IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

Unit 2
Fundamentals of IoT Mechanisms and Key Technologies
IoT stands for internet of things. Most simply, it refers to physical objects linked through
wired and wireless networks. More specifically, it refers to the collection of internet-
connected devices that are able to communicate autonomously over the internet, without
needing a person to initiate the communication.
You might be asking yourself, how is this different from the “internet” as most people
commonly understand the term? Well, it really isn't that different -- it's just a way of talking
about the internet with a specific focus on "things" instead of people.
What does IoT stand for and what does it mean?
Consultancy McKinsey & Company offered this basic description of IoT: “Sensors and
actuators embedded in physical objects are linked through wired and wireless networks, often
using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the internet.”
Kevin Ashton, who coined the term internet of things, preferred the term internet for things.
While not widely used, this term provides a helpful way to understand the concept behind
IoT. Think of the "normal" internet you access from your PC or smartphone as the internet
for people and IoT as an internet of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital
machines, objects, etc.
The internet of things is everywhere. It is used in a range of industries and has both corporate
and consumer uses. Today, for example, automobiles often have dozens of sensors that
collect and transfer data for safety, maintenance, entertainment, fleet management and other
purposes. These internet-connected cars are considered part of the internet of things, because
they communicate with other devices over the internet based on input from the environment,
not just from direct human manipulation.
How does IoT work?
IoT works through a combination of wireless networking technology, physical devices,
advanced data analytics and cloud computing. The basic process of how IoT works is as
follows:

 A group of physical devices is wired or wirelessly linked to each other and/or a

central area.
 The devices collect data from the external world using some kind of sensor.
 That data is then stored somewhere, whether it be in the cloud, an intermediary
network location, or on the device itself.
 The data is then processed, often by machine learning and artificial intelligence.
 The processed data is used by the physical device to perform some action.
For example, this process as applied to a smart thermostat would go like this:

 The thermostat has a sensor that reads the temperature in the room.
 The thermostat stores and processes that data.
 If the temperature exceeds a certain value, the thermostat automatically regulates the
temperature to some predefined value.
IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

 The thermostat transmits periodic temperature readings to the energy provider's

external database over a wireless network.
 A data analytics application derives insights from the data over time to improve
energy efficiency by adjusting the thermostat's temperature settings.
Basic IoT fundamentals, concepts and terms
The four pillars of IoT and the main concepts to understand are:

 Data. IoT technologies provide myriad ways to collect data about the physical world.
Data is the fuel of IoT and is why it is so important.
 Device. The actual, physical components or things in the internet of things that collect
this data.
 Analytics. The process of making collected data useful by turning raw data into
actionable insights.
 Connectivity. Makes sharing data and insights possible, increasing the value of that
data. This is the internet in internet of things.
Closely related terms anyone getting acquainted with the concept of IoT should be aware of:

 Edge computing
 Big data analytics
 Artificial intelligence
 Machine learning
 Supply chain management
 Digital twin
 Machine-to-machine
 Operational technology
 Ambient intelligence
 Radio frequency identification
 Near field communication
 Person-to-person
 Machine-to-human
Specific types of IoT and its applications:

 Industrial internet of things (IIoT). Refers to the use of IoT in industrial

applications.
 Internet of medical things (IoMT). The use of IoT in medicine.
 V2X communications (vehicle to everything communications). A vehicle's ability to
sense its environment and communicate with it.
 Internet of battlefield things (IoBT). When IoT is used for military purposes.

Internet of Things (IoT) Enabling Technologies

IoT (internet of things) enabling technologies are

 Wireless Sensor Network

 Cloud Computing
 Big Data Analytics
 Communications Protocols
IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

 Embedded System
1. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN):
A WSN comprises distributed devices with sensors which are used to monitor the
environmental and physical conditions. A wireless sensor network consists of end nodes,
routers and coordinators. End nodes have several sensors attached to them where the data is
passed to a coordinator with the help of routers. The coordinator also acts as the gateway that
connects WSN to the internet.
Example -

 Weather monitoring system

 Indoor air quality monitoring system
 Soil moisture monitoring system
 Surveillance system
 Health monitoring system
2. Cloud Computing:
It provides us the means by which we can access applications as utilities over the internet.
Cloud means something which is present in remote locations.
With Cloud computing, users can access any resources from anywhere like databases, web
servers, storage, any device, and any software over the internet.
Characteristics -

 Broad network access

 On demand self-services
 Rapid scalability
 Measured service
 Pay-per-use
 Provides different services, such as –
IaaS (Infrastructure as a service)
Infrastructure as a service provides online services such as physical machines, virtual
machines, servers, networking, storage and data center space on a pay per use basis. Major
IaaS providers are Google Compute Engine, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure etc.
Ex: Web Hosting, Virtual Machine etc.
PaaS (Platform as a service)
Provides a cloud-based environment with a very thing required supporting the complete life
cycle of building and delivering West web based (cloud) applications – without the cost and
complexity of buying and managing underlying hardware, software provisioning and hosting.
Computing platforms such as hardware, operating systems and libraries etc. Basically, it
provides a platform to develop applications.
Ex: App Cloud, Google app engine
SaaS (Software as a service)
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It is a way of delivering applications over the internet as a service. Instead of installing and
maintaining software, you simply access it via the internet, freeing yourself from complex
software and hardware management.
SaaS Applications are sometimes called web-based software on demand software or hosted
software.
SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider’s service and they manage security availability and
performance.
Ex: Google Docs, Gmail, office etc.
3. Big Data Analytics:
It refers to the method of studying massive volumes of data or big data. Collection of data
whose volume, velocity or variety is simply too massive and tough to store, control, process
and examine the data using traditional databases.
Big data is gathered from a variety of sources including social network videos, digital images,
sensors and sales transaction records.
Several steps involved in analyzing big data -

 Data cleaning
 Munging
 Processing
 Visualization
Examples -

 Bank transactions
 Data generated by IoT systems for location and tracking of vehicles
 E-commerce and in Big-Basket
 Health and fitness data generated by IoT system such as a fitness bands
4. Communications Protocols:
They are the backbone of IoT systems and enable network connectivity and linking to
applications. Communication protocols allow devices to exchange data over the network.
Multiple protocols often describe different aspects of a single communication. A group of
protocols designed to work together is known as a protocol suite; when implemented in
software they are a protocol stack.
They are used in

 Data encoding
 Addressing schemes
5. Embedded Systems:
It is a combination of hardware and software used to perform special tasks.
It includes microcontroller and microprocessor memory, networking units (Ethernet Wi-Fi
adapters), input output units (display keyword etc.) and storage devices (flash memory).
IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

It collects the data and sends it to the internet.

Embedded systems used in
Examples -

 Digital camera
 DVD player, music player
 Industrial robots
 Wireless Routers etc.

Identification of IoT objects and services

The Internet of Things (IOT) is a recent technology originating from the field of sensor
networks. It has received significant attention because it is involved in most aspects of our
daily lives. The IOT vision makes objects of various kinds become part of the Internet by
assigning each object a unique identifier, enabling objects to communicate with each other in
the same or different environments. IOT can collect, process, and exchange data via a data
communication network. There are many methods for identifying objects; some have existed
since the beginning of IOT innovation, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID),
Barcode/2D code, IP address, Electronic Product Codes (EPC), etc. Continuous development
in IOT domain and the large number of objects connected to the Internet daily require an
improved identification method to cope with the rapid development in this field. Many
modern methods have been proposed recently, based on various technologies such as
computer vision, fingerprinting, and machine learning.
Identification, the first requirement in IOT elements, is considered proof of identity
information for each object in the IOT world. Identity is usually used to identify a particular
person, device, or entity. Moreover, it is considered a key factor in creating a connection or
relationship between individuals and critical for IOT system success. It enables us to identify
billions of heterogeneous objects and manage remote objects through the Internet.

Identification also links objects to information associated with the particular object that can
be retrieved from a server. It enables the object to communicate with other objects through
the Internet in the same or different scope. There should be a way to coordinate the identities
of all IOT objects in the scope to allow secure inter-object communication. Identity
management is required for three main parties: the user, object identities, and relationships,
IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

depending on the certain principles that apply to object identity. It must also deal with unique
challenges in the IOT model.
On the one hand, identification is significant for the IOT to name and match services with
their scope, the challenges regarding applying each object with a unique identity, and
representation and storing of exchanged information. On the other hand, addressing the IOT
objects is necessary to differentiate between object ID or name and its address, referring to
the object address within a communication network. There are addressing methods for IOT
objects like IPv4, IPv6, and 6LoWPAN addresses, as well as many former identification
methods such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Bluetooth, Barcode/2D code, Near
Field Communication (NFC), Electronic product codes (EPC), IP address, etc. Identification
methods give each object within the network a clear and unique identity.
IOT applications can mainly provide four types of services; Identity related services,
Information aggregation services, Collaborative Aware services, and Ubiquitous services.
The Identity related services are concerned with object identity information, whereas
Information aggregation is used to collect, summarize, and process all the information from
objects and send it back to the application. Moreover, Collaborative Aware services are used
to turn the collected information into a decision and send appropriate responses to the
devices. The last service is Ubiquitous services, which are responsible for providing
Collaborative-Aware services immediately to anyone at any time and place.
Smart Services™ optimize the ability to leverage advanced IoT technologies, access and
capture data from virtually all sensors, devices, machines, and equipment throughout the
organization, and generate actionable intelligence that enhances business performance and
operational efficiency.

Structural aspects of the IoT

Before implementing IoT in any business process, it’s important to know how we are going
to design the layout. Let us first understand what IoT architecture really is.
We know what value IoT brings to the table for improvising business processes across
industries. But when it comes to reality, the implementation is too complicated. To deal with
these issues, it’s better to find a reliable IoT Edge solutions provider. It will help in
significantly reducing the number of resources spent.
IoT architecture essentially comprises of a number of elements: firstly, cloud service, then
layers, protocols, sensors and devices and so on. To simplify it further, there are 4
components to it.
Additionally, IoT comes with layers for tracking the system consistency. These layers need to
be considered way before IoT architecture process begins. Now what are the three main
layers of IoT architecture:

 IoT Device Layer – which is nothing but the client layer

 IoT Gateway Layer – that is server-side operators
 IoT Platform Layer – to connect the operator and client
The fundamental features of a stable Internet of Things architecture include: functionality,
scalability, availability, and maintainability. We first need to address the layers at the
beginning of the IoT architecture. If ignored, it may result in failure.
IoT DR SHIKHA GAUTAM

Coming back to the 4 Stage IoT architecture which are:

 STAGE 1: Sensors and actuators

 STAGE 2: Internet gateways and Data Acquisition Systems
 STAGE 3: Edge IT Data Processing
 STAGE 4: Datacenter and cloud.
Stage 1. Connected devices (sensors/actuators)
The best thing about sensors is that it can convert the information it senses into a set of data
which we can process further for analysis. Alternatively, it’s important to start including
sensors in the early stages of IoT architecture framework to get information that we need to
process.
This process goes even further for Actuators. They can decide and take actions based on the
information they gather automatically. Example: Switching on a light when someone enters
the room, or temperature regulation, etc.
In this stage, we can make use of hardware and gain necessary insights for further analysis.
Stage 2. Sensor Data Acquisition
We understand at this stage that IoT deals with working with sensors and actuators in close
proximity. Internet gateways and Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) plays an important role
here as well. DAS aggregates output by connecting to the sensor network. On the other hand,
Internet gateways work with Wi-Fi, wired LANs and perform further processing.
This stage is important to process the information collected from the previous stage and
compress it to the optimal size for further analysis. On top of this, timing conversion and
structure conversion happens at this stage.
Eventually, Stage 2 helps to make data aggregated and digitized.
Stage 3. The appearance of edge enabled IT systems
Here, in this stage, we transfer the data that we prepared in stage 2 and expose them to the IT
world. To be precise, the edge IT system performs enhanced analytics here along with pre-
processing. Particularly, machine learning and visual representation.
Some additional processing may also happen here before the data is entered in data centers.
Step 3 enables data to be captured at local sensors and at the same time transferring the data
to the remote locations.
Stage 4: Analyzing, Visualizing and Storing Data
Here, in the last stage, data is processed in depth in the data centers. This stage requires
skilled analytics IT professionals along with high-end applications. Data might also be
gathered from other sources for execution. Once all the quality standards and requirements
are met, the information is then brought back to the physical world for predictive analysis.

Try to see the ppt. This is very informative for unit 2.

https://slideplayer.com/slide/12982828/