The Internet of Things is currently the most trending topic to discuss upon. The reason being the technological advancements it has made in every field and the ease of work and living it has initiated in the working environment. An individual will soon be able to include IoT based devices in every action of daily life; be it cooking, traveling, shopping, entertainment and many more. These devices can share and collect various data with the use of internet connection. The devices will be inculcated with certain kind of digital intelligence which will enable them to communicate with human beings in various ways.
According to researchers and industrialists all across the globe, the latest and upcoming applications of IoT are expected to rule over every industry, community and household very soon. Industries like healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, automotive and utilities currently benefit from the applications of IoT. At the look of it, these applications will soon make life much more convenient and happy. Some of these revolutionary applications are mentioned and briefly explained below.
Smart Home
The process of creating automation for a house is called home automation or domotics. With the use of IoT in houses, various day-to-day functions will be carried out just by a tap on the screen of a smartphone. Smart lighting will switch the lights on or off at a specific time chosen. Specific rooms can be illuminated at the chosen time of the day and the light intensity can also be decided. HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning) regulation will provide the ease of cooling a particular room beforehand. On seeking permissions from the user, it will also decrease the cooling of the room if vacancy is detected. Secured homes provide the necessary peace of mind to the owners. Therefore, a vital application of smart home is smart security systems which include door and window sensors, motion detectors, video cameras and other such mechanisms which provide real-time information regarding the security status of homes. All this will certainly make homes a more delighted and safer place to live in.
Connected Health
Wearable smart devices like smart wristbands, watches, shoes, headbands, and eyeglasses provide useful health related information like heart rate, blood pressure, number of steps walked, amount of perspiration, body fat count and much more to the users and the doctors. All this information is used by the doctors to diagnose a disease in a person and immediately provide the necessary treatment. Apart from this, IoT based devices help hospitals in real time environmental monitoring like checking the temperature of wards and ICUs. Hospitals can also track the real time position of various medical apparatus like wheelchairs, stretchers and other operating instruments. IoT devices assists patients in controlling room temperature and lighting, communicating with friends and family via video calls, connecting with nurses via intercom, and regular reminders about medicines. Thus, with the advancements in the technology, people will stay connected to their health anytime, anywhere.
Smart City
An urban area which uses electronic data collection in order to manage assets and resources efficiently is termed as smart city. Cities have lots of roads, buildings, offices, gardens, shopping and entertainment centres. To ensure that the people, traffic and other functions are managed efficiently, planners need to take lots of efforts. In order to create an ease in the process, sensors are spread over the town or city to generate large amounts of data. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Madrid, Singapore, New York and China are some of the cities where implementation of such programs can be seen. Such programs include Smart street lights where the street lights adapt intensity based on weather conditions. Smart traffic management helps in carrying out real-time traffic monitoring and managing the traffic accordingly. Smart parking will help in monitoring traffic conditions at an earlier stage in order to look for parking spaces in a pre-planned manner. Smart Utility which includes smart water and waste management will help water suppliers, water management companies and residents in having control on sewer disposal by allowing real time monitoring of garbage bins. Such sophisticated advancements will help enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to increase contact between citizens and government.
Connected Car
Automakers have begun to collaborate with telecom manufacturers in order to provide connectivity to their vehicles. This will result in the introduction of various user-friendly and technological advances in vehicles. For example, crash response will enable a car to send real time data and location to crisis teams which will save lives by enhancing emergency response. Cars will soon be able to prevent breakdowns by sending information to consumers about a part much before it fails so as to save time and to reduce repair and warranty costs. Smart Navigation will detect fuel levels and track the distance to the nearest fuel refilling station and will automatically change the destination. The advanced navigation system will also access the owner’s calendar and keep a track of upcoming meetings and will not only calculate the time to reach and distance to cover but will also suggest the best route to the destination. All these advances are predicted to be revolutionary and game-changing.
The whole world has been already introduced with thousands of devices which use internet in order to become digitally intelligent. The above mentioned applications and similarly many more are undoubtedly ready to make lives easier and fun. This will very soon make every person tech-savvy. IoT is evolving to create a world in itself and its applications are here to add on to it. Its shortcomings can therefore be overlooked completely.
Apart from making the lives easier and fun, these applications will help everyone in developing, growing and moving towards a more modern zone. Every single person including students, doctors, engineers, lawyers, media, government, businessmen will get a chance to avail its capabilities to the fullest. It can therefore prove to be a boon for the mankind.
Latest Technologies in IoT, making Lives Easier, Safer and Healthier
