Real IoT Projects You Would Not Expect

A new edition of MWC starts today and IoT is as omnipresent as mobiles. While the hype and attention is for Smart Cities and Industrial M2M, the IoT is more than that.

Some years ago we created this infographic to show what the world will look like thanks to the IoT and we even wrote a "50 IoT Apps Ranking" describing all the sectors where we see a big potential: http://www.libelium.com/top_50_iot_sensor_applications_ranking/pdf

But customers are always more creative, showing us that there are always other opportunities and not only for pilots but for paying projects. Today I just want to introduce four of them.

To bee or not to bee: sensors monitoring beehives and global pollination. Honey bees have throughout history been a keystone species, pollinating an estimated 70 percent of all plants and underpinning some 30 percent of the global food supply. Because the viability of beehives is a critical predictor of the planet’s future health and agricultural sustainability, reports of a precipitous decline in the number of colonies around the world have stirred considerable alarm. A team composed of students at the University of Cork, Ireland has developed a unique platform through which they are able to monitor, collect and analyze activity within the colonies unobtrusively. They integrated in Waspmote sensor platform, gas and hive condition sensors, ZigBee radios, 3G and GSM communications to look at the impact of carbon dioxide, oxygen, temperature, humidity, chemical pollutants and airborne dust levels on the honey bees. Full story: http://www.libelium.com/temperature-humidity-and-gases-monitoring-in-beehives/

Sensors in the space. ArduSat, designed by Nanosatisfi, is the first Open Source satellite. Included in the standard payload of the two 10cm x 10cm orbiters launched are Radiation Sensor Boards designed by Libelium that will monitor radiation levels generated by space phenomena such as sun storms and background activity. This sensing technology acts as a Geiger counter measuring gamma particles produced anywhere in space. With the successful space launch of ArduSat aboard a H-IIB rocket, the first open satellite platform that allows private citizens to design and run their own applications in space is now in the International Space Station (ISS). Full story: http://www.libelium.com/libelium-sensors-launch-into-space-in-the-first-open-source-satellite/

Swimming with the piranhas. Aquariums offer the possibility to study and enjoy these fascinating ecosystems without the need for long and expensive trips. Aquariums are also a great educational tool that can raise public awareness about the need to preserve the lives and habitats of aquatic animals, and make people aware of the importance of biodiversity. The majority of animals that live in aquariums are extremely sensitive to changes in environmental conditions. For the fish to thrive, thorough and regular monitoring of various physical and chemical parameters in the water is necessary. Smart Water model of Waspmote Plug & Sense allows to collect water quality parameters from the tank of the piranhas and environmental conditions in the terrarium of the anaconda. Full story: http://www.libelium.com/water-quality-monitoring-europe-largest-fluvial-aquarium-zaragoza

Early detection of childhood disease. Pneumonia is the number 1 killer of children worldwide with 2 million deaths each year. With a child dying every 20 seconds, pneumonia is a significant contributor to neonatal mortality in developing countries – more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.The illness is treatable and preventable, but accurate early detection with wearable eHealth devices is key. The main problem when researching in eHealth is the huge entry barrier of devices price. One of the challenges to e-Health innovation has been the lack of affordable sensors. Company GuardIT and NGO Project HOPE cooperated to create a new device for detecting pneumonia using Libelium e-Health Sensor Platform as a prototyping tool. Full story: http://www.libelium.com/e-health-low-cost-sensors-for-early-detection-of-childhood-disease-inspire-project-hope/

The above may be outliers. The IoT will not be driven for sure by the growing of their represented market opportunities but there are three main conclusions we can read here:

• IoT technology is enabling things that we could never dream of like reaching the space or reducing eHealth research costs.
• The unobstrusive characteristic of wireless and battery-powered sensor devices makes it possible to collect continuous data from places we could not reach before, like honeybees or aquariums.
• These are just four examples, but there are many more. The power of these outliers is not in showing big market opportunities per se, but in demonstrating that the IoT is conquering every single corner of our world. The next Tech Revolution is already here!

I will be speaking about this tomorrow at MWC, "Realising the IoT Opportunity" 14-15:30, Hall 4 Auditorium 3: http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/sessions/5742796208078848/