Era IoT: how to enter?
Today, the world is on the verge of a massive introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) into everyday life and business. It is expected that its serious development is inextricably linked with the new mobile standard 5G , which is in the final stages of development and testing. With it, a person will be able to manage multiple network-connected "smart" devices. However, today there are devices, the technical characteristics of which allow, even within the capabilities of existing networks, to administer the operation of IoT devices.
As we remember, initially users could access the Network only through computers connected to it. But with the beginning of the era of smartphones, their owners received mobile access to the Internet. The development of wireless networks has become a fertile ground for connecting to it any devices capable of exchanging information through a network interface, and called the “Internet of Things”. According to BI Intelligence , in 2016 approximately 6.6 billion IoT devices were recorded, but by 2021, at least 22.5 billion are expected.
This suggests that in the next 3-5 years we will be able not only to see the active development of the Internet of Things, but also to become direct participants and users of global IoT systems, which will radically change our life. But so far we can talk about them within the framework of today's technical capabilities and in relation to the current needs of the end user.
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Recently, IoT has become an increasingly popular topic, especially in relation to 5G, which will expand the functionality and infrastructure of “smart” devices. According to calculations, their mass implementation will take at least five years. One of the main obstacles is the lack of uniform standards of work for a variety of devices included in the IoT system. However, while developers are looking for the right solution, to a certain extent, an ordinary smartphone can facilitate “communication” with “smart” devices.
Perhaps today it is one of the best solutions for communication between different IoT devices and a kind of control panel for them. In other words, today, a smartphone not only facilitates communication with “smart” things, but, being a full gateway, it acts as a kind of adapter, or basic platform for IoT.
This is facilitated by a number of factors, one of which is the mass distribution of its distribution. According to the British company IHS Markit, by the end of 2016 there were about 4 billion smartphones in the world, and by 2020 their number could reach 6 billion. Moreover, today there are about 7.4 billion people living in the world and according to UN forecasts by 2020 their number will not exceed 8 billion. That is, the percentage of people with smartphones will grow very significantly.
Most modern smartphone models are perfect technical devices. Their software and processor power make it possible to connect to them and manage a large number of various IoT devices. And the basic set of sensors and other devices available in the smartphone allows you to build a network, the size of which can be much larger than the “human” Internet. In addition, smartphones can be used as a hub on the way to the cloud, where all the necessary information is stored for the full interaction of IoT devices.
Thus, despite its “tricked out”, the smartphone remains easy to use, and most importantly, an accessible device for the mass consumer, which performs the functions of transmitting / receiving data, controlling and configuring IoT devices.
But still, the main link in communication remains a man. He is in most cases the initiator of the interaction of devices in the IoT system. And this suggests that the person himself becomes a part of it and can control the flow of information, initiate or accept control commands. That is, with his participation a new system is formed, which is called “Social Internet of Things” (SIoT).
Of course, with the advent of 5G connectivity and the projected increase in the world of "smart" devices to 50-100 billion, a qualitatively new level of IoT interaction will be needed. And for this, compatibility of the protocols of their work will be needed, since it is the possibility of uninterrupted communication of smart devices of various functionalities that will be one of the drivers for the mass distribution of IoT systems.
By the way, back in 2015, the American consulting company McKinsey & Company found that about 40% of the total economic value of various IoT-systems is the ability to interact with each other their devices, i.e. compatibility. Limited compatibility dramatically reduces the value and usefulness of such a system and leads to its lack of demand by users.
Therefore, to take full advantage of the IoT concept and 5G capabilities, today’s fragmented systems must learn to interact and share information. Solving this problem is a difficult and time-consuming task, but application developers and device manufacturers, together with companies implementing IT systems, will have to agree on the required minimum of common standards and protocols. So, in any case, solutions will be found that will lead to their unification, in much the same way as it was with the TCP / IP network protocol suite.
When this happens, “smart” devices in large quantities will be able to organize into a global network of physical objects connected to the Internet through gateways (hubs or specialized IoT platforms). The latter perform the necessary translation between the protocols that are used in the communication networks and in the devices themselves. At the same time, a variety of hardware platforms will also be able to act as a gateway, ranging from ordinary routers to specialized “boxed” solutions.
Of course, to ensure the connection and maintenance of such a number of devices, as well as to provide the appropriate tools for processing and storing the data received from them, a global software platform is needed. And, ideally, it should be multiplayer and be able to combine not only IoT devices, but also people. And the most suitable option here is the SIoT platform. With their help, users can not only manage the connected devices, but also create new device configurations and all sorts of scenarios for their use. Data will be stored in the cloud, and managed "smart" devices can be located at large distances from each other, even on different continents.
At first glance, for the uninitiated person, everything related to IoT may seem incredible. But this is literally tomorrow's reality, the onset of which is very desirable not to sleep. The world around is changing apart from our will and one day, for example, your usual TV suddenly becomes the control center of everything and everything, since everything necessary for this is already laid by the manufacturer. It has a display, a microcontroller, a network card, an operating system, and everything you need to communicate with other network devices. By registering the appropriate modules using IoT Designer and connecting your Smart TV to the cloud, any user can fully and in the right settings interact with the new digital and wireless world surrounding him.
And this interaction may be the most unexpected. Today, few people imagine that using the same TV connected to the IoT system, for example, you can start and control the process of watering the beds and flowers at a country cottage, or a washing machine in your favorite mother-in-law’s apartment, which you sent yesterday to rest in the Maldives (or farther).
And recently, one of the young IT-companies began producing game and training consoles for dogs. A special bowl with a built-in Wi-Fi module, color buttons and a speaker gives the animal various tasks, rewarding for the correct pressing of a portion of the feed, and informs the owner about its actions. The device also allows you to feed the animal at a set time.
These “fantastic” examples show that, in fact, IoT is a huge field for experimentation. And despite the fact that the era of "smart" devices is just beginning, but it says a lot that the upcoming IT revolution will be connected with the Internet of things.
Smartphone Explorer
As we remember, initially users could access the Network only through computers connected to it. But with the beginning of the era of smartphones, their owners received mobile access to the Internet. The development of wireless networks has become a fertile ground for connecting to it any devices capable of exchanging information through a network interface, and called the “Internet of Things”. According to BI Intelligence , in 2016 approximately 6.6 billion IoT devices were recorded, but by 2021, at least 22.5 billion are expected.
This suggests that in the next 3-5 years we will be able not only to see the active development of the Internet of Things, but also to become direct participants and users of global IoT systems, which will radically change our life. But so far we can talk about them within the framework of today's technical capabilities and in relation to the current needs of the end user.
')
Recently, IoT has become an increasingly popular topic, especially in relation to 5G, which will expand the functionality and infrastructure of “smart” devices. According to calculations, their mass implementation will take at least five years. One of the main obstacles is the lack of uniform standards of work for a variety of devices included in the IoT system. However, while developers are looking for the right solution, to a certain extent, an ordinary smartphone can facilitate “communication” with “smart” devices.
Perhaps today it is one of the best solutions for communication between different IoT devices and a kind of control panel for them. In other words, today, a smartphone not only facilitates communication with “smart” things, but, being a full gateway, it acts as a kind of adapter, or basic platform for IoT.
This is facilitated by a number of factors, one of which is the mass distribution of its distribution. According to the British company IHS Markit, by the end of 2016 there were about 4 billion smartphones in the world, and by 2020 their number could reach 6 billion. Moreover, today there are about 7.4 billion people living in the world and according to UN forecasts by 2020 their number will not exceed 8 billion. That is, the percentage of people with smartphones will grow very significantly.
Most modern smartphone models are perfect technical devices. Their software and processor power make it possible to connect to them and manage a large number of various IoT devices. And the basic set of sensors and other devices available in the smartphone allows you to build a network, the size of which can be much larger than the “human” Internet. In addition, smartphones can be used as a hub on the way to the cloud, where all the necessary information is stored for the full interaction of IoT devices.
Thus, despite its “tricked out”, the smartphone remains easy to use, and most importantly, an accessible device for the mass consumer, which performs the functions of transmitting / receiving data, controlling and configuring IoT devices.
But still, the main link in communication remains a man. He is in most cases the initiator of the interaction of devices in the IoT system. And this suggests that the person himself becomes a part of it and can control the flow of information, initiate or accept control commands. That is, with his participation a new system is formed, which is called “Social Internet of Things” (SIoT).
Unification and interaction
Of course, with the advent of 5G connectivity and the projected increase in the world of "smart" devices to 50-100 billion, a qualitatively new level of IoT interaction will be needed. And for this, compatibility of the protocols of their work will be needed, since it is the possibility of uninterrupted communication of smart devices of various functionalities that will be one of the drivers for the mass distribution of IoT systems.
By the way, back in 2015, the American consulting company McKinsey & Company found that about 40% of the total economic value of various IoT-systems is the ability to interact with each other their devices, i.e. compatibility. Limited compatibility dramatically reduces the value and usefulness of such a system and leads to its lack of demand by users.
Therefore, to take full advantage of the IoT concept and 5G capabilities, today’s fragmented systems must learn to interact and share information. Solving this problem is a difficult and time-consuming task, but application developers and device manufacturers, together with companies implementing IT systems, will have to agree on the required minimum of common standards and protocols. So, in any case, solutions will be found that will lead to their unification, in much the same way as it was with the TCP / IP network protocol suite.
When this happens, “smart” devices in large quantities will be able to organize into a global network of physical objects connected to the Internet through gateways (hubs or specialized IoT platforms). The latter perform the necessary translation between the protocols that are used in the communication networks and in the devices themselves. At the same time, a variety of hardware platforms will also be able to act as a gateway, ranging from ordinary routers to specialized “boxed” solutions.
Of course, to ensure the connection and maintenance of such a number of devices, as well as to provide the appropriate tools for processing and storing the data received from them, a global software platform is needed. And, ideally, it should be multiplayer and be able to combine not only IoT devices, but also people. And the most suitable option here is the SIoT platform. With their help, users can not only manage the connected devices, but also create new device configurations and all sorts of scenarios for their use. Data will be stored in the cloud, and managed "smart" devices can be located at large distances from each other, even on different continents.
Fantasy that will become a reality
At first glance, for the uninitiated person, everything related to IoT may seem incredible. But this is literally tomorrow's reality, the onset of which is very desirable not to sleep. The world around is changing apart from our will and one day, for example, your usual TV suddenly becomes the control center of everything and everything, since everything necessary for this is already laid by the manufacturer. It has a display, a microcontroller, a network card, an operating system, and everything you need to communicate with other network devices. By registering the appropriate modules using IoT Designer and connecting your Smart TV to the cloud, any user can fully and in the right settings interact with the new digital and wireless world surrounding him.
And this interaction may be the most unexpected. Today, few people imagine that using the same TV connected to the IoT system, for example, you can start and control the process of watering the beds and flowers at a country cottage, or a washing machine in your favorite mother-in-law’s apartment, which you sent yesterday to rest in the Maldives (or farther).
And recently, one of the young IT-companies began producing game and training consoles for dogs. A special bowl with a built-in Wi-Fi module, color buttons and a speaker gives the animal various tasks, rewarding for the correct pressing of a portion of the feed, and informs the owner about its actions. The device also allows you to feed the animal at a set time.
These “fantastic” examples show that, in fact, IoT is a huge field for experimentation. And despite the fact that the era of "smart" devices is just beginning, but it says a lot that the upcoming IT revolution will be connected with the Internet of things.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/337508/
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