Evaluation of Emerging Technological Trends in IoT
With the presence of an interconnected world, IoT has changed the way interconnection should look like. New emergent and innovative technologies have now enabled the completion of tasks in ways that resemble human task handling. IoT not only creates an interconnection of things with technology but also handles tasks with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. As IoT involves the interconnection of devices to make decisions and give a humanly experience to users, the integration of AI has helped to solve usage related problems and save time. AI has an adaptability feature by utilizing machine learning, sensors and the data collected. In the coming years, the development of IoT technologies will most probably advance at a faster pace since businesses and consumers are expected to adopt innovative projects and technologies in the IoT related tasks. Investments and security are the key driving forces to ensure the success of IoT applications in the business and IT industries. It is noted that IoT is the most profound transformational technology that will change the way businesses operate in the modern world. The businesses believe that the implementation of IoT applications and related products will help them achieve improved customer relations, growth in the businesses through increased productivity and reliability. IoT technologies. An integration of IoT business models will help minimize costs, risks and theft.
The emerging trends of IoT can be seen in the fields of industrial automation, healthcare, education, retail, smart cities, among others. For instance, IoT applications and devices (e.g. sensors) are used in key areas to lessen traffic congestion and improve public safety in a smart city. The scope of the existing trends in IoT was previously limited to person to person communication, and expanded into entry level businesses, retail and marketing in the recent years. It is noted that as the scope of IoT technological trends is increasing, new infrastructure will be required. A high-speed connectivity has become a new trend in IoT. IoT technology requires the seamless transfer and sharing of information among devices with the help of sensors. The data is analyzed and retrieved for automation purposes and allows all the devices to communicate through the network. The interaction of the devices is facilitated by ubiquitous computing that involves the continuous transfer of information in an environment while utilizing sensors and actuators, analytics tools, visualization and presentation. The technologies that utilize ubiquitous computing include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). RFID uses chips that identify things by using the signal power instead of battery power. The unique power acquisition has led to its adoption in applications used in retail, banking and transport. WSN comes in to complement the limited capacity of RFID. WSN provides a wireless connectivity of devices to share and transfer data to centralized or distributed systems.
Creation of new business models is another trend that has triggered the development of applications that utilize the IoT technology. The architecture of the business models has evolved and modified its components such as key resources, value propositions, customer relations, revenue and cost structures. The value proposition being of vital importance in the development of IoT applications and infrastructure, businesses are now creating sustainable and disruptive value propositions to maintain strategies that enhance the implementation of IoT applications and development of new business models.
Security considerations are now undertaken when integrating IoT technology into machines and devices. The increased digitization and automation of devices in the modern world have created new security challenges. As IoT aims to minimize human intervention and create a sole dependence on the devices, companies are now building a security framework into the IoT network. The framework features key aspects such as confidentiality (secrecy of information), integrity (assurance of the trustworthiness of data) and availability (availability of resources along with the appropriate access rights). The companies undertake preventive measures such as authentication to address the security concerns. The authentication involves the password-protection of the intelligent devices in the network and using both public and private keys.
The selection of new sensors in IoT applications has taken a different approach. The use of sensors is guided by the application requirements for which the IoT system is intended to fulfill. The sensor selection can be based on factors such as power consumption, timing, size of data and the criticality of data. Power consumption requirement focuses on the use of standalone IoT devices and their appropriate power source. It also applies to their automatic operations i.e. when changing its state between standby and active modes. For timing specific requirements, the dedicated IoT applications can be real-time or delayed. Examples are real-time applications in home automation and delayed applications in smart farming devices. The selection of sensors based on the size of data transferred considers the ability of the sensor devices to handle high speed internet and data processing. Some medical devices are now operating remotely, sending data to other switches to enable it to work remotely within the system. The devices include chips in organs, digital pills, smart wheelchairs, wearables and google glasses. The assessment of the medical IoT network’s lifecycle is conducted to predict any possible failures and help save lives. The modern sensor selection uses effective algorithms to optimize the systems’ operations and lower power consumption.
The increased use of blockchains is driven by the belief that it revolutionizes the security aspect of IoT technology. It is noted that blockchain ensures the security of the blocks (or sets of data) since all the blocks are chained. For instance, altering the data in one block will affect the code hash of the next block. The user will be able to identify the unwanted action that was done to the data. Blockchain in IoT is used in supply chain management. It ensures secure operations by tracking the requests and transactions both in the upstream and downstream of the supply chain.