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KISII UNIVERSITY

COURSE TITLE: COMPUTING FOR MANAGEMENT

COURSE CODE: MBAD 661

FACILITATOR: MR. MAKHULO

INTERNET OF THINGS

|No. |Name |ADM |SIGNATURE |
|1 |Vane B. B. Onwonga |KSU/NRB/012/015 | |
|2 |Eric Ombasa |CBM12/10183/15 | |
|3 |Vincent Master Oseko |CBM12/10220/15 | |

Table of Contents
What is Internet of Things 1
The Advantages of IoT 2
The Disadvantages of IoT 4
Scenarios: 6
Challenges and Concerns 8
WAYS THE INTERNET OF THINGS IS CHANGING THE WORLD 10
ENVIRONMENT 10
RECOMMENDATIONS 24
In particular, policymakers should do the following: 24
Diagram illustrating IoT 27
References 28

THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

What is Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an environment in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and the Internet.

Technologies for the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is a technological revolution that represents the future of computing and communications, and its development depends on dynamic technical innovation in a number of important fields, from wireless sensors to nanotechnology.

First, in order to connect everyday objects and devices to large databases and networks and indeed to the network of networks (the internet) a simple, unobtrusive and cost-effective system of item identification is crucial. Only then can data about things be collected and processed. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) offers this functionality. Second, data collection will benefit from the ability to detect changes in the physical status of things, using sensor technologies. Embedded intelligence in the things themselves can further enhance the power of the network by devolving information processing capabilities to the edges of the network. Finally, advances in miniaturization and nanotechnology mean that smaller and smaller things will have the ability to interact and connect. A combination of all of these developments will create an Internet of Things that connects the world’s objects in both a sensory and an intelligent manner.

Indeed, with the benefit of integrated information processing, industrial products and everyday objects will take on smart characteristics and capabilities. They may also take on electronic identities that can be queried remotely, or be equipped with sensors for detecting physical changes around them. Eventually, even particles as small as dust might be tagged and networked. Such developments will turn the merely static objects of today into newly dynamic things, embedding intelligence in our environment, and stimulating the creation of innovative products and entirely new services.

The Advantages of IoT

Communication

IoT encourages the communication between devices, also famously known as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication. Because of this, the physical devices are able to stay connected and hence the total transparency is available with lesser inefficiencies and greater quality.

Automation and Control

Due to physical objects getting connected and controlled digitally and centrally with wireless infrastructure, there is a large amount of automation and control in the workings. Without human intervention, the machines are able to communicate with each other leading to faster and timely output.

Information

it is obvious that having more information helps making better decisions. Whether it is mundane decisions as needing to know what to buy at the grocery store or if your company has enough widgets and supplies, knowledge is power and more knowledge is better.

Monitor

The second most obvious advantage of IoT is monitoring. Knowing the exact quantity of supplies or the air quality in your home, can further provide more information that could not have previously been collected easily. For instance, knowing that you are low on milk or printer ink could save you another trip to the store in the near future. Furthermore, monitoring the expiration of products can and will improve safety.

Time

As hinted in the previous examples, the amount of time saved because of IoT could be quite large. And in today’s modern life, we all could use more time.

Money

The biggest advantage of IoT is saving money. If the price of the tagging and monitoring equipment is less than the amount of money saved, then the Internet of Things will be very widely adopted. IoT fundamentally proves to be very helpful to people in their daily routines by making the appliances communicate to each other in an effective manner thereby saving and conserving energy and cost. Allowing the data to be communicated and shared between devices and then translating it into our required way, it makes our systems efficient.
Automation of daily tasks leads to better monitoring of devices

The IoT allows you to automate and control the tasks that are done on a daily basis, avoiding human intervention. Machine-to-machine communication helps to maintain transparency in the processes. It also leads to uniformity in the tasks. It can also maintain the quality of service. We can also take necessary action in case of emergencies.

Efficient and Saves Time

The machine-to-machine interaction provides better efficiency, hence; accurate results can be obtained fast. This results in saving valuable time. Instead of repeating the same tasks every day, it enables people to do other creative jobs.

Saves Money

Optimum utilization of energy and resources can be achieved by adopting this technology and keeping the devices under surveillance. We can be alerted in case of possible bottlenecks, breakdowns, and damages to the system. Hence, we can save money by using this technology.

Better Quality of Life

All the applications of this technology culminate in increased comfort, convenience, and better management, thereby improving the quality of life.

The Disadvantages of IoT

Compatibility

Currently, there is no international standard of compatibility for the tagging and monitoring equipment. I believe this disadvantage is the most easy to overcome. The manufacturing companies of these equipment just need to agree to a standard, such as Bluetooth, USB, etc. This is nothing new or innovative needed.

As devices from different manufacturers will be interconnected, the issue of compatibility in tagging and monitoring crops up. Although this disadvantage may drop off if all the manufacturers agree to a common standard, even after that, technical issues will persist. Today, we have Bluetooth-enabled devices and compatibility problems exist even in this technology! Compatibility issues may result in people buying appliances from a certain manufacturer, leading to its monopoly in the market.

Complexity

As with all complex systems, there are more opportunities of failure. With the Internet of Things, failures could sky rocket. For instance, let’s say that both you and your spouse each get a message saying that your milk has expired, and both of you stop at a store on your way home, and you both purchase milk. As a result, you and your spouse have purchased twice the amount that you both need. Or maybe a bug in the software ends up automatically ordering a new ink cartridge for your printer each and every hour for a few days, or at least after each power failure, when you only need a single replacement.

Privacy/Security
With all of this IoT data being transmitted, the risk of losing privacy increases. For instance, how well encrypted will the data be kept and transmitted with? Do you want your neighbors or employers to know what medications that you are taking or your financial situation?

Safety
Imagine if a notorious hacker changes your prescription. Or if a store automatically ships you an equivalent product that you are allergic to, or a flavor that you do not like, or a product that is already expired. As a result, safety is ultimately in the hands of the consumer to verify any and all automation.
As all the household appliances, industrial machinery, public sector services like water supply and transport, and many other devices all are connected to the Internet, a lot of information is available on it. This information is prone to attack by hackers. It would be very disastrous if private and confidential information is accessed by unauthorized intruders.

Complexity

The IoT is a diverse and complex network. Any failure or bugs in the software or hardware will have serious consequences. Even power failure can cause a lot of inconvenience.

Lesser Employment of Menial Staff

The unskilled workers and helpers may end up losing their jobs in the effect of automation of daily activities. This can lead to unemployment issues in the society. This is a problem with the advent of any technology and can be overcome with education.With daily activities getting automated, naturally, there will be fewer requirements of human resources, primarily, workers and less educated staff. This may create Unemployment issue in the society.

Technology Takes Control of Life

Our lives will be increasingly controlled by technology, and will be dependent on it. The younger generation is already addicted to technology for every little thing. We have to decide how much of our daily lives are we willing to mechanize and be controlled by technology.

Scenarios:

Imagine a scenario when: Your fridge can identify that you have run out of milk; it contacts the supermarket and orders the quantity you usually need, and also informs you by sending a message on your phone!
Your alarm rings at 6:30 am; you wake up and switch it off. As soon as you switch off your alarm, it conveys to the geyser to heat water at a temperature you prefer and also the coffee maker starts brewing coffee!

You are on your way while returning home from work and you use an app on your mobile to switch on the lights, the AC in your home, and tune the TV to your favorite channel so that your house is ready to welcome you before you even open your door!

What would really make a refrigerator “smart” would be if it could read tags and alert owners when their food is about to reach their expiry date, for example. Or perhaps it could refer to an online calendar and make orders on a regular basis for certain items to be delivered.

The IoT can be used to monitor the vibrations of buildings, bridges, and monuments in case the building material is threatened or overloaded. Noise pollution can be controlled around hospitals and schools. It can be used to manage traffic especially during traffic jams, peak hours, accidents, and rains. It can be used to manage street lights―automatically switch them off in the presence of sunlight and switch them on at the onset of darkness. Another good application is alerting the officials to empty the trash bins when filled with waste.

Home Automation

The IoT can be used to remotely control and program the appliances in your home. It can be useful in detecting and avoiding thefts.

Industrial Automation

By using this technology, we can automate manufacturing processes remotely. It can also prove useful in optimizing the production processes. We can manage the inventory and the supply chain. We can also diagnose if the machines require repair and maintenance. We can monitor the emission of toxic gases to avoid damage to workers' health and the environment.

Health Monitoring

We can use this technology to identify health problems. The patterns of heart rate, pulse, digestive system, and blood pressure can be monitored and diagnosed for anomalies. The information can be sent to the doctor for analysis. The hospital can also be contacted in times of emergencies. This system will be very useful to senior citizens and disabled people who live independently.

Smart Environment

A very important application of IoT is detecting pollution and natural calamities. We can monitor the emissions from factories and vehicles to minimize air pollution. We can track the release of harmful chemicals and waste in rivers and the sea, thereby arresting water pollution. We can also keep tabs on the quality of water being supplied for drinking. We can send warnings of earthquakes and tsunamis by detecting tremors. We can keep the water level of rivers and dams under surveillance to be alert in case of floods. The detection of forest fire is also possible with this technology.

Challenges and Concerns

1. Security
If the digitalization and automation of millions of devices will create a whole new security landscape as enterprises attempt to protect themselves, it will also create new opportunities for operational technology security providers. Already, many industry-specific security platforms are being developed for specialist areas like industrialized systems, medical equipment, and air and defense sectors and, in many cases, being integrated into the platforms being developed by equipment providers for those industries. Such solutions are aimed at securing various aspects of specific devices, such as smart meters, or focusing on tackling platform-specific vulnerabilities,.

2. Enterprises
There will also be significant security challenges from the increasing amount of data with the myriad of devices increasing security complexity. This, in turn, will have an impact on availability requirements, which are also expected to increase, putting real-time business processes at risk.

3. Consumer Privacy
Related to this is the challenge of securing the personal data of individuals as the consumer goods they use become increasingly digitized. Already there are issues around metering equipment and digitalized automobiles.

This is particularly challenging as the information generated by IoT is a key to bringing better services and the management of such devices. Security will have to be integrated as part of IoT infrastructure.

4. Data
The impact of the IoT on storage is two-pronged in types of data to be stored: personal data (consumer-driven) and big data (enterprise-driven). Already in use in key verticals such as healthcare and financial services, big data is transforming how and why companies collect and store data.
IT administrators that are already tasked with keeping the storage centers running, will also have to figure out how to store, protect and make all the incoming data accessible. If, as Gartner, estimated, storage servers are only being used to between 30 and 50 percent of capacity, the physical capabilities are there. Managing them, however, is an entirely different problem.
5. Storage Management
However, even if the capacity is available now, there will be further demands made on storage and one that will have too be addressed as the need too access this information becomes more important. Businesses will have weigh up the economics of storage against the value of IoT information.
6. Server Technologies
The impact of IoT on the server market will be largely focused on increased investment in key vertical industries and organizations related to those industries where IoT can be profitable, or add significant value.
Some organizations that manage and consume data collected from a huge array of devices will require additional compute capacity and may well increase server budgets if there is a business case for it.

7. Data Center Network
Existing data center WAN (Wide Area Network) links have been built for moderate-bandwidth requirements created by our current use of technology. However, as the amount of data being transferred is set to increase dramatically, the need for expanded bandwidth grows.
The result of all this, the research points out, is that because of the scale of the data being created it will no longer be economically feasible to store data at a single location.

Building on the potential benefits offered by the Internet of Things poses a number of challenges, not only due to the nature of the enabling technologies but also to the sheer scale of their deployment. Technological standardization in most areas is still in its infancy, or remains fragmented. Not surprisingly, managing and fostering rapid innovation is a challenge for governments and industry alike. Standardization is essential for the mass deployment and diffusion of any technology. Nearly all commercially successful technologies have undergone some process of standardization to achieve mass market penetration. Today’s internet and mobile phones would not have thrived without standards such as TCP/IP and IMT-2000.

WAYS THE INTERNET OF THINGS IS CHANGING THE WORLD

ENVIRONMENT

With over seven billion people on the planet, managing the Earth’s natural resources is an increasingly daunting challenge, but one that the countries of the world must surmount to achieve sustainable economic development. Protecting the environment will require multifaceted solutions, but the Internet of Things offers unique opportunities to address issues such as clean water, air pollution, landfill waste, and deforestation. Sensor-enabled devices now closely monitor the environmental impact of our cities, collecting details about sewers, air quality, and trash. Outside of the city is no different, as sensor-enabled devices monitor our forests, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Many environmental trends are so complex, that they are difficult to conceptualize, but collecting data is the first step towards understanding, and ultimately reducing, the environmental impact of human activity.

ATMOSPHERE

The Air Quality Egg is a device that uses sensors to collect and share data about the air quality outside a person’s home or office. While government agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, monitor pollutants daily from centralized locations in metropolitan areas, the Egg collects data in real time from its user’s immediate environment. The base station relays the air quality data over the Internet where a website aggregates and displays data from every Egg in operation. This real-time data can be used to design and measure the impact of urban pollution policies and changes. It also encourages residents to learn more about their city and understand how their actions impact their community. Air Quality Eggs can be found across North America, Western Europe and East Asia and may eventually play a role in developing countries with the most rapid urban population growth and highest rates of pollution.

TRASH CANS

Big Belly is a solar-powered trash receptacle and trash compactor that alerts sanitation crews when it is full. Waste management facilities use historical data collected from each Big Belly bin to plan their collection activities and make adjustments, such as adjusting the size of a receptacle. Big Belly systems are found throughout cities, corporate campuses, college campuses, parks, and beaches. Boston University has reduced its pickup from an average of 14 to 1.6 times a week. The university not only saves time, but also energy since its trash collectors are using fewer garbage bags and producing less CO2 during trash pickup. Given that household waste is expected to rise to 2.2 billion tons by 2025 from the current 1.3 tons produced now, additional tools will be needed to handle higher volumes of trash.

FORESTS

Invisible Track is a small device covertly placed in trees in protected forest areas to help prevent illegal logging. The devices, which are smaller than a deck of cards, alert authorities when illegally harvested trees pass within range of a mobile network. Law enforcement officials can then locate the production sites and stop these activities. Invisible Track is currently deployed in the Amazonian forests in Brazil, which lost an average of 3.46 million hectares of primary forest each year between 2000 and 2005. Many illegal deforestation activities have gone undetected because satellite range and radio frequencies are often weak in remote areas. Invisible Track now ensures that even the most vulnerable, remote areas of Brazil can be policed and protected.

WATERWAYS

Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System is a network of sensors along the Great Barrier Reef to collect data for researchers exploring the impact of oceanic conditions on marine ecosystems and climate change. Buoys equipped with sensors collect biological, physical, and chemical data. Data is sent to a base station on shore using a variety of wireless technologies, including microwave, satellite, and 3G mobile networks, depending on the distance to shore. The system has been deployed since 2010 in seven different sites along the Great Barrier Reef and has collected data integral to research on fish movement, biodiversity, and damage to coral reefs.

AGRICULTURE

Sustainable agricultural practices help meet immediate societal needs while protecting land and other natural resources for future generations. The Internet of Things is helping to create smart farms where every process can be monitored to reduce waste and improve agricultural productivity. Also known as precision farming, this method of farming uses data analysis to customize operations so as to maximize agricultural output based on variable inputs. These practices may enable significant opportunities for savings, given that as much as 60 percent of water diverted or pumped for irrigation is wasted. In addition, to ensure food safety, data-driven solutions enabled by the Internet of Things will allow consumers to track and monitor produce from farm to fork.

IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

Water Bee is a smart irrigation system that collects data on soil content and other environmental factors from a network of wireless sensors to reduce water waste. The system analyzes the data it collects to selectively water different plots of land based on need. Water bee can be used for a variety of commercial applications, including on farms, vineyards, and golf courses. Smart irrigation systems save energy, water, and money. Using a prototype, fourteen sites in Europe were able to reduce their water usage on average by 40 percent.

GRAIN BINS

Bob is a device that electronically measures and reports on the level of contents in the bins, tanks, and silos used to store grain and other foodstuffs on farms. Farmers use the device to remotely manage their inventory of bulk goods, such as corn or seed. Check It Now allows farmers to monitor online the temperature of grain bins and receive an alert if the temperature rises outside of an acceptable range. Yellow Box is a device that allows farmers to use their mobile devices to remotely operate their grain bins, including the chutes, conveyer belts, and auger motors involved in loading the grain. The farmer can monitor the process using a video feed, and the system will automatically shut down operations if it detects a problem. By eliminating the need for farmers to go into grain bins, these devices mitigate safety risks, such as exposure to grain dust and becoming entrapped in grain.

INSECT TRAPS

Trap is an electronic insect trap that helps farmers remotely monitor an insect population and protect their crops from insect damage. In 2010, insects cost U.S. farmers around $20 billion in damaged crops and an additional $4.5 billion for insecticide. Z-Trap helps prevent crop damage by using pheromones to trap insects and then compile data on the number of different types of insects in the trap. Z-Trap wirelessly transmits the data, including its GPS coordinates, allowing farmers to view a map of the types of insects that have been detected. By remotely monitoring pests, farmers can place traps at a density dictated by specific needs, thereby saving time and money and minimizing the use of insecticides.

ENERGY

As a result of growing populations and increasing demand, global energy consumption will rise by over 50 percent over the next thirty years. Addressing global climate change and providing access to clean and affordable energy are major international priorities. The Internet of Things will help provide solutions to the global energy challenge by enabling clean energy technologies, creating better energy market dynamics, and optimizing the efficiency of existing products. For example, to improve use of energy in the home, the Internet of Things will automate and encourage energy-efficient practices such as running appliances at off-peak times.

ELECTRICITY METERS

Smart meters provide real-time, two-way communication between customers and the utility and enable a number of benefits. Smart meters allow customers to receive granular detail about their electricity usage and to modify their energy consumption according to price signals. Dynamic pricing facilitates the use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which are highly variable. For example, cheaper rates incentivize customers to use these sources when the additional capacity is available. Smart meters also allow utilities to collect electricity usage information automatically, rather than manually sending someone to manually read the meter. Automatic detection of outages can also lead to faster repairs.

WIND TURBINES

New GE wind turbines use sensor and grid data to operate more efficiently, both bringing down the cost of clean energy production and increasing electricity production. By equipping its turbines with sensors and algorithms to analyze the sensor data, GE is able to optimize energy production and keep the turbines running even in variable wind conditions. Wind energy has become increasingly important to the U.S. energy market, and sensor-equipped turbines have helped cut the cost of wind energy from 15 cents per kilowatt hour to 6.5 cents per hour, facilitating the expansion of renewable energy options.

CLOTHES DRYERS

Increasingly, home appliances will be capable of communicating with the smart grid to optimize the energy they use based on dynamic price signals. The Whirlpool Smart Electric Dryer uses real-time electricity rates to automatically schedule energy-intensive tasks during off-peak hours when electricity is cheaper and more plentiful. Not only can users save twenty to forty dollars per year by time-shifting their energy use, they can also help reduce overall peak demand on the grid; this means fewer power plants have to be built. The dryer also uses sensors to detect and alert users of possible problems, such as a blocked vent, or when a load of laundry is dry. Similar features are available on other home appliances, such as a refrigerator that monitors and alerts users about the duration of power outages so they do not eat spoiled food.

THERMOSTATS

Nest is thermostats that can help homeowners consume up to 20 percent less energy, saving an estimated $173 per year and paying back their initial investment cost in under two years. Nest has four different types of sensors: activity sensors that detect whether someone is home, humidity sensors, weather sensors, and temperature sensors that detect how quickly the temperature changes. Nest collects data to learn the daily routine of users and their temperature preferences, and then combines this with outdoor weather data to tailor the home’s heating and cooling settings based on the time of day and whether anyone is home. Users can control Nest remotely from their smart phone or computer. Finally, Nest sends users a monthly energy report, as well as other alerts, such as when it is time to change air filters, which can reduce heating and cooling bills by 5 percent.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Keeping the public safe is one of the most important responsibilities of the government, and the Internet of Things is helping provide the information needed to improve public safety. The availability of real-time data is crucial in an emergency situation since a faster response time can mean the difference between life and death. For example, every minute of delay in responding to someone having sudden cardiac arrest decreases the expected survival rate by 5.5 percent. Whether it is an earthquake, a car theft, or a medical emergency, connected devices that can send and receive information quickly in an emergency can help make the world safer.

BRIDGES

Federal Highway Administration rated 1 out of 9, or approximately 67,000 bridges, as structurally deficient. Preventing future disasters such as the collapse of the I-35 Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis remains a top public safety priority. Wireless bridge sensors can help reduce this risk by monitoring all aspects of a bridge’s health, such as vibration, pressure, humidity, and temperature. Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park have tested bridge sensors on the I-495 Bridge in Maryland and were able to use data analysis to detect structural changes that had developed after repairs. The system can also send automated alerts by email or text messaging to bridge engineers if an immediate threat is detected. Jindo Bridge (pictured) in South Korea was one of the world’s first fully-automated smart bridges with over 600 wireless sensors continuously monitoring the bridge’s structural health.

BUILDINGS

Each year seventy to seventy-five earthquakes occur throughout the world in a populated area with sufficient magnitude to cause damage. The U.S. Geological Survey Advanced National Seismic System uses accelerometers and real-time data analysis to monitor the structural health of buildings in earthquake prone regions. Sensors detect the degree of the building’s movement, the speed that seismic waves travel through the building, and how the frame of the building changes. Software then analyzes the data to determine the building’s structural health immediately. Some Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have deployed this system so that in the event of an earthquake, hospital administrators will know if it is necessary to evacuate patients and staff.

VEHICLES

OnStar provides a variety of in-vehicle technologies for communications, navigation, remote diagnostics, and safety. OnStar’s Automatic Crash Response system uses sensors to detect a crash and then automatically alert emergency responders. The system transmits a variety of critical information to responders, including the precise location of the vehicle, the direction the vehicle was traveling, the number and speed of impacts, and whether the vehicle has rolled over. The Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center is taking this a step further to use crash data to predict the type and severity of injuries that occupants in a crash likely sustained. Automatically collecting and sending this information means that appropriate help can arrive sooner, potentially saving lives.

MAPS & SCHEMATICS

Google Glass is a hands-free, head-mounted computer worn as eyewear that gives users the ability to access the Internet, communicate with others, and record their surroundings with voice commands. Mutualink, a company that makes communications technology for first responders, has demonstrated the potential to use Google Glass to share critical information with first responders in emergencies. For example, firemen may review the schematics of a burning building, police officers may watch real-time surveillance video when responding to a shooting, and EMTs may review the electronic medical records of patients.

TRANSPORTATION AND ROADS

Transportation officials work to improve the safety, reliability, and cost of transportation, and they can do their jobs better with better information. Sensors will increasingly be deployed to create intelligent transportation systems that count vehicles on the roadway, calculate travel times, detect potholes, or determine the occupancy rate in car parks. Data from these systems will be integrated into traffic management solutions that help optimize traffic signals, determine where maintenance is most needed, and allow transportation officials to better plan for future capacity.

Road sensors are compact, low-power, wireless sensors that can be embedded into the roadway to measure variables such as temperature, humidity, and traffic volume. The sensor data is sent over a wireless network to a server for processing and analysis. The system then provides real-time information on road conditions. This information allows road crews to prioritize road maintenance during harsh weather conditions, which are responsible for almost a quarter of vehicular accidents. The system can also alert drivers of potential hazards, through roadway signage or traffic signals.

VEHICLES

Delphi Connect is a small device that allows drivers to monitor and control their vehicle remotely via the Verizon LTE network. The device connects to the on-board diagnostics port found in all vehicles made after 1996, and monitors information about the vehicle’s overall health, such as battery voltage, fuel level, and engine status. The device sends drivers alerts for maintenance issues, so that they know what is wrong before they take their car in to be serviced. The device includes GPS, so vehicle owners can see both historical maps of when, where, and how far they have driven, as well as real-time information about their vehicle’s location. Drivers can use their smart phone to control their car, such as remotely locking or unlocking the doors. Parents can enable additional controls to monitor their teenage drivers, so that they receive an alert if their children leave a pre-established geographic region or go over a set speed limit.

HEALTH: PREVENTION, SCREENING & DIAGNOSIS

The Internet of Things offers new solutions for preventing, screening, and diagnosing a variety of health conditions. Devices allow individuals to monitor every aspect of their health, including weight, body mass, sleep cycles, and daily activity levels. Preventable health conditions constitute 80 percent of overall disease burden and 90 percent of health care costs. By collecting and tracking data about their health, patients are able to identify health problems sooner and get treatment faster. Not only does this cut down on health care costs, it also provides new opportunities for improved quality of life. For example, technology can help monitor the health of older adults, allowing them to stay in their homes longer and retain their independence. The demand for these types of health-related technologies is growing quickly.

BABY AND THE ELDERLY MONITORS

The Mimo baby monitor is a body suit that monitors a baby’s body temperature, motion, and breathing patterns. Sensors use Bluetooth wireless communication to relay this data to a base station, which then transmits it to the Internet to be analyzed by the company’s sleep analysis software. Parents can use a mobile app on their smart phone to see their baby’s data in real-time, monitor their sleeping habits over time, and keep track of eating schedules and diaper changes. Parents can also setup the device to receive alerts on their phone if anything changes. The company hopes this technology will help prevent some of the 4,000 infant deaths that occur each year in the United States without any obvious cause.

Lively is a system composed of activity sensors placed on objects around the home that monitors the daily behavior of an individual living alone. For example, sensors may be placed on a refrigerator door, a pill box, and car keys to collect data on an individual’s eating, medication, and sleep habits. The system unobtrusively learns a person’s routine over time and then can alert family, friends, or caregivers of changes that may indicate a problem. Since many older adults lack Internet access, Lively transmits the data using mobile networks.

HEALTH: TREATMENT, MONITORING, & DISEASE MANAGEMENT

The Internet of Things is providing new tools to monitor and manage health conditions. These devices collect data about existing health conditions, thereby giving individuals and their health care providers more information to make health care decisions. Individuals will also be able to use technology to monitor and treat specific conditions. Continuous remote monitoring allows doctors to offer better care to patients when they need it and to make adjustments as necessary, rather than making patients wait until the next appointment. Individuals with diabetes, for example, can use continuous glucose monitoring to learn when their glucose levels get too low or high and to track insulin delivery.

SHIRTS

The Nuubo Smart Shirt is a sensor-equipped shirt that monitors a patient’s vital signs and movement. The sensors in the shirt can take regular measures on items such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. In addition, it can conduct an electrocardiogram (ECG). The shirt sends data wirelessly to a server for data analysis where, for example, software can detect anomalies in the ECG. Since the shirt allows people to move around, it has potential applications for patients in hospitals, low-risk patients at home, and athletes in training. The shirt also includes a GPS so health care providers can locate patients in the event of an emergency.

CONSUMER CONVENIENCE

While many products that make up the Internet of Things will have an impact on major societal challenges, others will be used, at least initially, simply to improve quality of life by addressing matters of consumer convenience. These products collect and use data to give consumers information when they need it, such as when to water a plant, whether to pick up eggs at the grocery store, and how much to exercise their dog.

WATER MONITORS

Belkin Echo Water precisely monitors water usage in a household using a single sensor placed under the sink. The device collects data on vibrations that occur in the plumbing when water is used, such as taking a shower, flushing a toilet, or washing dishes. The device transmits the data to the Internet for analysis where its algorithms can uniquely identify each fixture in the home, how long it is used, and how much water is consumed. Users can then access this information on their smart phone. Echo Electricity is a similar product for monitoring home electricity usage by individual appliance using the unique electric signature generated by devices when they are turned on and off. Echo Electric can track 90 percent of usage reflected in a typical electric bill. In addition to monitoring usage patterns, these devices can help detect when repairs are needed.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Internet of Things presents an enormous opportunity for achieving economic and social benefits; however, maximizing those benefits will require smart policy decisions. In particular, there is a need for policymakers to break away from old ways of thinking about data as something to be tightly controlled, and instead view it as a valuable resource to harness for social good. With that in mind, policymakers should work diligently to clear away outdated policies designed for a “small data” world to ensure that the opportunities ahead for a “big data” world can be realized.

In particular, policymakers should do the following:

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Given the many opportunities available for the Internet of Things to make a significant impact on existing societal challenges, policymakers should be some of the most prominent champions of this technology. At the national level, transportation agencies should ensure that funding for highways and bridges includes money for sensor technology; agencies responsible for government buildings should deploy smart building technologies; and regulatory agencies should ensure that they have sufficiently fast-paced processes available to review innovative technologies like remote health monitoring. At the state and local level, public utility commissions should encourage the deployment of smart meters; cities should invest in intelligent transportation systems; and local police departments should pilot test augmented reality and wearable computing technologies, as well as sensor-based networks such as gunshot detection systems.

REDUCE BARRIERS TO DATA SHARING

The Internet of Things solves many problems by getting the right information to the right place at the right time, whether it is delivering smart grid pricing data to home appliances or illegal-logging alerts to police in Brazil. Data flows can be impeded for physical reasons (e.g., lack of network connectivity), technical reasons (e.g., lack of technical standards), or legal reasons (e.g., lack of intellectual property rights to share data). Policymakers should help identify and reduce all types of barriers to data sharing, such as by ensuring the appropriate technology infrastructure is available, convening industry groups to promote interoperability, and ensuring that legal frameworks facilitate data sharing between different entities, including between government and the private sector.

GIVE CONSUMERS ACCESS TO THEIR DATA

Businesses that make Internet of Things devices should provide their customers secure access to their own data in a non-proprietary, machine-readable format. When businesses do not voluntarily provide this, policymakers may need to intervene. Providing access to customer data does not mean that businesses must give up ownership of the data, only that they should strive to provide customers with copies of their own data to enable additional innovation. In addition, the data should be provided to their customers at least at the same the level of granularity as it is shared with third parties.

AVOID INUNDATING CONSUMERS WITH NOTICES

As more and more devices collect and use data, mandatory disclosure about how data is being used could end up inundating consumers with undesired notifications. In many cases, the use of data will be ordinary and insignificant. While organizations should be transparent about their use of data and disclose this information, it may not make sense to present this information proactively and directly to the consumer. Imagine how much progress would have been slowed if at the turn of the twentieth century consumers had to sign a consent agreement before entering any building that used electric lighting. When it comes to active disclosures, the default should be to allow consumers to opt in, not require them to opt out.

REGULATE THE USE OF DATA, NOT THE COLLECTION

Whereas in the past, most innovation occurred before any data was ever collected, in the future data collection will be just the beginning of the innovation process. Many of the potential benefits from the Internet of Things will arise from the ability to analyze, utilize, share, and combine data after it is collected. For example, imagine a wireless device that collects data on a home’s plumbing system. One service might use data from a pressure sensor installed in a home’s plumbing system to detect leaks whereas another service might use that same data to monitor the health of an older adult living alone by checking for anomalous behavior. Or it might turn out that this data is only useful if it is combined with other data, such as from an activity sensor or a smart pill bottle.

Adhering to outdated data principles, such as requiring that the purpose of data collection be defined at the outset, that data only be used for the purpose it was collected, and that data collection be limited to the least amount of data necessary to fulfill a specific purpose, will only impair progress. A more constructive approach would be to allow more permissive data collection and to closely monitor and restrict uses that could result in consumer harm. Focusing on use would allow more opportunities for innovations in both the devices that will make up the Internet of Things and the solutions proposed to address big societal problems.

Diagram illustrating IoT

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References

1. McKinsey Global Institute, Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy (June2013):
2. One Network Enterprises, The Internet of Things: How 'Process Robots' Are Transforming Supply Chains, (2014): 3. Cisco Systems, The Internet of Things: How the Next Evolution of the Internet Is Changing Everything, (April 2011):

4. Tony Danova, "Morgan Stanley: 75 Billion Devices Will Be Connected To The Internet Of Things By 2020, Business Insider.
5. Gartner Inc., "Gartner Says It's the Beginning of a New Era: The Digital Industrial Economy," press release (October7,2013).
6. Joseph Bradley, Joel Barbier, and Doug Handler, Embracing the Internet of Everything To Capture Your Share of $14.4 Trillion (2013): 1.
7. Gartner Inc., Gartner Says a Thirty-Fold Increase in Internet-Connected Physical Devices by 2020 Will Significantly Alter How the Supply Chain Operates," press release (March 24, 2014).
8. Total Trax, "Reduce costly fork lift damage".
9. Aaron Mamiit, "Amazon Order Fulfillment More Efficient with its Fleet of Robots," TechTimes (December 1, 2014).
10. Peter Bradley, "Bobcat excavates productivity, inventory improvements," DC Velocity (September 17, 2014).

11. The internet of things council -http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/