A few weeks ago I had the chance to take part in IBM's "IoT -The Internet of things is not coming … it is already here" event, held at TechHub. I am glad to have participated, as I left the event with a new view over big data management, sensor capturing and IoT in itself.
Consider yourself surrounded by smart appliances, sensors and gadgets which are able to make your life better without any interaction, for example, your A/C start half an hour before you arrive home and you are welcomed with the perfect temperature once you get home. You would say that you can already set your A/C do that using the timer function, but what you come home earlier or you are late due to a business meeting, why should you suffer or waste resources because of a fixed time function. This is where IoT comes into action. For example your smartphone or your smart car dashboard could communicate to your A/C to start with exactly 30 minutes before you get in, start your coffee maker if you plan to work through the night, based on your schedule, or even prepare your dinner right on time.
Take this a step further, how about having your fridge order your groceries based on what it knows you have stored inside him, and many more. Well this is the Internet of Things.
How does this work?
The technology is not something new, but it is a conglomerate of different solutions brought under a single concept, with the purpose of making your, already too complex life, into a simple and happy existence. The technology is based on having your house and appliances linked with active sensors, which communicate over a network to a data broker which handles the information and stores it for logical analytics and predictions software. The communication is usually done via a special protocol, while each device has an IPv6 address. For example, based on the temperature sensor and the location data in your smartphone, linked to how close you are from home, an analytics software will know exactly when to command your A/C to start cooling your house.
A simple example which was presented during the conference is that of a smart mouse trap. This example might be a bit farfetched for your home, but for a corporate fast food joint this is heaven in resource management. In the example provided, a fast food chain I will not name, is using such technology so that instead of paying a 3rd company to inspect the traps weekly, they know for sure if something is trapped and so they need only pay resources when there's actually work involved. This system can easily save money or even lives (Legionella stale water monitoring).
Why not put sensors in everything already?
IBM's solution sounded great, but of course they come with a big cost. Why is that? Because the sensors and the software handling them should be properly secured. The bad part of IoT, is that being handled over a network protocol, this is open for 3rd party intrusions. The worst case that was presented is the one of using the communication sensor in a pacemaker, which is usually used by medics to gather information and improve its functionality, could be hacked by someone to kill the person whose life depends on it.
So security is quite important. Best sensors on the market have multiple security layers, being fitted with an embedded security hash which once registered on the network can't be replicated or accessed, permissions to access it being part of only the system controller they are registered on.
Some examples are quite positive:
- a smart building in Stockholm
- fan control in a car factory painting area
- lights in the London Metro
I suggest you read more about it, as I will also revisit the subject in future posts, but don't forget that the Internet of Things is here now!