Ms. Bolando, Kathleen May P.
BSN-II 12-2-19
“The Internet of Things”
The Internet of Things, or IoT, isn't as cryptic as it sounds. It simply refers to the interconnection
of physical objects, computing devices and encompasses a wide range of emerging
technologies such as virtual power plants, intelligent transportation systems and smart cars.
One a smaller scale, IoT includes any "smart" (internet-connected) household item, from lighting
to thermostats to televisions. The Internet of Things is actually a pretty simple concept, it means
taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet.
Now, why do we consider it as the most important invention of our time? Say for example you
are on your way to a meeting; your car could have access to your calendar and already know
the best route to take. If the traffic is heavy your car might send a text to the other party notifying
them that you will be late. What if your alarm clock wakes up you at 6 a.m. and then notifies
your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you? Isn’t that convenient?
When something is connected to the internet, that means that it can send information or receive
information, or both. This ability to send and/or receive information makes things smart. An
example of this is your smartphone, right now you can listen to any song in the world, but not
because your phone actually has every song in the world stored on it. It’s because every song in
the world is stored somewhere else, but your phone can send information (asking for that song)
and then receive information (streaming that song on your phone). To be smart, a thing doesn’t
need to have super storage or a super computer inside of it. All a thing has to do is connect to
super storage or to a super computer. On a broader scale, the IoT can be applied to things like
transportation networks: "smart cities" which can help us reduce waste and improve efficiency
for things such as energy use and help us understand and improve how we work and live.
IoT will likely reach 20.4 billion by 2020 with two-thirds of those devices found in China, North
America and Western Europe. A sensor system in Santander, Spain enables residents to locate
free parking spaces using the city's smartphone app. In South Korea, the smart city of Songdo
was built from scratch in 2015. Another smart city — Knowledge City, in Guangzhou, China —
is in the works.
As a negative effect, any device that connects to a network can be hacked. Consumers,
business, and governments share concerns about the risk of security breaches if IoT were to
become more widespread. The more personal data our devices generate, the greater the risk of
identity fraud and data breaches. The IoT bridges the gap between the digital world and the
physical world, which means that hacking into devices can have dangerous real-world
consequences. Hacking into the sensors controlling the temperature in a power station could
trick the operators into making a catastrophic decision and taking control of a driverless car
could also end in disaster.
Still, the Internet of Things continues to grow. From something as simple as a lightbulb that can
be turned on and off with an app, to something as complex as network of cameras that sends
traffic information to municipal systems to better coordinate emergency response, IoT holds a
variety of intriguing possibilities for the future of technology.
