According to Business Insider Intelligence, there will be approximately 23 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices in operation by the year 2021 and nearly $4.8 trillion in combined investments. Exciting, isn’t it?
Needless to say that the current hype around the IoT is huge. It seems like almost every day a new company announces IoT devices. And these IoT devices promise to bring immense value to our lives. With newer wireless networks, superior sensors and revolutionary computing capabilities, IoT could be the next frontier in the race for its share of the wallet.
IoT applications are expected to equip billions of everyday objects with its connectivity and intelligence and it is already being deployed extensively in various domains. Let us have a look at few of them –Â
Smart home
Smart Home is ranked highest in the Internet of Things applications on all measured channels. The IoT Analytics company database for Smart Home includes 256 companies and startups. The total amount of funding for Smart Home startups exceeds $2.5bn.Â
The best example of an AI home automation is Jarvis, employed by Mark Zuckerberg. There is also Allen Pan’s Home Automation System where functions in the house are actuated by use of a string of musical notes.Â
Wearables
Wearable technology is a hallmark of IoT applications and it is probably one of the earliest products of IoT. Wearables have an explosive demand in markets all over the world. Big brands like Google, Samsung have invested heavily in building such devices.Â
Wearable devices are installed with sensors and software which collect data and information about the users. This data is then used to extract essential insights about the user.
These devices broadly cover fitness, health and entertainment requirements.Â
IoT in agriculture
Due to the continuous increase in the world’s population, the demand for food supply has been raised extremely. Hence, governments are working on helping farmers to use advanced techniques and research to increase food production. There are numerous possibilities in this field. One of them is the Smart Greenhouse.
A greenhouse farming technique enhances the yield of crops by controlling environmental parameters. A greenhouse with embedded devices makes it easier to be monitored and enables us to control the climate inside it. Sensors measure different parameters according to the plant requirement and send it to the cloud which then processes the data and applies a control action.Â
Smart Cities
The concept of smart cities is generating curiosity among the world’s population. Smart surveillance, smart energy management systems, automated transportation, urban security, and environmental monitoring all a few examples of what the concept of smart city has to offer.Â
With smart cities, IoT will be able to solve all the major problems faced by the people living in cities like pollution, traffic congestion, shortage of energy supplies, etc.Â
By installing sensors and using web applications, citizens can find free available parking slots across the city. Also, the sensors can detect meter tampering issues, general malfunctions, and any installation issues in the electricity system.
IoT in Health Care
IoT applications can turn reactive medical-based systems into proactive wellness-based systems.
The resources that current medical researches use lack critical real-world information. They mostly use leftover data, controlled environments, and volunteers for medical examination. Whereas IoT opens ways to a sea of valuable data through analysis, real-time field data, and testing.Â
The Internet of Things also has the capability to improve the current devices in power, precision, and availability. IoT focuses on creating systems rather than just equipment.
IoT iterates improve and keep building. And the future of IoT seems fascinating where billions of things will be talking to each other and human intervention will become least. IoT will bring a macro shift in the way we live. The Internet of Things has amalgamated hardware and software to the internet in order to create a smart world and it has been growing at a great pace offering a plethora of opportunities for business. And the number of openings for IoT professionals is at an all-time high. So, this is the best time to begin exploring the true potential of this technology. Because with IoT, the future is now!
