Many people don’t answer properly the question ” what are IoT devices?”. Here is a simplified step-by-step guide about IoT devices in smart homes?, how IoT devices work ?, Facts about IoT devices, and some simple examples to understand the internet of things (IoT) or internet of things.
Table of Contents
What are IOT devices?
As the Internet of things having two main words. First the “internet“ and second is the “things”, things are physical devices such as smartphones, laptops, TVs, thermostats, Fridge and other machines. Simply we can say that, its things to things connection through networking.
Like people have different sense i.e we can listen through ears we can see through eyes we can speak through the mouth and we can smell through our nose. Our brain controls all our senses to order our bodies to perform actions.
Likewise, all devices, machines having different sensors and integrated software with these sensors i.e our mobile can listen to our voice through the microphone, mobile knows our location, screen brightness adjusts automatically when you’re in dark or under the sun, this all happens because there are so many sensors are installed in smartphones and they communicate with each other perform task .
When it goes to a vast scale its comes to the term internet of things where not only smartphones are connected but also other physical things (i.e TV, car, Home machines, street lights, industrial machines, etc ) are connected to the internet and work together.
So all the devices are connected to each other through a network where the devices share data and communicate with each other. All data information is collected in one place regarding every action machine can perform.
5 best examples Internet of Things devices
Best Internet Of Things explained
1. When you are driving a car some issue arise in your engine and sensor installed in car alarms there is problem in engine if car is connected to internet then it can send all data regarding problem to manufacturer of the car through gateway installed in car to communicate with manufacturer company and the company contact you back for solving the problem.
2. Smartwatch having sensors to count your step how much distance you traveled how much calories you have burnt, how much you had slept what is your heartbeat rate, etc you can see all information at your smartphone app connected to your device and can set your routine according to your need.
3. Smart bulbs having a sense of listening to your command or connected to other devices i.e if your smart bulb is connected to your door lock so when you enter the room it switches on or if your smart bulb is connected to light sensors it can dim or bright according to need.
4. The Thermostat connected to your smartphone knows your location and when you close to your home it can switch on AC or heater set the temperature according to your needs or habits recorded by thermostat it is energy efficient and money-saving. It is common and example of internet of the things technology.
5. Security cameras are mostly used in the area of IoT technology. Most security cameras are now wireless, these cameras are connected to smart devices i.e smartphones and some use cloud services where all data from a security camera is saved and you can monitor what’s going on if you are out of your home by smartphone or at Computer browsers by putting the IP address and password of the camera. If there is an alarming situation these cameras inform nearby security agencies.
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What is an example of an IoT device?
Smart Bulb is most known example of IoT Device.
How does internet of things work?
So a question arises in your mind how these devices or Internet of things work or how IoT devices communicate with each other?
There is a simplified step by step answer to your questions:
- All devices having some sensors to record data, information i.e
a smartphone can record your data for your location, the temperature of the location, distance traveled, etc.
- Now the internet provides the database or you can say knowledge base in the form of a cloud, data servers, data centers, etc.
Like Google collects your data from your smartphones and save it in its own database.
- All the information from different smart devices or IoT connected devices is collected in one place.
Your Nest thermostat knows when you enter the, what is the temperature in the room and outside of your room, it learn all your habits and send it in the form of information to the database.
- Know all information in form of data is collected and different patterns are set after analyzing date according to information provided by different devices connected to the database.
For example, when you enter the home you first open the living room door and then switch on the light take a water glass and switch on tv and sit on the sofa. Now IoT enables devices to learn your habit and you can set these patterns.
- Its last step to perform an action it can either by your command or automatically performed by devices.
When you are near about your smart home your smartphone sends a command to your smart garage door lock that you are near about your home the garage door opens automatically and thermostat start working, TV and all lights switch on.
10 Facts about Internet of Things
- IoT is internet of things by things for things.
- It is estimated that in 2020 50 Billion devices will be connected devices.
- Now there are 26 Billion devices are connected devices.
- About 6000 thousand devices are connecting to the internet every minute.
- 40% of connected devices are used in manufacturing industries.
- The expected global market value of IoT is $1.3T in 2020.
- 2 billion smart home devices are expected to be bought by consumers by the end of 2019.
- In 2015 it was seen in the survey there were 83 million smart devices was used by the smart home.
- 70% of new IoT companies fail in business.
- The first internet-connected machine was launched in 1982 Coke vending Machine by Carnegie Mellon University.
IoT Questions and Answers
There is a lot of question about the Internet of things (IoT) but few queries are searched by the majority of people around the internet.
Can IoT devices be hacked
As we are using the internet while using connected devices and all our data is collected by these devices. Mostly these devices use IP address and a password to connect to these devices. These devices come with a default password for security and the safety user should change the password and use two-way authentication if available for getting rid of the worry of being hacked.
Is Alexa IoT device?
Yes, Alexa control home devices wirelessly through internet.
Can IoT work without Internet?
No it will not because IoT is internet of things so its not possible for IoT devices to work without internet.
How IoT devices communicate?
All IoT devices are connected to each other through the internet so these devices use the internet as a medium to communicate with each other.
What is internet of thing platform?
IoT internet of things platform is the service provided by the manufacturer in form of a cloud where all data obtained from devices is saved and used for price management and improving services of companies. i.e cars send a different kind of data regarding car engine, road grip, cons in system, etc,
- Amazon uses Amazon Web Services (AWS).
- Microsoft uses Microsoft Azure cloud services.
- Google uses the Google Cloud platform.
How IoT devices connect to the internet?
Ans. IoT devices are connected to the internet through gateways, hubs, protocols i.e WiFi Zigbee, Z-wave, etc. This gateway takes data from sensors installed in devices and sends to IoT cloud database etc.
In which areas IoT used?
IoT devices are used in so many areas of
- In agriculture, IoT devices are used in machinery to improve production.
- Smart Homes use IoT devices in lights, door locks, security cameras, gardens, etc.
- Smart Cities use IoT devices for security plane, traffic system, etc
- Smart Grids use to notice energy leakage and to monitor energy safety for energy efficiency.
- In healthcare and fitness IoT devices mostly used in wearable smartwatches operation equipment etc
- in industries, IoT devices are used in heavy machinery and robots for taking heavy work with little effort or energy.internet of things
- In offices IoT main application is attendance system bio metric attendance face detection etc.
Conclusion
The growth of technology is not going to end. Every day new devices are connected to the internet and the trend is increasing massively every year about 37% devices included in IoT.
As the connected devices increase the definition of IoT changes and make new versions to the older one.
What do you think what should be the definition of “IoT devices” in the modern era of technology?
