Internet of things

The term “Internet of Things” (IoT) was first used in 1999 by British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton to describe a system in which objects in the physical world could be connected to the Internet by sensors. While the term “Internet of Things” is relatively new, the concept of combining computers and networks to monitor and control devices has been around for decades.
Internet of Things (IoT) is an ecosystem of connected physical objects that are accessible through the internet. The Internet of Things is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects to collect and exchange data.

In the popular mindset, the World Wide Web has almost become synonymous with the Internet itself. Web technologies facilitate most interactions between people and content, making it a defining characteristic of the current Internet experience. The Web-based experience is largely characterized by the active engagement of users downloading and generating content through computers and smartphones. If the growth projections about IoT become reality, we may see a shift towards more passive Internet interaction by users with objects such as car components, home appliances and self-monitoring devices; these devices send and receive data on the user’s behalf, with little human intervention or even awareness.
IoT – Features
The most important features of IoT include artificial intelligence, connectivity, sensors, active engagement, and small device use. A brief review of these features is given below.
• AI − IoT essentially makes virtually anything “smart”, meaning it enhances every aspect of life with the power of data collection, artificial intelligence algorithms, and networks.
• Connectivity − New enabling technologies for networking, and specifically IoT networking, mean networks are no longer exclusively tied to major providers. Networks can exist on a much smaller and cheaper scale while still being practical. IoT creates these small networks between its system devices.
• Sensors − IoT loses its distinction without sensors. They act as defining instruments which transform IoT from a standard passive network of devices into an active system capable of real-world integration.
• Active Engagement − Much of today’s interaction with connected technology happens through passive engagement. IoT introduces a new paradigm for active content, product, or service engagement.
• Small Devices − Devices, as predicted, have become smaller, cheaper, and more powerful over time. IoT exploits purpose-built small devices to deliver its precision, scalability, and versatility.
Internet of Things Communications Models
From an operational perspective, it is useful to think about how IoT devices connect and communicate in terms of their technical communication models.
There are a unit four forms of IoT Communication Models:
1. Device-to-Device Communications
2. Device-to-Cloud Communications
3. Device-to-Gateway Model
4. Back-End Data-Sharing Model
1. Device-to-Device Communications
The device-to-device communication model represents two or more devices that directly connect and communicate between one another, rather than through an intermediary application server.
2. Device-to-Cloud Communications
In a device-to-cloud communication model, the IoT device connects directly to an Internet cloud service like an application service provider to exchange data and control message traffic.
3. Device-to-Gateway Model
In the device-to-gateway model, or more typically, the device-to-application-layer gateway (ALG) model, the IoT device connects through an ALG service as a conduit to reach a cloud service.
4. Back-End Data-Sharing Model
The back-end data-sharing model refers to a communication architecture that enables users to export and analyse smart object data from a cloud service in combination with data from other sources.
Internet of Things (IoT) is somehow a leading path to the smart world with ubiquitous computing and networking to ease different tasks around users and provide other tasks, such as easy monitoring of different phenomena surrounding us. In the IoT, environmental and items from daily life, termed “things”, “objects”, or “machines” are enhanced with computing and communication technologies. They join the communication framework, meeting a variety of services based on person-to-person, person-to-machine, machine-to-person and machine-to-machine interactions using wired and wireless communication.
These connected machines or objects/things will be the new Internet or network users and will generate data traffic of the emerging IoT. They will perform new services to be carried out by the current or future Internet.