The Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized the conventional way of living in today’s technological world. After the global pandemic hit the world, the IoT industry entered its golden age. The developers have worked endlessly to improve the storage and processing of data to enhance productivity. IoT consists of interconnected devices which are constantly communicating with all other devices. These devices gather, analyze, and share data to optimize operations. The IoT devices are not confined to smartphones and fitness trackers; they have spread their paradigm from ovens to toasters, flip flops to garbage cans, and many others.
There are Billions of IoT devices connected worldwide today, and the number of these devices is expected to triple from what they are today in the next few years because of their rapidly growing industry. There are around five types of IoT which are the following:
The Internet of Military Things is also known as the Battlefield IoT. It refers to the IoT devices used for military settings and during battlefield circumstances. IoT devices are used in military situations to improve awareness, response time, and risk assessment. IoT applications for the military include drones, planes, ships, and forward operating bases using interconnected systems.
Infrastructure Internet of Things refers to incorporating smart infrastructures and IoT to enhance maintenance, improve efficiency, make technology cost-efficient, and many other advantages. Instrastrure IoT helps monitor and control operations of rural and urban infrastructures, including railways, bridges, and wind farms.
The commercial Internet of Things refers to the augmentation of retail venues, including hotels, stores, entertainment facilities, supermarkets, office buildings, and many such platforms. The commercial Internet of Things is helpful for economising utilities and consumptions, monitoring environmental conditions, managing access to corporate facilities, and many other use cases. The technology helps improve the customer experience and goodwill of the business company.
The consumer Internet of Things refers to the IoT devices and applications consumers use. These devices and applications include smart home appliances, smart assistants, smartphones, and wearables. The technologies supported by consumer Internet of Things are ZigBee, Bluetooth, and WiFi. The limitation of these technologies is that they are suitable for short-range communication and are better deployed in smaller venues. These technologies often are used within small offices or homes.
The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) determines the augmentation of the existing industrial systems. This technology helps improve the productivity and efficiency of the industrial system. The Industrial IoTs are known to work for large factories, manufacturing plants, and other industries, including logistics, automotive, healthcare, and agriculture.
IoT devices have shown their importance and power during the pandemic and are constantly growing. These devices work on real-time information and benefit humankind in various fields, including healthcare. The rapidly expanding IoT demand and its ability to solve almost any problem are due to some tremendously powerful technologies it uses. Following are some of the leading technologies which are responsible for IoT’s growth:
Blockchain is one of the key technologies behind the development of IoT solutions. Combining blockchain and IoT ensures data reliability and authentic information sharing. A great example of blockchain and IoT is a logistic or supply chain company tracking its goods. Each product might be assigned a unique ID to help monitor its record and transportation. Moreover, the unique id helps maintain a secure blockchain repository containing the product’s history. Therefore, technology forms a competitive industry and helps any organization through integration.
Since IoT works with real-time data sharing, it creates enormous amounts of data and requires a proper database for its storage and sharing with other IoT apps and sensors for their performance. Therefore, cloud computing facilitates IoT through its massive potential for data storage and efficient processing. Cloud computing is evolving and becoming scalable to support many IoT solutions.
IoT devices focus on connectivity and generate massive data that require advanced analytics to perform productively. Therefore, Artificial Intelligence works alongside IoT solutions to help tech giants analyse this vast data collected by the devices to generate critical insights. This approach helps achieve the global connectivity promised by IoT solutions.
Sensors play a crucial part in the interaction of all IoT devices. Consumers are using sensors for their daily tasks as simple as unlocking and locking their cars from a distance. The sensors work by transmitting a message to operate particular actions. The advanced IoT sensors help in remote activities in most situations, leading them to enhance modern IoT solutions’ productivity.
IoT devices are becoming an integral part of human lives, and these technologies are based on sharing and processing various types of data. The data transfer between embedded devices has produced some challenges and complexities. With the growth of technology, the risks associated with it are also increasing. Therefore, the developers are working to minimize the effects of such risk for better productivity. Following are some of the critical challenges faced using IoT solutions:
Security is one of the significant risks while working with IoT solutions. IoT developers are usually not security experts, which leaves a chance for the code to be vulnerable. This approach could lead to data breaches and unauthorized access to devices. Some security risks include no data encryption while transmitting to the cloud, backdoor access to devices for development, and improper penetration testing on backend services.
A scalable device can add new services, devices, and equipment without compromising performance. Integrating various IoT devices requires different devices having separate memory, capacity, processing, and storage, which becomes challenging. Reliability is at greater risk as it is difficult to maintain quality, efficiency, and upkeep.
IoT devices communicate by collecting and transferring data, which is only possible with robust device connectivity. Devices in remote areas face connectivity issues while working with physical devices, connecting to multiple cloud servers and applications. IoT devices face difficulties in performing over long-range connections.
Moreover, other issues include:
Overcoming these issues will undoubtedly open up new ventures for IoT solutions.
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