Parlez-vous Internet of Things?

Written by Helen Henshaw – Chief Administrative Officer and admirer of new technologies…

I heard on the radio recently that for 55 years IT has been officially recognised as a working profession, long enough for people to see out their working lives but in the great scheme of things, no more than the blink of an eye. Man’s ingenuity never ceases to amaze me and it is with no less excitement that I greet the buzz about what some are dubbing the fourth industrial revolution or the Internet of Things (IOT). The physical world is slowly but surely becoming a type of information system, with increasing numbers of sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects and linked through wireless networks via the Internet. The possibilities seem endless with smart cities, smart environments, smart retail, smart logistics, home automation and eHealth to name but a few areas of application.

What I am wary of is the notion that 2014 is going to herald a big breakthrough moment for IOT. It’s not going to happen like that and to believe it will is to misunderstand the intricacies involved and the extent to which it will impact on our future lives.

As we inexorably move towards this new technology dawn, we have to face some pretty enormous challenges along the way. The biggest obstacles currently faced are a lack of a common communications method and a stable networking technology. How are all these devices going to talk to each other? And who will undertake to achieve this? An interesting point about the development of the Internet was that it was devised by academics and technicians in military and university complexes long before the public got hold of it. In contrast the standards of the IOT must be decided in the commercial sector where a host of companies will be vying to put forward their own best interests. There is some light emerging at the end of this particular tunnel however, with some fledgling commercial consortiums beginning to emerge such as AllSeen Alliance.

Presuming a common communication structure gets off the ground, we also need the physical medium that devices will use as well. Wi-Fi seems the likely choice but hurdles need to be overcome regarding the ‘always on’ premise that the Web is built on and the energy that this demands of the device. Data sharing needs to be small (sent in ‘bursts’) and some promising technologies for this kind of communication are Bluetooth Smart and Wi-Fi Direct.

Beyond these hurdles, other considerations are the need to recognise the change potential, value creation and cost reductions that can be achieved with this technology. This requires a fresh mind-set to exploit what could be on offer and a willingness to collaborate outside of normal commercial boundaries. Of course this all involves huge amounts of data, but big data is a whole topic in its own right. Oh and have I mentioned 3D printing? Well just imagine being able to build unique three dimensional codes right inside the material of the object, which is just what some clever clogs at Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft Research are in the process of developing. This ‘InfraStruct’ as it’s known, can be read by a terahertz scanner (used in medical imaging devices) and there’s even talk of developing a microchip that can operate as a terahertz scanner (which means it would fit in your smart phone).

The widespread adoption of the IOT will take time, but the time line is really starting to advance thanks to improvements in underlying technologies. And once we bring together innovations such as the IOT, big data, 3D printing and let’s not forget our other friend, cloud computing, well the sky’s the limit and what a jolly big horizon we’re staring at.

Further reading:

50 Sensor Applications for a Smarter World

The Internet of Things and the future of manufacturing

The Internet Of Things In 2014: Steady As It Goes

How We'll 3D-Print The Internet Of Things