Internet of Things

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My take on Internet of Things (IoT)

Nowadays technology has been advancing day by day. We as a human being are not being able to cope up with such kind of rapid technology development. Before 20-25 years one would be just imaging what we are able to achieve it right now, and Internet of things is one of them. Apart from the engineering world, everyone has one question in his or her mind what exactly is Internet of things? Jacob Morgan stated that Internet of things is connecting any device with on and off switch over the Internet (Morgan, 2014). It means connect the unconnected and it is an umbrella of various concept and technologies applied together. IoT includes any electronic devices like Cellphones, Washing Machine, Toasters, Headphones, light bulbs and any electrical devices one can think of which are able to exchange their data over the Internet.

 The concept of Internet of things was first carried out by students from Carnegie Melon University on a coco cola vending machine in which they were able to connect that vending machine over the Internet and would check to see if that drink is available and is cold enough (Foote, 2016). Movies like Matrix, The Terminator showed a little glimpse of IoT even before it was introduced and people were awestruck by seeing some futuristic technology the only thought which came to everyone's mind- is that possible? Can such things be done in future? In 1999, Kevin Ashton during his work at Procter and Gamble came up with the word "Internet of Things," but the concept of IoT actually gained popularity during the year of 2010 (Lueth, 2014) . There are many use and applications of IoT. There are smart factories, smart homes, automatic parking system, smart irrigation system and even health monitoring which are all IoT controlled. Smart homes can be further explained as imagine waking up by an alarm at 6 AM in the morning and signaling your coffee machine turn on and start brewing coffee. Light automatically turns on when the sun sets or setting up the anti-theft system in your home so that you can know some unauthorized user has entered your home even if you are not there at your home. Smart factories is also one of the important areas for IoT where all the packages are RFID controlled and barcode scanned which helps to reduce any kind of theft and there are real-time sensors installed where one can gather all type of the factory information about the data storage, maintenance required at factory thus reducing much of the man power. The main advantage of IoT is that it is automated everything happens automatically without any manpower. It allows a greater flow of information, which helps people to make their decision better.

 Nowadays there are many multi national companies’ investing in IoT but the main problem is that it looks good on paper but when brought to life there are many problems to be faced. The project does not get completed in that given deadline and sometimes the budget also overruns. Considering the fact that IoT is just 8 years old there are many kinds of challenges that are being faced regularly. The main challenge is data management. All the information has been gathered by the sensor but where exactly is this data being stored as these data are being refreshed time to time and for the users even their data backup is necessary. Another major issue with the IoT is Privacy. IoT is bunch of data network connected to a single network so if one of the network is compromised the whole network gets breached which results in massive data privacy leak. Privacy is very important factor in every field so that is why companies tend to invest more in their security so that their data cannot be leaked elsewhere. The disadvantages of IoT are that it is complex. User's privacy can be compromised and sometimes it is not safe as well for e.g.: - someone hacking into your car and taking control over your car.

There are many exciting new projects, which are being currently implemented. Projects like Nest thermostat where the user will be able to control the temperature of their home from their smartphones or tablets. Another project is Philips Hue smart lighting system where the user can take control over their lights in bedroom, garden, living room anywhere in your home. Another one is city sense smart streetlight, which helps in saving electricity by adjusting it according to the vehicles and pedestrians thus saving a lot of money. Major companies like Hilton, Tesla, Ford, Ralph Lauren uses IoT for the customer to create a whole new experience for them (Novoseltseva, 2017).

 In conclusion, IoT is closer to being implemented where one can think of. It is still in early stages there are lots of improvement to be done in areas like security and privacy but when executed it properly it would help us to shape our future in a better way.

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