Sandbox-NonIT

Explaining the Concept

Background

In Layman's terms ("what would my parents understand")

The "Internet of Things" is things, talking to things.

The Internet does play a part in the IoT. It's just the infrastructure (switches, routers, hubs) that allows a Thing to talk to another Thing.

Interesting thought

Any time you bring "the cloud" into an IoT discussion, you have broken the things concept, and you are now just talking about using the Internet. Any time you bring in the concept of a human user, you have broken the things concept, and are again, just talking about using the Internet.

Why would a Thing want to talk to another Thing?

Vehicles: A vehicle can gather information about its breaking distance, about its state of repair, speed, about the condition of the roadbed (all the data that points to "how long will it take to come to a complete stop, if I had to stop right now"). If it reports this to your insurance company, or to the local Police, then it is the Internet. On the other hand, if it reports this to the vehicles around it, allowing them to adjust their own behavior (to, for example, adjust their follow distance based on their own computed breaking distance), then it is the IoT. (Swarm Robotics is the IoT)

House: Things in the house can gather/provide information about open/closed doors/windows, about current temperature inside and outside, what the weather is like in the local micro-climate, and whether it is currently occupied (by humans or pets), and if so, what rooms are in use (and likely to be in use in the next period). If The House decides it must report this, for example to the Police, or the local Alarm service because you've just been broken in to, then it is using the Internet. If, on the other hand, you have previously set a climate control trigger, and it gets too hot inside, then the windows can either close (and the aircon comes on), or if it is colder outside, then the windows open and fans pull outside air inside. Because this happens without needing to query the Cloud (or you), and happens because the aircon is reacting to what the Windows do and what it knows, it is an IoT use. (Smart Home is the IoT)

Renewable Energy: An offshore wind tower, on the outside edge of a field of 500 towers identifies a surge wind gust that has the potential of damaging any tower that doesn't have correctly feathered blades or is pointing in the wrong direction. It feathers its blades and re-orients into the gust, and announces the existence of the dangerous gust to the other towers in the field. They all feather their blades and re-orient accordingly, before the gust reaches them, protecting them from damage, lengthening their lifespans and lowering the total cost of running the field over time. See? No Internet involved at all.

Example

Suppose your washing machine is connected to the internet and has several sensors that record and transmit info about your laundry patterns... Which day of the week do you do your laundry, how much water do you use, what settings do you use, how much detergent gets used etc... Now suppose this happens for all washing machine in your city. All that information when easily measurable and transmittable, becomes very valuable to the industry. You can get much better products created for your needs. Now if we scale this approach to everything we use or consume it gives out huge amount of valuable information that can result in greater efficiency and products. So, internet of things basically is the philosophy of 'things' being connected to the internet with the objective of collecting , storing and analyzing big data to affect positive change.

IoT Around US

FitBit has already made a smart move in launching its wearable device that collects the statistics of your physical activity and connects it to the internet to help you make better choices to keep yourself healthier.

Some companies are also offering wearable alarms which let you monitor your family members at home, smart prescription bottles with a wireless chip embedded that reminds you to take your medicines on time, a check on baby with the help of an infant monitor that provides with the real time information on baby’s breathing, skin temperature, body positions on the parents’ smartphones.