The EU Projects Research Cluster in the Internet of Things (IERC) defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as a “ Dynamic global network infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual “things” have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network."
The CASAGRAS (Co-ordination and support action for global RFID related activities and standardization) defines IoT as “A global network infrastructure linking physical and virtual objects through the exploitation of data capture and communication capabilities. This infrastructure includes existing and evolving internet and network development. It will offer specific object identification, sensor, and connection capability as the basis for the development of independent cooperative services and applications. These will be characterized by a high degree of autonomous data capture, event transfer, network connectivity, and interoperability.”
In simple words, IoT is a network of uniquely identified devices that can talk with each other without requiring human intervention. IoT involves pervasive interconnection and cooperation of individual devices, applications, servers, sensors, actuators, RFID, etc. These ranges of heterogeneous devices generate heterogeneous data. Integrating this range of heterogeneous data results into action.
With the euphoria of smart devices available, people in their day-to-day life wish to connect to devices from remote places through the internet. For example, one would want to control her home air conditioner from a faraway place so that the home ambiance is already comfortable before she reaches home. In terms of IoT, Air Conditioner is a thing. A thing can be any device that can be remotely monitored, managed, and controlled, or it could be a smart device capable of doing remote management. The things encompass a wide variety of heterogeneous devices. On the one hand, some devices known as strong network elements have high computing, storage, communication power like computers, laptops, smartphones, etc. On the other hand, some have minimal computing, storage, communication power like RFID tags, sensors, and other Cyber-Physical Systems termed as weak elements.
The Internet of Things is an evolving technology that is budding with the emergence of advances in electronic devices, networking technology, high-speed connectivity, high-performance computing, server technology, application development, mobility, etc. On the one hand, the various technological advancements come as a blessing. On the other hand, they pose severe design challenges while building IoT infrastructure or making existing infrastructure IoT enabled.
Following are the six major design characteristic of IoT
INTELLIGENCE
Efficient algorithms, advanced software, hardware resources, machine learning techniques, etc., together provide intelligence to IoT.
CONNECTIVITY
In IoT, connectivity implies building a core network infrastructure and the access network that connect the core network to HPC, cloud, or internet. It also involves the issue of compatibility because of the heterogeneous nature of an IoT environment.
SENSING
IoT ecosystem generates volumes of data heterogeneous in nature. Sensing data would mean drawing the correct interpretation to HPC, cloud, or internet.
EXPRESSING
The IoT ecosystem is expected to provide seamless interaction and interpretation among devices. IoT ecosystem should include products that interact intelligently with the real physical world.
ENERGY
The IoT comprises billions of devices that are energy-constrained. These billions of devices are battery-powered and must have some energy harvesting techniques incorporated.
SAFETY
One of the IoT ecosystem's major concerns is to provide efficient safety measures at the network endpoints. Safety and privacy of data is an essential concern in IoT.
Characteristics of IoT Data
ACCURACY
IoT involves the seamless integration of heterogeneous products from a vast range of devices to perform actions. The application must accurately interpret the data generated from the various devices.
CONSISTENCY
Consistency of data concerning context is essential in IoT. E.g., multiple devices reporting location data tagged to a given area should be consistent, i.e., location information provided by these devices should be the same or close to each other.
COMPLETENESS
IoT involves continuous reporting of data, events, or sensor values. It is crucial to make sure that there are no gaps in the captured and reported values.
TIMELINES
IoT ecosystems must be dynamic and responsive in real-time, and the data captured from heterogeneous sources should also be timely monitored and synchronized.
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