lives in the near future.
Your Alarm may get synced with your calendar and wakes you up accordingly. Once you wake up it may quickly send a signal to your water heater and your water heater is ready with the hot water, that too would have adjusted the heat according to the temperature.
By the time you finish the bath, your coffee machine has already got the signal and busy preparing your favorite coffee. Meanwhile, you have already alerted your car with your smartphone and by the time you lock your door, it is waiting at your gate. Now you are all set to go. Wait, your refrigerator has sent you an alert that you are running out of milk in the refrigerator.
Check out this video which shows how IoT connected Smart Home will be and how it makes your life easier:
This sounds like a daydream, but most of this will come into existence in the near future with the Internet of Things. Here is the list of some already available IOT devices for making your home a smart home.
- Amazon Echo Voice controller
- Google Home Voice controller
- Coffee Smart Coffeemaker
- June Intelligent oven
- Ring Smart Video Doorbell
Not only at home, but IoT also has the potential to bring changes in the Business, Healthcare, Education and all other industries.
How the Internet Of Things (IoT) is transforming industries?
Retail
The interconnection of millions of devices in real-time will make the collection of valuable data and provide real-time insights for merchants. Key applications of IoT in the retail industry also include supply chain and smart store applications.
Healthcare
IoT can bring a big revolution in the process of treatment and diagnosis of diseases. Embedding the medical equipment with IoT devices will help to monitor the patients more effectively. Personal fitness and wellness trackers are already gaining popularity. Remote patient monitoring will also become more efficient with IoT.
Automobiles
IoT connected smart cars are already in the market. Driverless cars and other automobiles are going to rule the future. Already many big companies are pouring money into this IOT connected smart cars and developed them. Soon we might see them on our roads. A study by BI expects that there will be around 94 million connected cars by 2021.
The future is all set!
Internet of Things Wearable devices is the future. You can control your car with a smartwatch like automatically parking it and for closing or to open the doors. Your wearable device may also detect the dangers around you. We already have devices that track our activity and exercise habits.
In the near future, we may also be able to easily track our calorie intake and eating habits automatically. So everything is going to be easy except that making everything easy is tough. Let’s discuss more on wearable devices in my next blog. Here are some examples of IoT wearable devices that are already available in the market.
- Sync Smartband Activity Tracker
- Fitbit Surge Smart Watch
- Hicon Wearable Smart Bracelet
- Beddit Sleep tracker
This clearly shows that the IoT is the next big thing. Many companies have already created path-breaking products using the Internet of Things. Not only for Big companies IOT has provided many big opportunities for many start-ups too. Internet of Things – Top Opportunities for startups article provides you the information about the fast-growing Internet of Things startups.
You May like this
The Future Predictions About IoT Only a Handful of People Know
But, what are Challenges?
Despite huge opportunities and possibilities in IoT. There are some challenges involved like complexity, Privacy and Security issues, Data storage Issues and some more. But there are also ways with which we can overcome them. Blockchain also plays a major part in the Internet of Things it enhances security, makes transactions more seamless and creates efficiencies in the supply chain.
Security and Privacy
With IoT, huge numbers of devices are connected to each other. Even, one poorly designed device can cause security issues like data theft and the possibilities of hacking the other devices will increase. This also raises the data privacy issues, since a huge amount of personal data is collected by IoT devices. Sometimes the end-user may not even be aware of what data the devices are collecting from them.
Stability
Issues on how devices perform without the internet or connectivity should also be considered when developing the devices. Making the device to perform in a similar way without connectivity is also a challenge.
Compatibility
Since IOT requires a lot of devices to be interconnected the devices should be made compatible with each other. This needs special hardware and software design.
Standards
There are no proper standards followed or available for developing IoT devices. This may lead to poorly designed and developed IoT devices which will, in turn, cause security and other major issues. At least in the future strong standards and best practices should be followed to develop IoT devices.
Data Analysis
A huge amount of data should be analyzed to make the required actions. Even a small data flaws can cause false assumptions. Handling unstructured data is also a big challenge.
The possibilities are endless! The Internet of Things has already started transforming different industries and how they do their business. Industries like Manufacturing, Transport, Agriculture, Healthcare, Retail, Infrastructure, Logistics, Banks, etc are going to get benefited hugely from the Internet of Things. Experts are focusing on using these IoT smart systems to better their business.
The size of the Internet of Things is definitely going to increase massively in the future. Research expected that approximately there will be more than 24 billion IoT devices on Earth by 2020. This article is to make you understand the potential of IoT and how it’s going to change the future. There is much you have to learn about IoT. At our company, we constantly research the new possibilities in IoT and gained enough knowledge to build the next big product in IoT.