Internet of Things

Imagine this scenario…you purchase a new air-conditioner (AC). You cannot wait to get it all setup and ready to use. Why? Not because it’s getting pretty hot. To cool your room, any AC would suffice. But this one is special. Very special. Why?

Let’s go back a few hours when you were at the electronics store browsing around for the best possible AC to purchase..flashback..!!

The sales agent has been harping on the new features of this product and especially been bragging about it being an intelligent AC. You’re sceptical. You think, “The last watch I purchased was supposed to be intelligent. It does everything, except show the time”.

You ask the sales agent why it is “intelligent”. He gives you the widest grin you’ve ever seen. It’s as if he is saying to himself “I thought you’d never ask”.

He explains, the AC is Wi-Fi enabled and allows you to remotely adjust the temperature via the company’s mobile app. (You don’t seem too impressed). It also learns (he stresses on the word “learns”) your behavioural patterns to create a temperature-setting schedule. (Your eyes open wide).

“Can you give me an example?” you ask.

“Of course”. “It has a convenience factor. It can remember that you prefer to lower the temperature before going to bed, and can do that for you every night when you retire to bed to call it day”.

“Really?

“Yes…it also, even if it is a minor saving, it has the potential value that you can save some money on your electricity bill by being able to remotely turn off the AC, which due to your “Ghajini” mode, you forgot to do so before leaving the house.”

“What else?”

“You can program it to start on its own when it determines you in close proximity, without you having to actually switch it on (from the mob)”.

“What? How can it do that?”

“Well you see, the mobile app has a feature, if enabled, can send a notification to the AC when you reach within a pre-determined distance from your home”.

Now you are impressed. After going through a few more features, haggling over the price, discounts, warranty, loan, EMI etc., you buy it.

Moving back to the present time now (a bit of an oxymoron there, “back to the present”).

The AC is installed, ready to use. You use it for a few days and it does seem to be “intelligent”. It adjusts the temperature to the appropriate level every night before you sleep. It does switch on by itself every day when you return from office and are about half a kilometre away. It really does work!

That my friends, is IoT, the Internet of Things. Where devices are connected, somehow or the other. But mainly over the internet, over WiFi, 3G, 4G whatever.

Now imagine more such intelligent, connected devices.

A refrigerator that sends you a text message to inform you that you’re low on milk, cheese and bread. A home automation kit that can alert you about an intruder or even water leakage. Or fire. And send out an SOS to the police and fire department (if they are already on to this IoT bandwagon, i.e.)

.

A fitness tracker that can determine that you’ve fallen asleep and turns off the lights and TV.

Your car, when you start your day driving to work, it pulls up your schedule and automatically provides you with the best route to get to your meeting on time. Or send a note to the relevant parties, if you are running late.

All of this is now possible with IoT.

What makes it work?

The underlying technology is the secret ingredient here is. The wireless technologies that allow devices to connect over the Internet and to each other. Technologies like, WiFi, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC etc. There are a few more that are complex and most of us have probably never even heard of it, so let’s stick to the basics.

Then there are things like sensors, door locks, light bulbs etc. A hub that connects to different devices. And then there are cloud services that enable the collection and analysis of data, so people can determine what’s going on and take action via mobile apps.

We’re just warming up here on IoT. There’s a lot more. I will provide more details in upcoming blogs on this series over the next few weeks.

About Author:

Ajay Singala is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: ajay.singala@spluspl.com