Where and when the Internet of Things was born

You will have, at least once in your life, heard the terms “IOT”, or “Internet Of Things”, or (in Italian) “Internet of Things”. They are all synonyms of a philosophy, which has been heard a lot in recent years, but which has roots in the past. A past in which there were still no tools to put into practice the idea behind this philosophy.

How the IOT was born

As I was saying, IOT can be defined as a philosophy: a current of thought according to which, in addition to computers, objects are also connected to the network. These objects are called ” smart objects “. They interact with the environment around them and collect different data. A lot of data.

IOT was born a long time ago. At the time it was called with a less fashionable and more technical term, ie ” distributed systems “. Already at the time it was clear that “things” could be real computers. We must think of Smart Obejcts as ” Store And Foward ” devices : that is, capable of storing data which will then be sent to a network infrastructure.

Where the IOT is born

The IOT concept was born in 1999, when I was just 1 year old, but when a certain Kevin Ashton (English engineer) wanted to connect objects to the internet using RFID tags. What are RFID tags? They are those tiny microchips inside the cards that you use to open the hotel rooms when you are on vacation. Obviously there are different types. Eventually I leave you the curiosity to deepen this aspect. The word “IOT” was already imagined in the 1930s, when, however, it was only a future idea. They also called it ” Pervasive Computing ” or ” Ubiquitous Computing “. In short, making it short: a bit like today we think that in the future there will be flying machines.

Context Aware and EPCs

Another very important concept in this story has been the introduction of context aware : where a computation becomes context dependent. The context is the input of the program, and the output can be of a different nature: it can be displayed on the screen, or it can be used to vary the supply of a certain service (e.g. regulating the amount of heat supplied by a heater ).

The birth of the EPC (Electronic Product Code) was fundamental . Think of one thing: these RFID tags are beautiful, but how we save the information inside, so that:

  • They are understandable by us
  • They are understandable by others (ex: warehouse that must communicate to the shop that the product “product_code” is finished)

By inventing a standard ! This standard is the EPC!

Proximity Marketing

Years go by. Technologies are coming to put more and more ideas into practice.

Proximity marketing is one of the first “most sophisticated” developments in the IOT world. The concept was born with Apple’s iBeacon technology. Let me explain what it is: imagine entering a shop, with your beautiful iPhone in your pocket. If the shop has a ” beacon “, the latter and the iPhone will come into contact, and they will know that you entered that shop that day, at that time! In fact, the beacon is a small device that communicates using Bluetooth’s low frequencies to send information. As it happens, a few days later, you will receive an email from the shop where you have been with a 10% discount coupon to encourage you to come back!

How IOT devices communicate

We have just made an example where Bluetooth is used to communicate between the IOT object (the beacon) and “the network” (your smartphone). In general, the protocols used are the usual ones (HTTP, WiFi, or Bluetooth), with the exception of some special cases. Because the imperative is that IOT objects work independently.

Smart Connectivity

The objects are therefore identifiable by normal IP addresses. There is talk of Smart Connectivity , that is “Intelligent Connection”, because, often, objects are found in environments subject to many interferences, or the impossibility of always having a connection at any time to send the collected data. Hence, our “thing” must be capable of storing data until it is sent. Here we have everything for IOT objects to work independently.

Characteristics of an IOT device

So, in summary, the IOT device:

  • Must have a receiver / transmitterto send data (and possibly have a plan B so as not to lose data)
  • Must have an IP addressto be identified
  • It must have hardware sensorssuitable for the data to be collected
  • It must have a store-and-forward capability
  • It must be low-power and low-bandwith

“Low” what? Yes, it must consume little energy and little Internet bandwidth! The beacons we were talking about before, if you think about it, must be able to be placed everywhere: I can’t find a power outlet for everyone! And also, they must not saturate the Internet bandwidth, because I can imagine building a network of beacons that communicate with each other to coordinate (as well as to send data to the iPhone).

Internet of Everything

At this point, it is easy to imagine that we can connect anything to the Internet. With the expression Internet of Everything, we refer to a vision in which, in a few years, we will have millions and millions of devices connected to the Internet. This means that we cannot think of connecting every single beacon directly to the Internet: we will clog everything! We need to invent a network to make beacons communicate with each other, and connect them to the Internet as a single beacon.

Think about what happened in the past few months: Internet infrastructure overloaded because too many people were at home and spent the days between Skype and Netflix! So, in a future perspective there are 2 things to do:

  • Come up with efficient ways to connect IOT devices to each other
  • Strengthen the Internet infrastructure

IOT and M2M (Machine To Machine)

Another buzzword that is often heard of is “Machine To Machine”, or rather a machine-machine connection , without human intervention. This solution is adopted when you do not want to entrust the data to the internet. Maybe for fear that this data will be intercepted, or for other network security issues (where we can open another infinite speech). In M2M, “things” are connected in a closed network, with particular protocols (called owners ).

Sensor Revolution

They call it the ” sensor revolution “. Could it be a new industrial revolution? Of course yes! This revolution already has a name: industry 4.0 . Practically there is now a sensor to measure anything. Just think of your smartphone: it is a centralizer of dozens of sensors.

 

 

by Abdullah Sam
I’m a teacher, researcher and writer. I write about study subjects to improve the learning of college and university students. I write top Quality study notes Mostly, Tech, Games, Education, And Solutions/Tips and Tricks. I am a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

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