Internet of things: controversial changes for the future of the world

Image courtesy of Marcus Brown at Flickr.com

The next major trend that will impact telecommunications is the boom of connected devices. This internet of things, or “Thingification”, will add billions if not trillions of new connected data sources globally by 2020. Objects throughout our lives will become connected, aware and chatty, constantly transmitting information across our global networks. The upswing of all of these devices will be an astronomical growth in data volumes; we will quickly push through Exabyte volumes and enter the world of Zettabytes per year, as sensors are added to everything, and everything starts sending out signals, the trunk lines of our networks will have to carry this crushing load of information. The “Thingification” begins for example with a light bulb, which is not particularly smart and it doesn´t have a lot to say, it's either "on" or "not on”. The challenge grows as millions and then billions of bulbs and toothbrushes and microwaves all start pushing more and more information, all of the time. The aggregated traffic from all of these devices will be enormous, and will stress our networks to the max.

The internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, like said light bulbs, plus vehicles, buildings and other items, embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. The result of this begins with smart homes, intelligent transportation, and then smart cities. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure. By 2020, the Internet of Things probably will consist of almost 50 billion objects. But what actually is this 'Internet of Things'? Basically, it's the combination of low-cost, low-power processors with 'real-world' electronic sensors and wireless network connectivity increasingly being added to a wide range of electrical devices. These sensors can measure everything from temperature and humidity to pressure, proximity, sound, light, gravity, movement, feedback and through on-board software, devices can record and action those measurements over the internet.

Imagine you wake up in the morning and the fitness tracker on your wrist has recorded how well you slept, uploading the results to your Twitter account. Your coffee machine reads your Twitter feed and knowing you're awake, begins brewing your first coffee of the day. Lights automatically turn on and off as you walk down the hall to the kitchen where your coffee is now waiting. As you leave for work, the robotic vacuum cleaner begins and updates its cleaning progress map to your phone. This is the world envisioned by tech giants powered by Internet of Things that promises to change the world we live in.

Today, there are already devices that work with the principle of IoT. In Denmark's a company named Scanomat has developed the TopBrewer, which lets you choose your coffee type from your Android or iOS phone or tablet. In Copenhagen, in TopBrewer Café, you can enjoy the service without queues, just your coffee ordered, brewed and paid for by your phone.

Image courtesy of Pierre Metivier at Flickr.com

This is definite frontier technology right now and the more we understand how it works, the data it generates and how that data is stored and used, the more we'll all be aware of the potential pitfalls and benefits the Internet of Things will bring. But there are two initial problems and a possible controversial third.

First, the IoT is beginning to suffer from the lack of consistent standards. Right now, the pace of IoT development is such that there's as much pressure to get product to market as there is to develop consistent standards to ensure we don't just see a bunch of devices that can't talk to each other. Everything from hardware interoperability to how recorded data is stored in the cloud is coming under scrutiny, with growing calls for standards to be set before the market progresses too far.

Image courtesy of Schneider Electric España at Flickr.com

Second, there is a battle going on, and that's for the platform. Not a day goes by without a new player claiming that their cloud hosted platform is best, from Apple's HomeKit, Google's Brillo and Intel's IoTivity to Qualcomm's AllJoyn, the UPnP Forum and ARM mbed, and the list goes on.

And third, there is no doubt Internet of Things could clash with our privacy ideals as the internet permeates its way into areas of our lives we probably never imagined.

This issue has been debated for years now. If you want to read more about it, go to: are we creating an insecure internet of things? And to know learn about facing the challenges in communications, follow this Link provided by Don Burns.