Internet of things

Anum Naseem
Lecture 1
Introduction to IoT

 When you Google “what is IoT,” you will find many answers and many different definitions.
 Let me summarize and find a definition:
 “The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical
and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers
and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or
human-to-computer interaction.”
Introduction
 Let me start with a quote which will help you in understanding IoT from its core.

 “If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things—using data they
gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track and count everything, and
greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or
recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best. We need to empower computers
with their own means of gathering information, so they can see, hear and smell the world for
themselves, in all its random glory.”
Evolution of IoT
Evolution of IoT
Why connect the things to the internet
 You may be using different computing devices daily but whatever device you’re using, it’s most
likely connected to the internet.
 An internet connection is a wonderful thing, it give us all sorts of benefits that just weren’t
possible before.
 You can read any book, watch any movie, or listen to any song all in the palm of your hand.
 The point is that connecting things to the internet yields many amazing benefits.
 The Internet of Things is actually a pretty simple concept.
 It means taking all the physical places and things in the world and connecting them to the
internet.
 Confusion arises not because the concept is so narrow and tightly defined, but rather because
it’s so broad and loosely defined.
 It can be hard to nail down the concept in your head when there are so many examples and
possibilities in IoT.
Life is easier with IoT
 A glimpse of importance of IoT can be seen from the given example.
 Say for example you are on your way to a meeting, your car could have access to your calendar
and already know the best route to take.
 If the traffic is heavy your car might send a text to the other party notifying them that you will
be late.
 What if your alarm clock wakes up you at 6 a.m. and then notifies your coffee maker to start
making coffee for you?
 Being able to turn the lights on in your house or heating before coming home using your
smartphone?
 Yes, all these things are possible because of IoT.
Introduction to IoT
Introduction to IoT

 Connecting objects might be wireless, as with the radio frequency that offers identification of
items and sensing of the environment.
 Connection may be wired, as with power line communication (PLC).
 PLC offers data transport over electrical media and has pioneered the in-home networking
connectivity of electronic consumer devices that we also name “objects” such as smart fridges,
smart TVs, smart heaters, etc.
Introduction to IoT
 In the IoT, identifying, sensing and automatically deciding and actuating are the main new
functionalities that enable omnipresent computing and networking.
 Therefore, sensor and RFID, among other technologies, will be increasingly deployed and will
thus allow integration of the real world environment in the networked services.
 In fact, billions of RFID tags and sensors are expected to connect billions of
items/objects/things to the network in the coming years.
 Scalable identification, naming and addressing space and structure, scalable name resolution,
scalable and secure data transfer are all of major concern.
Importance of IoT
 When something is connected to the internet, that means that it can send information or
receive information, or both.
 This ability to send and/or receive information makes things “smart”.
 Let’s use smartphones again as an example.
 Right now you can listen to just about any song in the world, but it’s not because your phone
actually has every song in the world stored on it.
 It’s because every song in the world is stored somewhere else, but your phone can send
information and then receive information.
 To be smart, a thing doesn’t need to have super storage or a supercomputer inside of it.
 All a thing has to do is connect to super storage or to a super computer.
Importance of IoT
 In the Internet of Things, all the things that are being connected to the internet can be put into
three categories:
1. Things that collect information and then send it
2. Things that receive information and then act on it
3. Things that do both

 And all three of these have enormous benefits that compound on each other.
1. Collecting and Sending Information
 Sensors could be temperature sensors, motion sensors, moisture sensors, air quality sensors,
light sensors, you name it.
 These sensors, along with a connection, allow us to automatically collect information from the
environment which, in turn, allows us to make more intelligent decisions.
 On a farm, automatically getting information about the soil moisture can tell farmers exactly
when their crops need to be watered.
 This enables farmers to increase their crop yield while decreasing their associated expenses.
 Just as our sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste allow us, humans, to make sense of the
world, sensors allow machines (and the humans monitoring the machines) to make sense of the
world.
2. Receiving and Acting on
Information
 We’re all very familiar with machines getting information and then acting.

 Your printer receives a document and it prints it.

 Your car receives a signal from your car keys and the doors open.
 The examples are endless.
 Whether it’s a simple as sending the command “turn on” or as complex as sending a 3D model to
a 3D printer, we know that we can tell machines what to do from far away.
 The real power of the Internet of Things arises when things can do both of the above.
 Things that collect information and send it, but also receive information and act on it.
3. Doing Both: The Goal of an IoT System
 Let’s quickly go back to the farming example.
 The sensors can collect information about the soil moisture to tell the farmer how much to
water the crops, but you don’t actually need the farmer.
 Instead, the irrigation system can automatically turn on as needed based on how much moisture
is in the soil.
 You can take it a step further.
 If the irrigation system receives information about the weather from its internet connection, it
can also know when it’s going to rain and decide not to water the crops today because they’ll
be watered by the rain anyways.
3. Doing Both: The Goal of an IoT System
 And it doesn’t stop there! All this information about the soil moisture, how much the irrigation
system is watering the crops, and how well the crops actually grow can be collected and sent to
supercomputers that run amazing algorithms that can make sense of all this information.
 And that’s just one kind of sensor.
 Add in other sensors like air quality and temperature, and these algorithms can learn
much,
much more.
 With thousands of farms all collecting this information, these algorithms can create incredible
insights into how to make crops grow the best, helping to feed the world.
Example
How Does My Fridge Do That?

 You are leaving the home (sense user activity)

 There’s no milk in fridge (sense object)

 Use this information to make a decision (process)

 Inform user of decision (communicate)

 How Does My Fridge Do That?
 You are leaving the home (sense user)

 What type of sensor?

 Distinguish between parent and child

 Identify reason for leaving home

 Identify other contexts (e.g., store hours)

 There’s no milk in fridge (sense object)

 Use this information to make a decision (process)

 Inform user of decision (notify)

How Does My Fridge Do That?
 You are leaving the home (sense user)

 There’s no milk in fridge (sense object)

 What type of sensor?

 Is milk needed?

 No milk or “little” milk? (prediction)

 Use this information to make a decision (process)

 Inform user of decision (notify)

How Does My Fridge Do That?
 You are leaving the home (sense user)

 There’s no milk in fridge (sense object)

 Use this information to make a decision (process)

 Where is processor?

 What are the rules?

 Inform user of decision (notify)

How Does My Fridge Do That?
 You are leaving the home (sense user)

 There’s no milk in fridge (sense object)

 Use this information to make a decision (process)

 Inform user of decision (notify)

 How?

 When?

 Privacy?
IoT Application examples

 In terms of application domains, there are you know IoT is attractive in different applications,
spheres application, domains spheres.
 For instance, manufacturing and business, healthcare, retail, security and so on.
 Smart Healthcare
 Smart Vehicles
 Smart Cities
 Smart Parking
 Smart home
 Smart Parking
Thank you