Internet of Things

Definition

Basic kinds

• Smart factories: Integrated IoT devices that monitor machine status, process efficiency, and energy consumption to support predictive maintenance and production automation.
• Smart cities: Systems that monitor traffic, air quality, energy consumption, and other urban parameters, making it possible to optimise infrastructure and increase the comfort of residents.
• Supply chain management: Monitoring and tracking shipments, temperature, humidity, and location in real time to ensure control over product quality and on-time delivery.
• Smart buildings: Integrated lighting, air conditioning, and security management systems that automatically adjust environmental parameters to save energy and increase comfort.

Main roles

• Manufacturing – e.g. production line monitoring, performance and productivity measurements, product tracking.
• Automotive – e.g. production, diagnostic, vehicle information applications.
• Transport and logistics – e.g. re-routing of vehicles based on prevailing conditions (weather, road, etc.), monitoring of vehicle location and parameters.
• Retail – e.g. inventory management, improvement of customer shopping experience, supply chain optimisation, reduction of operating costs.
• Public sector – e.g. notifying users of outages and interruptions to water, electricity or sewerage services; collecting outage data, optimising resource deployment.
• Healthcare – e.g. use of medical wearables (devices worn by the patient, monitoring their health and sending data to the medical facility).
• All industries – improving the safety of workers operating in hazardous environments (e.g. mines, oil and gas fields, chemical and energy plants) – notification of accidents, emergencies, etc., tracking the location of workers, use of wearables to monitor worker health and environmental conditions.

Basic elements

• IoT devices (sensors and actuators): Sensors collect data about the environment, such as temperature, humidity, and pressure, and actuators are responsible for performing actions, such as turning on lights or adjusting the temperature.
• IoT platform: A centralised management platform to collect, process, and analyse data from IoT devices and manage their configuration and operation. Platforms such as AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT, and Google Cloud IoT offer advanced tools for data analysis and visualisation.
• Communication networks: The infrastructure that enables IoT devices to connect to the Internet or a local network, including technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, LoRa, and 5G, that provide the appropriate bandwidth and range depending on the application.
• Edge computing: Technology that enables data processing on IoT devices or at the edge of the network, which reduces latency and network load by pre-analysing data before sending it to the cloud.
• API: Interfaces that enable integration and communication between IoT devices and applications or management platforms. API enables remote monitoring and control of devices from within the application.
• IoT security systems: Security measures, such as encryption, access management, and multi-factor authentication, that provide protection against unauthorised access and data manipulation.

Mechanism of action

• Data collection: IoT sensors collect environmental or operational data, such as temperature, humidity levels, energy consumption, and geographic location, which are then sent to the IoT platform.
• Data transmission: Sensor data is sent to a central IoT platform via communication networks, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular networks (e.g. 5G), which enables real-time access to information.
• Processing and analysis: Data is processed on IoT platforms or using edge computing to pre-analyse data on the spot, which enables faster decision-making and minimisation of delays.
• Decisions and automation: Based on processed data and established algorithms (often using AI), IoT devices make automatic decisions, such as starting cooling, sounding an alarm, or sending alerts to the operator.
• Storage and historical analysis: The data is stored in the cloud, which enables long-term analysis, drawing conclusions, and optimising future actions based on trend analysis.
• Monitoring and predictive maintenance: Based on the collected data and analytics, IoT makes it possible to predict potential problems (e.g. equipment failures) and take maintenance actions before problems occur, which increases the reliability and efficiency of systems.
• Security and access management: IoT systems require advanced security, such as encryption and access control, to protect data from attacks and ensure its integrity.