The Internet of Things

Increasingly, objects around us in the physical world are being equipped with sensors and connected to the Internet, so that they can register and react to what happens in their surroundings. Thus, they become part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

This not only applies to electronics like speakers and panel heaters, but to everything from industrial machinery to individual parking spaces, as you may remember from the car park example at the beginning of the course.

Forecasts indicate that the number of devices connected to the Internet will exceed 29 billion in 2030, according to the statistics website Statista. All of these both generate and use data in some way.

These devices are often referred to as 'smart', as in smart homes or smart cities. In this context, 'smart' is not necessarily the same as artificial intelligence, but machine learning is very often central to these devices, which can be anything from voice-activated speakers to robotic vacuum cleaners and self-driving cars.

The pallets that transport your groceries to the store, and even the fields where the food grows, are examples of things that are now equipped with sensors and connected to the Internet—thus becoming part of the Internet of Things.

In simple terms, the Internet of Things is a network of physical objects and sensors that are connected to the Internet. These objects can be almost anything—'smart' coffee machines, power adaptors, computers, mobiles, watches, cars, traffic lights, wind turbines, base stations or even chips people have sewn into their bodies. The objects are identifiable, have sensors, and are often referred to as IoT devices.

The sensors transmit data through a network, usually the Internet. Sometimes the communication goes both ways—sensor data from the device is sent up to the cloud where it is processed, and a response or instruction comes back. This applies, for example, to smart speakers that are controlled with voice commands.

IoT devices can also sometimes send information to each other and exchange data with other devices on the same network. Humans can access the data, for example, by adding it to a dataset or streaming it to a cloud platform. This could be data about consumption, actions, characteristics, behaviour, various states and conditions, and more.

Data from each individual device that connects to the Internet is not necessarily very interesting by itself. But in combination with other data, and paired with other technologies and techniques such as various forms of automation, it’s a different picture. A simple example is that motion and temperature sensors can be installed in commercial buildings to regulate the indoor climate and ensure that lighting and heating are not on unnecessarily.

The value in IoT lies, not least, in that the devices collectively can generate large datasets that in turn can be analysed, for example using machine learning models.

The insights we can gain by analysing such data can in turn enable us to make better decisions, streamline processes and solve tasks on a more secure factual basis.

The Internet of Things, in combination with big data, machine learning and other technologies, lays the foundation for smart cities, smarter transport solutions, smarter buildings, and so on.

On the flip side, when “everything” around us is connected to the Internet, generating and collecting data, the question arises as to how the data is handled. Can we be entirely sure that all the parties who have access to our data act morally and use the data ethically? Unlikely. With an increasing number of IoT devices in circulation, it also becomes even more important that we are aware of what data we are giving away and how it may be used.

More things connected to the Internet also means more access points for cybercriminals, who may use poorly secured IoT devices as a back door to get into a secured network.. There have also been horror stories where smart toys—like talking cuddly teddy bears with a microphone and speakers—have been hacked and accessed by strangers who can then talk to the children who own the toys.

Therefore, security is also very important in this context. We will look more closely at this in the next section. But first, let's look at one more technology that depends on data, namely digital twins.