The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things: An Overview
The Internet of Things, given the initialism IoT, is a global organizational structure and series of networks that facilitates the transfer of data between any device that is connected to the internet. To put it simply, it is any device or object that is connected to the internet, which gives them the ability to communicate with one another. These devices can be as commonplace as wearables to more complex systems, such as IoT in agriculture, than can accomplish things such as sense moisture content in soil. IoT has grown to over 20 billion devices, which lends itself to its importance in today’s highly connected society. The connectivity and the sharing of information that IoT provides, creates a more intuitive and solution driven world. In MIS2502, we learned about Application Program Interfaces (APIs), which are the interaction points between the device and the internet. To give an example of this, Amazon created an IoT device, named AWS IoT Button, which is a programmable button, roughly the size of a house key, that can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks. It can be programmed to be a remote for virtually anything, to keep track of items, and even more complex things like order food or integrate it with third-party APIs. This IoT device, though small, can handle an endless possibility of functions designed to be integrated into daily life to simplify tasks. IoT allows for a more proactive approach to solving problems and collects data to solve problems that aren’t yet known.
Sources:
“AWS IoT Button Overview – Cloud Programmable Dash Button.” Amazon, Amazon, aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/.
“Internet of Things (IOT).” SAS, www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/internet-of-things.html.
Kashyap. “10 Real World Applications of Internet of Things (IoT) – Explained in Videos.” Analytics Vidhya, 11 Mar. 2019, www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2016/08/10-youtube-videos-explaining-the-real-world-applications-of-internet-of-things-iot/.