IoT for Beginners: Explore IoT Architecture, Working Principles, IoT Devices, and Various Real IoT Projects

CHAPTER 1

Basics of IoT

The first chapter is all about the basics of the Internet of Things ( IoT ). It would cover all basic requirements for learning and understanding of IoT. It will explain the actual meaning of IoT before discussing any other topics. Various developments had been done in the past. So, the chapter briefly describes the history of IoT. The chapter discusses various names of IoT given by researchers. The word Things is the foundation of IoT, and it is necessary to understand the meaning of this word. The chapter will explore the different needs of IoT. Various technologies are enabling IoT, which would be also discussed in IoT.

Currently, everyone is using IoT differently for doing different works. For instance, people use smartwatches for various purposes. A smartwatch is a popular example of IoT. People are only using it and are unaware of its meaning. A piece of sound knowledge and sufficient information about any technology helps anyone to use it properly. Some people do not have much knowledge about technologies, so this chapter would help them to obtain the basic knowledge of technologies and IoT. This chapter would also help students to get core knowledge of the IoT.

Structure

In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

Introduction to IoT

Definitions

History of IoT

Various names of IoT

Understanding Things in IoT

Meaning of Things

Features of Things

Need of IoT

IoT-driven technologies

Objective

After studying this unit, you will be able to understand the meaning and concept of IoT. You will learn from the existing definitions of IoT and get some insights from history. You will also understand the word Thing and its importance in IoT. You will be able to describe the need of IoT and understand the technologies that drive IoT.

Introduction to IoT

The IoT stands for Internet of Things which simply says that everything depends on the Internet from building applications to execute it for some purposes. The IoT is not a single technology; instead, IoT is embedded with multiple systems, network products, sensors, and interconnecting devices. IoT refers to a concept that connects all these devices and systems through the Internet. It uses these intelligent systems and connected devices for collecting data and leveraging it for the execution of required operations. The different actuators, physical objects, and embedded sensors help in data collection and sharing data.

IoT includes all things connected to the Internet and establishes communication with each other. IoT made it easy to collect information, analyze it, build the plan, and execute it to complete a task and help someone in learning. IoT is permitting all devices to make a connection with others on private Internet or intranet connections. IoT is removing the distance between the different types of networks. It is forming and building a more connected world by integrating the automated systems and connected devices. Internet-based protocols and information sensing equipment have been used for sharing information. This thing enables us to achieve monitoring, smart recognition, positioning, administration, and tracing.

With the availability and omnipresence of inexpensive computer devices and wireless networks, it becomes possible to do any development into IoT. By connecting the different objects, adding network devices and sensors to them, IoT is converting dumb devices into real ones. IoT is bringing a new level of digital intelligence that does not need any kind of human intervention.

Let us understand the IoT with an example

IoT is converting a common physical object to an IoT device with the help of the Internet that controls that object. A toy that sounds like a real animal, driverless truck, smart toasters, and remote toy car are popular examples of IoT devices. These devices are doing everything on their own. The smart TV that could be control and switch using smartphone apps, AC that uses remotes, and so on are other examples of IoT devices. People are using all these devices in their life. Different smaller IoT components are making larger IoT components, such as a traffic management system embedded with sensors and trackers for effective management of traffic.

Note: The main concept of IoT is to add some kind of sensor and intelligence to any device or object. The IoT is a coalition of the Internet, intelligence, and sense.

Figure 1.1 shows many examples of IoT around us. For instance, Assistance Speaker is an IoT-based device. Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s voice assistant are the best examples of the assistance speakers:

Figure 1.1: Internet of Things

It should be noted that IoT collects data for specific purposes that are useful for implementing any work. Since IoT needs the Internet for connecting devices, it does not mean that it can download any data. For instance, the healthcare profession uses data from smart IoT healthcare devices and uses it during the medication process. Even near about 35% of US manufacturers use smart sensors and collect data from these sensors. They use these data to increase production efficiency and cutting down waste. A new IoT device, Concrete Sensor has been developed, that could be inserted into the concrete. The device helps in providing data related to the material’s condition.

Note: The computer is only an electronic device, and it is not an IoT device. It is because every device that has an internet connection or can establish communication with the network automatically does not come under IoT devices. Even, the smartphone is also not considered as IoT device.

IoT is permitting business organizations, institutes, and the government to rethink the method that delivers products and services to common people for making them better. IoT has the potentials to make it more efficient and save a large amount of money and time. The first users of IoT are those who are seeking changes in their lifestyles through utility tools. After that, the second users of IoT are those who are seeking security.

Note: It is predicted by the national intelligence that in the future, IoT would also play a role in intelligence services to support the identification of issues, surveillance, monitoring the objects, location tracking, obtaining user credentials, acquiring access to the network.

Definitions

The definition defines the meaning of the particular term, concept, device, and anything through words. It helps people to understand the required thing. Thus, it is also necessary to understand the meaning of IoT through its definitions. IoT becomes a popular technology trend across the world. Despite the huge development of IoT, there is no single universal definition of the word, IoT has been existing.

The book is sharing a simple definition of IoT, IoT is a digital connection of devices and objects that are embedded with the internet, sensors, and intelligence for establishing communication with people or other IoT-based objects.

Various software development companies, their executives, business groups, and technology experts defined the IoT in different ways. They are promoting the specific views and meaning of IoT and its characteristics through different definitions. Some definitions of IoT define only the basic concept, whereas some definitions define meaning through characteristics.

Here are some definitions of IoT:

According to Oxford Dictionaries

The Internet of Things is a noun and refers to an interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.

Oxford considered the Internet as an element of the IoT.

According to Internet Engineering Task Force (IETE)

Smart object networking is IoT and here smart objects have constraints such as memory, limited power, processing resources and bandwidth.

IETE defined that they are organizing specific requirements for achieving network interoperability among different smart objects.

According to Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsion, founder of Designswarm

The Internet of things defines the potential new business service, products and interactions offered by embedding hardware technologies and connectivity (web/mobile/radio) in previously unconnected physical products & spaces.

According to Dr. Mazlan Abbas, CEO of REDtone IoT

The ultimate goal of IoT is to automate your digital lifestyle and propel your business.

According to Jessica Groopman, Research Director, and Principal Analyst, Harbor Research

The interconnection and interaction of the digital and physical worlds, wherein uniquely identifiable embedded technology connects and integrates physical things (that is, objects, people devices, machines, infrastructure, systems, and so on) to information networks via existing and emerging Internet infrastructure. Put simply, IoT is a platform for connecting people, objects, and environment to inform and enable visibility, interactions, and innovation.

All these different definitions are describing the various scenario in which object connection, network connectivity, and capability of computing is extended to the configuration of diverse objects, devices, physical elements, and sensors that are not considered as computers. All these are pointing only to one thing that is to permit data sharing, generation, and consumption without much human intervention. It is emphasizing the different aspects of IoT. It is also to highlight that IoT is all about the capabilities of remote data collection, research, analysis, and management.

History of IoT

Every computer, whether it is a laptop, mobile, or tablet, requires a chip for processing. Earlier, the big size of the chips had been used. Now, it has been replaced by a small chip for establishing effective communication. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags played a critical role in discovering the IoT term. RFID tags are nothing but low-power chips that establish communication wirelessly. The availability of wireless networking, broadband internet connections, cellular, and so on and its integration with RFID tags made wireless communication successful. The arrival of Internet Protocol (IPv6) supported the IoT in providing services.

In 1999, Kevin Ashton, a British technology pioneer, used the word, Internet of Things to describe a system that could connect the objects via the Internet and sensors in the physical world. Kevin Ashton was working in Procter & Gamble Company and part of Supply Chain Management. He discovered the word IoT after realizing the power of RFID tags that were used in Supply Chain Management at that time. The RFID tags are used for connecting the supply chain to the Internet for counting tracking the good without taking the help of a human being. Ashton thought about the concept of connecting the objects using sensors after watching this. In this way, the word IoT came into existence.

Integrating RFID tags into heavy and expensive equipment is the first IoT application for helping in the tracking of goods. Other researchers and technology experts discussed bringing the concept of sensors and intelligence in connecting objects so they automatically share data during the 1980s and 1990s. The reduction in the prices of internet connection and development cost of sensor integration cleared that in the future the intent would be an inexpensive method for connecting objects. The IoT was invented in 1999 to promote RFIT chips in communication. The popularity of IoT started in 2010 and acquired a huge market at the beginning of 2014. Table 1.1 is briefly describing how IoT become popular until 2014:

Table 1.1: History of IoT

After 2014, the development of IoT quickly took place. The arrival of advanced technologies in each year changed the trends of IoT development between 2015 and 2019. Many IoT devices, projects, and applications have been developed in these 5 years. Multiple software development companies, business organizations, and individuals are bringing new IoT trends and projects to fulfill different purposes.

According to them, in future, wireless communication, digital sensing, intelligence, and processing capabilities would be embedded into common objects and will convert them into IoT-based objects. The new paradigm of IoT and its collaboration with cloud computing will bring smart devices for collecting and processing data. As a result, humans and machines, both will be able to act and take action automatically.

Even after the evolution of IoT in the last many years, it is found that IoT is still in its emerging stages. There is no doubt that IoT is addressing things and creating a dynamic network around the globe. It will not stop and will grow every year.

A famous tech analyst company, ITC, already predicted that, till 2025, there would be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices or things. The largest opportunity industries would be automotive and industrial equipment to leverage IoT things. Gartner also predicted that these industries would receive near about 5.8 billion devices till 2020. TrendMicro predicted that the rapid development of big data analytics and increased use of Internet protocols would connect near about 20.5 billion devices to the IoT by 2020.

Understanding Things in IoT

The IoT consists of four primary components, including Thing, Internet, Network, and Cloud. The Thing in IoT refers to the objects which are connected to the Internet. In simple words, any kind of physical, real, digital, and virtual entity is known as a thing with respect to IoT. The main function of the thing is to describe all possible capabilities of the IoT. Things are used for expressing the IoT concepts. Just like different definitions of IoT, the definition of Things is also wide. All physical components and personal objects such as television, bulb, and fridge are some examples of things in IoT. In any kind of embedded system, things perform the data transmission to establish user interaction and controlling devices across the network.

Meaning of Thing

The thing is any device, machine, computer, application, physical object, virtual object, or other objects that could be connected with the Internet. The thing should have capabilities for creating, requesting, accessing, forwarding, and consuming digital information. Thing provides storage identification information, collects and processes information, establishes communication, and performs controlling.

The smart object is another name of Thing in IoT. The smart object includes all types of everyday physical things that are embedded by the electronic device for providing Internet connectivity and local intelligence. Smart objects contain all features that should be present in the Thing of IoT. The unique identifier, group of physical features, sensing and storing measurements, trigger actions, general computing capabilities are major features of the smart objects.

Features of Thing

A thing in IoT possesses many features. Each feature defines a specific property of the thing. The following points are describing the features:

Identification: The primary characteristic of the thing is identification. This means the thing must have an identification feature to verify the communication. This feature has been introduced in the initial development of the IoT when RFID tags were used to create unique identification. At the time, the location-specific item was used to verify the communication between things. Thus, RFID tags played a major role in enabling object identification. Automatic identification technologies are the base of IoT Smart objects.

A thing must have numbers, addresses, or names to complete the identification process. Since numerous objects communicate through the Internet hence any kind of identification ensures the reliability of those objects. An electronic tag, printed label, and the hard-coded serial number could be used for the identification of the things in IoT.

Tracking: In IoT, the Internet is the medium through which thousands of objects are connected for making the communication. No one is aware of the exact address or location of the objects. Thus, the object or thing must enable with a tracking feature. Developers can track the objects and their locations. The property must be present in the movable thing that provides physical location and individual history information. Embedded geolocation devices or other similar devices could be used for a precise physical location. These can easily interact and communicate with other things of the IoT project.

Sensing: A thing must have a sensing feature for collecting data from the respective environment. The sensor is a significant component of the IoT. It enables this feature in the IoT devices. Even ITU named the sensors as, feeling things. The sensing feature provides the environment and current status information about the thing. The sensors should have to use cloud-based storage services for acquiring the data from the current state of IoT devices.

Processing or intelligence: This feature performs data processing and commands execution. The intelligence feature makes the IoT devices to smart devices. It is a kind of embedded processing of autonomy. Availability of the programming languages, communication protocols, and standards are creating IoT devices with different data coding. Thus, interoperability is a must in IoT devices. The plug and play feature enables this feature in the devices.

Actuation/remote controlling: It is another feature of the thing for controlling the devices across the Internet. The actuator enables this feature. Thing uses the sensed data for remote control of the devices. The feature defines the fundamental process of automation. Using this feature, the object can remotely control the devices for changing the environment.

All these features are abstracted into the devices. They are having at least one of these features is compulsory to become part of any IoT project. These features can also categorize the thing into different categories—for instance, smart objects, data objects, tractable objects, and interactive objects.

Various names of IoT

It is a fact that IoT is taking place in different sectors. Various applications have been developed. This diversity brought the different names of IoT. These names are a little different in meaning such as, Web of Things, Industry 4.0, Intelligent Systems, Pervasive Computing, Smart System, Industrial IoT, and Machine to Machine communication. Cisco and Intel are using words, Internet of Everything and Embedded Internet respectively to call IoT. The following points are describing various names of IoT:

IoT as Web of Things/WoT: This name came when things are converted into web-present. It is done either through embedding with a web server or hosting a web presence within a web server. Sun Microsystem’s Project, JXTA gave this name to IoT and described the set of protocols for creating applications. An architecture of web-based IoT has been proposed by integrating into as a part of the Web and HTTP protocol.

IoT as Wisdom Web of Things/W2T: This name is used for representing the intelligence and creating the knowledge from the collected data. Here, wisdom is describing that the device is itself aware and can provide accurate services on time for the right objects.

IoT as Future Internet of Things/FIoT: This name came after the development of the IoT using innovative technologies, extracting data from sensors, and transforming it into appropriate knowledge. Here, the word future Internet is representing that use IoT for referring to the future application, which are accessible via the Internet.

IoT as Agents of Things/AoT: Researchers brought this name for removing the impact of IoT limitations with respect to intelligence. An AoT must have an intelligence capability, critical thinking, and internal reasoning. It enables the devices to interact with other devices or objects automatically.

IoT as Cognitive Internet of Things/CIoT: It is used while intelligence has been added to the IoT devices for improving its performance and obtaining intelligence. CIoT-based devices can explain the existing business types and networks. It performs analysis using knowledge and builds intelligent decisions. It can easily control actions within the device to fulfill all types of requirements.

IoT as Social Internet of Things/SIoT: This name is given to IoT for describing the social relationship among objects. The Social Network of Intelligent Objects is the core theme behind