Internet of Things refers to the scenario when any living or non-living thing or object; embedded with a microprocessor chip and necessary electronic circuitry; is capable of communicating with other similar objects with the help of internet and without human intervention. IoT is convergence of many technologies together.
IoT – Technologies
Sensors
This is the basic requirement of IoT. We human beings cannot sense and capture accurate information. There has been huge amount of research going on to embed sensors in miniature size in electronic devices and capture information from them.
IPv6 and CoAP
IoT is possible when objects are identified by a unique IP address. IPv6 has expanded the address space and has capability of providing IP address to almost everything around us. Protocols like CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) have simplified communication with minimal payload and multicasting ability; unlike HTTP. This helps electronic devices which possess small memory and power in turn helping IoT.
Wireless Networks
Wireless standards like Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi are essential for IoT. We can also see advancement in these standards e.g. latest version of Bluetooth 4.2 has key features supporting IoT like Low Energy (LE) data packets and connections, higher speed than ever, support for IPv6 etc.
Big Data
When the devices around us will start communicating, they will produce tremendous amount of data in millions of petabytes (I PB = 1024 TB). This data has to be captured, transmitted to the designated host, analyzed and meaningful results have to be conveyed to the required object. Thus, Big data and IoT work in conjunction.
Cloud Computing
Cloud services unifies them all. They provide the platform which connects devices (or things), collects data they generate, orchestrate the data flow, analyze and produce required results. Azure by Microsoft, Bluemix by IBM are some of the cloud service examples which are working towards providing business solutions based on IoT.
Pervasive Computing
IoT is a realization of pervasive or ubiquitous computing which means computing devices everywhere.
AllSeen Alliance
IoT when an object is able to perform machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, it is said to be ‘smart’. Therefore, IoT is a true foundation of future smart homes and smart cities.
The AllSeen Alliance has been created to promote interoperability for the internet of things in homes and industry.
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