OCTOBER 29, 2015

INTERNET OF THINGS

ROHAN VERMA
IST659, MSIM
Syracuse University

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When American author and politician Bruce Barton said “Talker have always ruled. They will continue to rule. The smart thing is to join them”, probably he considered only human beings to be able to communicate. However, we understand, backed by research, that all animals and plants communicate with each other and with ever advancing technologies, it has been possible for humans to communicate effectively with the modern machines as well.
Which brings us to the question, can machines communicate with other machines? Can we envisage an environment in which objects, animals or people have communication channels which do not require human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction for interaction?
The Internet of Things(IoT) helps create an environment in which machines can interact amongst themselves or with living beings (human, animals and plants), where each entity is provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without any human-to-human or human-to-machine interaction (Wigmore, 2014). IoT is a generic term and all entities play an active role owing to their connection to the Internet. It provides access to information, media and services, through wired and wireless broadband connections. The
IoT feeds from the connections set up between the Consumer, Business and Industrial
Internet to help create new services leading to smart, efficient and more intelligent environment. The Internet of Things is not a single technology, rather it’s a conglomerate of different things and providing solution based on integration of information technology
(Vermesan and Friess, 2013). Apart from being used in new applications, the IoT also generates large amounts of data which can be put to use in various analytics for improvement and keeping track of everything which happens in the real world at low costs and reducing waste. The concept of IoT has been around for quite some time though the term was not coined until 1999. The first instance of IoT in practice came into existence in 1982 in the form

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of a Coke vending machine at the Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science Department which was able to report about the availability and temperature of the drink. Mark Weiser then expanded on this concept of network of smart devices in his paper ‘The Computer of the
21st Century’ in the year 1991. However, it was Reza Raji who in 1994 brought into the fold the concept of movement of data between appliances through networks to integrate and automate everything. Then in 1999, Bill Joy presented his concept of device to device communication model in the World Economic Forum at Davos. The term ‘Internet of Things’ was popularized by the work of Auto-ID Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which started to design cross-company RFID infrastructure (Vermesan and Friess, 2013). Since then tagging of devices using RFID, NFC, barcoding, QR codes and digital watermarking became popular thus enabling smart computers to manage and inventory the devices.
The term Internet of Things has made rapid progress and the first scientific conference was held in the year 2008 and in 2009 European Union defined it as a general evolution of internet “from a network of interconnected computers to interconnected objects” (Vermesan and Friess, 2013). Today around 40% of the devices or objects in South Korea are connected while a third in Denmark and Switzerland and around a quarter in the US as per the report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2015. As per the various research conducted by technology research organizations, there would be around
26-30 billion devices connected by 2020 and a further 83% of the internet users believe that
IoT will have beneficial effects by 2025 and the main enabling force would be the adoption of
IPv6 over IPv4 which had only 4.3 billion unique address.
The Internet of Things is not the product of a single technology but an amalgamation of several technologies which help in bridging the gap between the virtual and physical worlds

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leading to a coordinated, resourceful and effective environment. Some of the major components or capabilities of IoT are listed as below:
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Communication and cooperation form the basis of the IoT. Wireless technologies like GSM, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi play the major role in getting the device connected with each other and provide the framework over which the data can be transferred between the devices.

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Connected objects can be located and addressed and thereby enable remote access and configuration of devices. The devices can be located using the GPS or the mobile network along with the RFID, radio beacons and optical technologies(barcode) to identify the objects.

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The objects have sensors fitted to them to sense their environment and forward the data to other devices for further analysis or analyze themselves to provide valuable information. 

Smart objects connect with the users which require efficient user interface which can display the information obtained from different things and also take commands from the user.

To summarize the basic architecture of Internet of Things consists of an object having a sensor which collects the data. The data is then sent to a device which may be hosted remotely from the actual location of the object and sensor. The device converts the data into useful information. Network protocols, IPv4 and IPv6, are used to transmit the processed information into cloud storage. In the next step, aggregation of the data collected from different devices takes place and is then transmitted to a presentation device which have the capability to report and take inputs from the user. All the connections from the device to cloud and from cloud back to device is aided by routers and switches.

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With recent advancements in the semi-conductor field making them smaller and cheaper by each passing day more devices are getting connected with each other and thus presenting us with a strong network of devices. The global adoption of the IPv6 over IPv4 will enable to accommodate large addresses and unique identifiers for greater number of devices.
These have led even the devices embedded with limited CPU power, memory and power resource to be able to get connected over network. The concept of IoT can be applied to various fields ranging from factories and supply chain to building smart cities and urban planning (Ersue; Romascanu; Schoenwaelder; Sehgal, 2014). The IoT can also used to get the things done rather than only feeding in the data for further actions. It can be used to monitor shopping trends of customers and sending them offers and vouchers related to their product buying history or even placing order on online vendors when they run out of their favorite products (Narayanan, 2014). Another application can be the controlling home security and appliances (), setting off alarms and intimating the nearest police in case of any break-ins and controlling the room temperatures to optimal level by sensing the geo location on mobile handsets or running hot water after a game of tennis. Two of the areas where the concepts of IoT has been put to use currently are the traffic monitoring system and in remote medical monitoring. In a traffic monitoring system, applications use the data received from the GPS of the mobile users to identify congestion and deduce travel times or provide alternatives for users to choose the most efficient route. For example, the app Google Maps application collects and send location of each of the user to cloud and other aggregation devices which using the data received inform send updated information to users about the traffic status on a particular route. Similarly, in a remote medical monitoring system the IoT analyzes the patients’ vital organs and recurring indicator data collected from devices installed on patients’

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body. Feeding the results over a wireless network it can alert doctors in case of emergencies or provide health trends and advice to patients.
The potential of IoT hasn’t fully been realized yet with advancements in other industries, the use of IoT becomes imperative and in fact the developments in other areas open up new ventures where the concept of IoT can be applied. The recent advancements of electric cars are one such case in example. Electric cars are intelligent power consumption device and energy storage terminal, and energy services infrastructure network for electric vehicles services is new important part of Smart Grid. In order to solve automation and intelligence problems for wide area electric vehicles charging-swap services, the use of information perception applications and communications networking modes of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in electric vehicles charging-swap networks becomes imperative
(Gao; Zhang & Li, 2012). A charging-swap network consists of centralized charging stations, battery swap stations, battery distribution stations, AC charging piles and operation monitoring center. The centralized charging stations charge the batteries and maintains them. While the battery distribution and swap stations provide customers with new or replace drained batteries. AC charge piles provide timing, measurement of charging degrees, cost measurement while the operating centers manage the overall process.
By using the IoT concept, each electric car would be able to coordinate with the battery distribution company effectively by constantly sending out power remaining levels and the aggregating devices would be able to ascertain the time by which the battery would need to be replaced and where (by using the GPS services) along with providing suggestions for the nearest charging piles. Thus making the electric car driving experience more fruitful.
Internet of Things finds its application even in the disaster prone areas like sounding alerts for tsunami or volcanic activity where human presence at close proximity to the site is

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hazardous and dangerous. With sensors fitted on the devices along with connectivity over the internet the devices can sense minute disturbances in sea or seismic activities and transfer the data to scientists for further analysis and alert people of any dangers. It also plays a major role in the providing effective aid to the needy. Using the RFID tags, food items and other goods can be tracked and supplied to places where shortage. This would prevent stocking and wasting of goods at one place and improve response times to places where those are actually required. With integration and connectivity of devices across industries, the IoT has opened gates for new markets which could not even have been visualized. It has not only helped create new opportunities and made the processes more streamlined and cost effective, it has improved quality of life and made it simpler and more enjoyable. We can now think of controlling devices located hundreds of miles away by a press of a button or get discount coupons for coffee shops nearby. By enabling machine to machine dialogue, we can expect most of the mundane activities to be taken care of by the machines themselves. Imagine a washing machine setting up its wash mode and water temperature depending upon the type of cloth being put to wash identifying them with the help of RFID tags for optimum results.
The capability to connect remote devices and control them not only presents us with a better life and application in various fields, it also throws us many challenges. One of the most important being making this technology available to the people at low costs. With the prices of the semiconductor chips and processes decreasing with each passing day and new breakthroughs in semiconductors should enable to lower the technology price. To make the technology more efficient and secure there are some other challenges faced as well:
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Power supply - most of the things are movables and cannot be connected to a static power source. Whereas to be able to remain connected on the network grid and

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send and receive data across, they require constant power supply. Hence the need to provide self sufficient power source. Batteries are an option but due to slow progress in the battery technology it is not efficient enough due to size constraints.
Also there are some RFID transponders which do not require any power source but their range is limited. It is hoped that progress in the semiconductor technology to make low power processors that require less energy would help. There are also some battery-free wireless sensors which obtain their power remotely or from the measuring process itself, for example using piezoelectric or pyroelectric materials for measuring pressure and temperature (Mattern & Floerkemeier, 2010).
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Standardization and common practices also form an important challenge as the number of devices getting connected and communicating increase. To get maximum number of devices on board or on the network, they must use similar protocols and connectivity techniques else there can be scenario of isolation. This could also make the underlying software complex requiring more processing capabilities and thus power draining.

We have already established IoT has life changing capabilities and application in varied fields which have proved to be beneficial to the business in term of making the processes more streamlined and cost and time effective. Below section discusses impacts of the IoT on human sensibilities towards security and privacy and supply chain management of an industry. One of the biggest impacts or rather concern that has come up due to the IoT has been the privacy and security of personal information. With machines tracking each and every action of humans; be it location tracking, maintaining online shopping history, grocery and other goods inventory, we run at a risk of sharing this information with multitude of businesses or people. Hackers can get access to the personal information which may lead to

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theft or personal harm. On the other hand, it has proved beneficial to many businesses by helping them in attracting new customers by providing lucrative offers, gift coupons and discounts. It has also revolutionized after sales services experience for the customers; imagine a printer ordering a new cartridge to an online store by itself before the ink runs out.
As Zaslavsky et al. (2013) note, “...concentration of computational resources enables sensing, capturing, collection and processing of real time data from billions of connected devices serving many different applications including environmental monitoring, industrial applications, business and human-centric pervasive applications.” (Shah, 2015). This presents with the opportunity for improved services and efficiency that can add more value by means of using data analytics tools. Big data in this sense prove to be an enabler of the IoT owing to its capability to handle huge volume of data in various formats at greater speeds. Since the data is collected near real time, it jeopardizes the data quality immensely and as the data is collected from a number of source, they often do not conform with any predefined structure of format. These lead to issues in data integration which hinders use of classical relational databases for storage and processing hence the need for NOSQL databases. Once these are taken care of, the next step is to analyze the data set acquired which owing to the humungous data set is not possible using the traditional machine learning methods and it requires methods aimed at analyzing streaming data at scale for event prediction, change point detection, time-series forecasting etc that require online learning or where the models need to be adapted to evolving realities.
Big data and Internet of Things combined are shaping the way healthcare is provided to the people and how doctors monitor their patients. It also plays a major role in improving the operational efficiency, predict epidemics and plan course of action to prevent spreading.
Today patients are being monitored 24x7 by use of devices which measure and provide

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doctors about their patient’s temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar level etc. With data being sent over to cloud and accessible from any part of the world, it has brought medical services closer and accessible to patients in remote areas via video conferencing or mobile healthcare. Big data and IoT further provide with insight discovery and knowledge by analyzing the personal health records along with aiding in the hospital supply chain management for equipment and medicines, reducing operating costs and ensuring availability at all times. The technology has also played a great role in effective management of blood banks in times of crisis where the inventory details are available and required blood type can be provided with in no time.
As stated, IoT has already revolutionized the lives of human beings and as it continues to permeate into other sectors, I believe it will open myriads of opportunities, setting up new businesses and making lives more worth living. IoT has been one of the biggest disruptive force in modern times and has proven to be detrimental for the industries which have not accepted the change. In such a scenario, knowledge of IoT and understanding its scope and application can only help to be in tune with the ever changing technology.
Internet of Things has already invaded the way people shop these days, other day I was searching for winter boots on Amazon; tracking my search history Amazon presented me with multitude of options when I next visited the site along with some discounted ones which I had not noticed earlier. Thus saving me money, time and effort of going to a retailer and buying the boots. Icing on the cake would have been had Amazon stopped sending me mails about new offers after I had bought a pair. Probably not so intelligent from Amazon!

[no f words: ~2800]

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Dr. Ovidiu Vermesan SINTEF, Norway Dr. Peter Friess EU, Belgium
River Publishers
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