What is the Internet of things, how does it work and what is useful

Internet of things

They talk about the Internet of things a lot and often. We know that this applies to the field of high technology and automation, which can make life more convenient and safer. Behind this is the future of industry, the economy, and ordinary household activities. But how exactly does the Internet of things work and what is it at the moment??

What is the Internet of things and how is it useful

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interconnected devices (things) that have high-tech features and work as one organism. They “know” about the general state of the system, “talk” with each other, “suggest” necessary changes in work without human intervention. Devices mean almost anything: coffee makers, irons, cars, lamps. Any “smart” appliance, from curtains to washing machines, becomes part of the Internet of things.
According to the idea, such a structure, based on data, should fulfill and predict the goals of a person independently and change them depending on his condition and mood. But so far this is not so. Now it is rather automation. Imagine that the teapot knows what time you wake up and automatically makes tea. But what happens if you get up later? – A hot drink will be made at the same time as usual. Smart things are not yet smart enough to take into account the nuances of a person’s behavior and work without his commands.

When your phone understands that you did not get up on time, it will “inform” the teapot, and that one will “tell” about this to your car, which is warming up at the right time, then this will be the Internet of things.

In order not to move away from the practical goals of IoT, let’s look at a few examples of the directions in which developers from Russia are now making life more convenient.

1. X-turion (“Ixturion “)

A team led by Sergey Kolyubin and Ilya Grigoryev creates the X-Turion mobile robot, which monitors homes, apartments and offices. It integrates into the smart home control system and travels around the premises on its own. Using its own sensors, it generates maps of humidity, temperature, pollution, noise.

X-Turion can act as a robotic butler and control lamps, sockets, appliances, shutters. Cool interface features like face recognition, voice control or gestures are included.

2. Jalousier

The project is designed to create optimal lighting and temperature in the apartment. This is a system that is embedded in the concept of “smart home”. It adjusts the position of the blinds depending on the time of day, outdoor or indoor lighting, which optimizes the cost of electricity, heating or, conversely, the cooling of rooms.

3. InwiON

Novosibirsk company Wellink Technologies has created a system for the intelligent control and management of residential and non-residential premises.

Functionality of InwiON:

• Protection against flooding or fire.
• Analysis based on video surveillance: visit logs, arrival-care schedule, motion recording. Video timestamps.
• Control of lighting, household appliances, security sensors.

How the Internet of Things Works

The full-fledged Internet of Things system combines four components: sensors (field devices), a network, data processing, and a user interface. Consider what it is and how each of these components individually works..

1. Sensors

The main task of this block is to collect information from its environment. For example, video recording, motion analysis, temperature, humidity. Sensors can be combined into one group. That is, a single device is capable of performing several functions at once.

2. Network

A network is a way of connecting elements of a system to each other. Data from sensors is sent for processing – to the cloud or local storage. To connect and send information used: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, broadband networks LPWAN, satellite or mobile communications.

3. Data processing

After transferring data to the cloud storage, they are analyzed and compared. Operations at this stage can be simple – both checking the temperature in the bedroom during sleep, and complicated – identifying objects from the broadcast video using computer vision.

Processing allows you to form a picture of the process, find out what exactly is happening in the environment, is this a normal state and what are the deviations from the norm.

4. User Interface

The processed information shows the user a situation or problem. Depending on the project, these can be alerts via email, text messages, notifications in a mobile application or monitoring tool. For example, you get a signal about the need to remotely turn off the heating system so that there is no energy overrun.

But as we said the real Internet of things – this is not management by the user, but automated (independent) configuration of the structure under changing conditions.

Perspectives of the Internet of Things for Humanity

The system is not only suitable for satisfying a person’s “home” concerns. This also applies to business and industry. Active development and implementation of synchronized automatic control systems began in Germany. The country considered the strategic importance of this area and called it Industry 4.0..

Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution. It provides for the massive introduction of cyberphysical systems in production. Here are some examples of how this is already working for the benefit of humanity:

Waste disposal

BigBelly is a ballot box designed by Boston University. She analyzes waste collection, adjusts logistics and calculates the optimal size of the bin for a particular site. Boston’s use of BigBelly in public places has already reduced its waste collection frequency by 8.75 times.

Agriculture

In Kansas, combines are equipped with a field productivity analyzer. The data obtained are used during the spraying of fertilizers and minerals from airplanes – the composition of the mixture is automatically adjusted depending on the treated area.

Forest protection

Amazonian forests in Brazil are protected by the Invisible Track miniature network. They show where illegal logging is being conducted, where harvesting sites are located, and along which route trees are exported from the protected area..

Systems still involve human participation, but in general, the Internet of things is going to leave him only control.