Internet of Things or IoT for its acronym in English, is a concept a bit abstract but has been gaining popularity in recent months. The idea that tries to represent is pretty well illustrated by its name, everyday things that connect to the Internet, but in reality it is much more than that.
To understand what the Internet of Things is about, we must also understand that its foundations are not new at all. For the last 30 years, we have been working with the idea of making all everyday objects a little more interactive.
Ideas like the smart home, also known as the house of tomorrow, have evolved before we realize in the connected home to enter the Internet of things.
IoT is a technological trend that involves a network of interconnected objects that, using wireless communications, generate, process and exchange information, in order to offer decision makers a real-time visualization of the processes to manage and optimize them. smart way
It is estimated that in 2020 there will be four times more devices connected to the Internet than people , so the possibility of enabling new business models through IoT solutions is undeniable.
Thanks to remote supervision, data capture and scalability and IaaS models (Infrastructure as a Service), new models of relationships with the different actors in the value chain (customers, consumers, citizens, etc.) will be established.
In November 2005, the International Telecommunication Union , an agency of the United Nations , presented its report on the Internet of Things . It indicated that the next step was to integrate things into a communication network.
This is the vision of a true ubiquitous network: anywhere, at any time, by any person and with anything. And the four technologies he listed to make it possible were radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, wireless sensors, embedded intelligence, and nanotechnology .
Examples of the Internet of Things
1- Smart shoes
The Gemini 2 is able to measure the distance and time traveled as well as the calories consumed, synchronizing with your app via bluetooth, where you can store all the activity of the user and only after the routine is finished, you can download all the data to the device mobile.
2- Sensors for the garden
The Parrot company offers the Flower Power sensor, intended for gardens, which records data on sunlight, temperature, the level of fertilizer in the soil and humidity. In this way, the sensor analyzes what the plants need and sends alerts via Bluetooth to the user's smartphone.
3- Intelligent garage doors
Another example of the Internet of Things is Garageio, a device that can control access to the garage through an application. From the cell phone you can open and close the doors, as well as receive alerts when it opens. You can even allow other people to enter from anywhere with a single click.
The Internet of Things and development for smart cities
A smart city is an urban center that tries to integrate information and technological communication in a complete way, as well as "the Internet of Things", to improve the management of resources and goods, to improve the efficiency of services.
In general, a smart city is quite advanced in terms of infrastructure (administration, education, health and welfare, public safety, transportation, etc.) and uses various technologies as information centers to improve operations.
These cities have a structure that enables us to organize, aggregate and analyze the information we will use in the future to improve the lives of citizens.
Regarding the degree of development of the Internet of Things, we can say that it is still in its early stages, but there are examples that are more than remarkable.
Internet of Things will revolutionize the interaction between people and the environment, which will not be as it is today.
The idea is to provide an efficient solution for real problems through technology. From water control, through clean and renewable energy, space in public parks, traffic control, garbage system, Internet access.