It was only a decade ago that the Internet was primarily used and accessed by desktop and laptop computers. Today, mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.) are quickly becoming the bulk of devices connected to Internet. Additionally, many types of sensors, instruments and devices are also seeking Internet connectivity.

However, some of the most significant Internet-related growth in the coming years will be from what is called the Internet of Things (IoT)—a number of objects hooking to Internet, some of which are hard to imagine even now: refrigerators, microwave ovens, bridges, traffic signals & lights, gates, etc. IoT allows users to sense and control objects through existing network infrastructure, such as Internet, with expected results including increased efficiency, better accuracy and added economic paybacks. 

What could be the ‘things’ in IoT?

A wide variety of objects are included in IoT. These objects are “things” such as sensors, automobiles, environment monitoring devices, household utility devices, or medical instruments like cardiac monitors, etc. These “things” can be a mix of hardware, software and services. Any object with a sensory component and some associated data can be part of IoT. For example, a refrigerator may need to sense conditions such as the change in temperature or the present position of food in the refrigerator, and it can have associated data about its internal temperature, the amount of food in it, and other relevant information. A refrigerator with those capabilities would be a viable candidate for IoT.

How does IoT work?

IoT is the connectivity of candidate objects over a common network, such as Internet. For those objects to be able to communicate on the network in easily understandable language, special, concise interfaces must be prepared. Currently, connectivity to IoT consists of hooking up a candidate to the network, wired or wirelessly, assigning an IP address to the candidate, and providing the candidate with the necessary bandwidth to communicate. But there must also be agreement between the candidate and the rest of IoT regarding what data is to be communicated and how it will be understood by others on the network. For this agreement to work, IoT candidates must be prepared with the necessary languages, protocols, or other skills needed to communicate over the IoT. With the huge number of objects predicted to be on IoT in near future, allowing so many objects to communicate with each other promises to be gigantic task.

A reliable IoT requires the following components:

Network infrastructure

Today’s Internet, with its typical expansion rate, is the best-suited network for hosting IoT objects. However, it still leaves room for improvement. As and when more objects form part of the network, the backbone bandwidth must also be enhanced. Fortunately, the Internet has proven that network expansion can such enhancements with little trouble. 

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