What is the impact of Internet of Things (IoT)
A common vision of a futuristic society involves the ubiquity of computerised systems, permeating every facet of life. To a degree, one can make a fair argument that our current epoch represents the beginning of this level of technological pervasiveness. Creativity, the internet and mobile technology combine to supply those of us that are plugged in with a constant feed of anything that might be happening almost anywhere (external link, opens in new window) .
But, while we do have technology that provides us with a glimpse into places we can’t reach on our own, the technology that goes beyond entertainment towards making life futuristically effortless is still quite far from being commonplace. By this I mean the type of systems that fall into the realm of the Internet of Things (IoT).
(PDF file) Kevin Ashton (opens in new window) conceptualises IoT as the enablement of our computers and data capturing systems to be able to go beyond gathering the information that humans feed them. This would move these systems towards understanding the physical objects (food, buildings, transportation, clothing, medicine, etc.) that make life liveable. This is a pretty big idea that’s explored, more details can be found at The Internet of Things: A survey (external link, opens in new window) and (PDF file) Internet of Things (IoT): A Vision, Architectural Elements, and Future Directions (external link, opens in new window) , but it boils down to allowing everyday objects and environments to monitor and communicate with themselves to provide their users (us) with useful information.
Applications of IoT technologies in the healthcare sector include triage, real-time patient monitoring, personnel monitoring, and disease spread modelling and containment. In the transportation sector applications include infrastructure monitoring where sensors are built into structures for measuring their state of wear. Within the home, environmental monitoring and control systems (temperature, humidity, energy use) are all IoT applications as well.
In terms of barriers to the adoption of IoT, there are a multitude of implications and issues regarding security and privacy that need to be addressed. For the sake of this conversation, we will put those issues to the side in order to discuss some of the technology’s other roadblocks and potential uses.
Without getting technical, the Internet of Things is enabled by a combination of mobile technology and data analytics, but it is ultimately up to manufacturers to create the objects that will enable the ubiquity which its proponents envision. Basically, you can’t have IoT without the right “Things” and somebody has to make these things.
Within this thread, the implementation of IoT in manufacturing processes has the potential to revolutionize (external link, opens in new window) the manufacturing industry by increasing production quality and efficiency. PwC Strategy& mention Stanley Black & Decker as an example of this. In one of the firm’s Mexican plants, production levels are claimed to have increased quite significantly thanks to the implementation of IoT technologies.
An example of the use of an industrial product that contains IoT technology is General Electric’s Digital Wind Farms (external link, opens in new window) , which the firm claims can outperform the average competitor by 20%. Claims like this make the adoption of IoT seem extremely exciting as there are potential applications which extend to health care, transportation, hospitality, retail and beyond.
Speaking of which, beyond the concept of IoT lies the idea of Cyber-Physical Systems (external link, opens in new window) (CPS). The difference between the Internet of Things and Cyber Physical Systems lies in the somewhat technical focus of CPS. These systems would be used to do tasks that require more complex, multidisciplinary coordination that rely on the fundamental concepts explained above. Consider it the more esoteric version of these two similar concepts.
In conclusion, the growth of technology and the notion of the technological imperative will constantly push society towards trying to do more with information. The aforementioned security and privacy issues will always be present but, even with them in mind, the potential for the future benefits is very encouraging. It is worth being excited to see where the ability to gather information, make connections, and share with one another (and the things we need) will take us.
