The Internet of Things is a very important phenomenon in the modern world. It allows you to collect data from smart devices and analyze it. This analysis will help improve the performance of existing devices through firmware updates and create more advanced hardware systems that are devoid of existing shortcomings.
An example is modern air conditioners that provide different modes of maintaining climatic conditions during the day and night. But most of them will carry out a given program, regardless of the presence or absence of a person, the number of people in the room, and other conditions.
Device management. The Internet of Things involves some procedures that cannot be bypassed. These include:
1. Device identification. It is necessary to determine from which device the data came to the data cloud;
2. Setting up the device based on the commands developed by the control application. In this plan, there is data that is transmitted once, and there are those that come with each update. The first is the identification number of the device. The second – updating the software to increase the efficiency of work;
3. Tracking the state of the device with further data analysis.
User management. This category includes creating and deleting users. This also includes setting user rights. For example, several different people use the device. The first can change all the settings, the second – only some of them, the third user can only enable and disable the device.
Security monitoring. Data security is extremely important. Cybercriminals can connect to devices and send data from them that can disrupt the entire system or part of it. To prevent this, it is necessary to collect statistics of sent data from similar devices. When new information is received, the incoming data are compared with control snapshots of information sent from similar devices.
Internet of Things example
To better understand how exactly the Internet of Things and its components work, consider a separate case with smart lighting.
Collection of information. Sensors receive information about the state of the surrounding space. The information is then sent to the data lake. From there, the data goes into the analytical plane to determine how often the system turns on, on which days of the week, and for what period of time. Also, analytics will reveal the amount of electricity consumed.
Manual monitoring and control. On the site map, the user can see the position of each light pole and then turns the lights on or off. You can do this individually or control all the lights at once. Also, the application may show lights that you need to pay attention to since they have lamps that will soon reach their end of life or the presence of breakdowns in one or another pole.
Data analysis. The light from a nearby lamp may hit the sensor of another. In this case, false information will go into the data lake. The analytics compares the data received both from the neighbouring lights and from the clock (determining the time of day). An instruction is sent to the lantern from which a false signal comes, contrary to the readings of the sensors, to turn on.
Machine learning. Machine learning programming can automatically turn lights on and off based on what time homeowners leave and return. For example, turn on the lights 5-10 minutes before the arrival of the owners of the house. In this case, energy consumption can be reduced.
Analytics. Can define behavior scenarios. For example, the owners of a home have gone on vacation. In this case, even when the switch-on time is reached, the system will receive a signal cancelling the command “light the lights”. This will allow: a. not waste the lamp life, b. reduce the amount of electricity consumed.
User management. If you create several user groups, you can significantly optimize the use of lamps and electricity. For example, 3 user groups will be created: Owner, Residents, and Guests. In this case, the Owner gets access both to control all the lights on the site and to change the lighting settings by the hour. Residents have access only to manually turn on or off the lights. And the Guest gets access only to turning the lighting on and off only in the guest areas. In the garage or the backyard, he can no longer control the lighting.
It is also important in the application to configure those lampposts to which the owner of the site has control. A huge number of lighting areas can be served in one system. And a resident of one mustn’t have access to lighting in other areas.
Conclusion
The Internet of Things is an extremely complex system that can improve the quality of life of the people who use it. However, the system must comply with the following features:
- Flexibility. It is necessary that it can be reconfigured for new tasks at any time;
- Consistency. All elements of the network must work together to ensure the collection of big data for the generation of statistical information;
- Integration. The system should be easily integrated into existing corporate systems.
Conclusion
At the moment, when the concept is at its initial stage of development, it cannot do without human participation. So far, “smart” things work, for the most part, to automate some processes.
The central hub problem remains unresolved. Until now, the main role in the network of devices is given to a person – he not only formulates the desired result but also sets programs for achieving it. Ultimately, these functions should be taken over by the central device of the network. It should be responsible for collecting data from other things and managing its functions. All developments in the field of IoT platforms are still taking only the first steps on this path.
The development of the Internet of Things guarantees the growth of adjacent markets. Companies in the field of data storage, analysis, and protection will profit from this. Until now, the Internet has been the main source of big data. But when the space around us is crammed with sensors, the amount of unstructured information will grow exponentially.
