Hello readers!! In this blog post, I am going to cover important topics related to IoT. I found that beginners are facing difficulty in finding IoT related stuff at one place. Though there are many IoT courses but why one should pay fees to join an online course? So, I am trying to cover all the important topics of IoT in this single blog post.

Let's start🙌

🔴Introduction to IoT

IoT means Internet of "things", where things can be any person or object. Its about making things "smart" by connecting them to the Internet. For example, Smart watches, smart homes, smart parking. but it does not mean that IoT is always dependent on internet. Not all the things are connected to the Internet for working, because it is not possible that internet is available everywhere. So, its a myth that IoT only works with the internet. Nope!

🔴IoT Examples

To understand IoT , consider basic examples such as devices like - Fitbits, voice assistants like Alexa & Siri. For detailed examples, check my article Upmost Iot Examples You Should Be Aware Of❗

🔴IoT Characteristics

Connectivity: With everything going on in IoT devices and hardware, with sensors and other electronics and connected hardware and control systems there needs to be a connection between various levels.
Thing: Anything that can be tagged or connected as such as it’s designed to be connected. From sensors and household appliances to tagged livestock. Devices can contain sensors or sensing materials can be attached to devices and items.
Data: Data is the glue of the Internet of Things, the first step towards action and intelligence.
Communication: Devices get connected so they can communicate data and this data can be analyzed. Communication can occur over short distances or over a long range to very long range. Examples: Wi-Fi, LPWA network technologies such as LoRaWAN
Intelligence: The aspect of intelligence as in the sensing capabilities in IoT devices and the intelligence gathered from big data analytics (also artificial intelligence).
Action: The consequence of intelligence. This can be manual action, action based upon debates regarding phenomena (for instance in smart factory decisions) and automation, often the most important piece.
Ecosystem: The place of the Internet of Things from a perspective of other technologies, communities, goals and the picture in which the Internet of Things fits. The Internet of Everything dimension, the platform dimension and the need for solid partnerships.

🔴IoT components

There are four major IoT components-

Devices: Devices are the main component of IoT. What these devices are? Devices like sensors and actuators are used to collect the data from the environment. Sensors convert the physical signals to electrical signals, whereas actuators convert electrical signals to physical signals.
Connectivity: After collecting data from the environment, you need to connect this data to external network, means you need to send this collected data to IoT cloud.
Data Processing: Now once data is sent to the cloud, softwares will process the data.
User Interface: After being processed, now data is all set to get delivered to the end-users.

🔴7 Layered IoT Architecture

layered ach.png

Physical Devices: Physical equipment like controllers falls into the first layer of the seven layer architecture. The “things” in “internet of things” is referred to these physical devices as they are responsible for sending and receiving data.
Connectivity: It connects with the devices of the first layer. It implements the protocols according to the compatibility of various devices. It helps in the translation of protocols. It provides assistance in analytics related to the network.
Edge Computing: Edge computing is used for data formatting which makes sure that the succeeding layer can make sense of the data sets. To do this, it performs data filtering, cleaning, and aggregation. It creates event alerts.
Data Accumulation: Sensor data is ever changing. Hence, it is the fourth layer which is responsible for the required conversion. The layer ensures that data is maintained in such a state that other components and module of IoT can easily access it. When data filtering is applied in this phase, a significant part of data is eliminated.
Data Abstraction: In this layer, the relevant data is processed for adhering to specific properties pertaining to the stored data. Afterward, data is provided to the application layer for further processing. The primary purpose of the data abstraction layer is data rendering keeping in mind its storage and using an approach through which IoT developers are easily able to code applications.
Application: The purpose of the application layer is data processing so all the IoT modules can access data. Software and hardware layer are linked with this later. Data interpretation is carried out for generating reports, hence business intelligence comprises a major part of this layer.
Collaboration: In this layer, response or action are offered to provide assistance for the given data. For instance, an action may be the actuator of an electromechanical device following a controller’s trigger.

🔴IoT Protocols

IoT protocols and standards can be broadly classified into two separate categories.

IoT protocols.png IoT Network Protocols : To link devices over a network, IoT network protocols are utilised. These are the communication protocols that are commonly used on the Internet. End-to-end data transfer within the network is possible using IoT network protocols. The different IoT Network protocols are as follows:

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): The greatest example of an IoT network protocol is the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This protocol has served as the cornerstone for web-based data transmission. When there is a large amount of data to be released, it is the most often utilized protocol for IoT devices. However, the HTTP protocol is not recommended because to its high cost, short battery life, low energy efficiency, and other limits.
LoRaWan (Long Range Wide Area Network): It is a low-power, long-range protocol that detects signals below the noise level. LoRaWan wirelessly links battery-powered devices to the Internet in either private or public networks. This communication protocol is mostly utilised in smart cities, where millions of devices operate with less power and memory. The practical use of the LoRaWan IoT protocol is smart street lighting. Using this protocol, street lights may be linked to a LoRa gateway.
Bluetooth: Bluetooth is one of the most extensively utilised short-range communication technologies. It is a wireless data transfer technology that is widely used in the Internet of Things. This secure communication protocol is ideal for short-range, low-power, low-cost wireless transfer between electronic devices. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is a low-energy variant of the Bluetooth protocol that minimizes power consumption and is used to link IoT devices.
ZigBee: ZigBee is an IoT protocol that allows smart objects to work together. It is commonly used in home automation. More famous for industrial settings, ZigBee is used with apps that support low-rate data transfer between short distances. Street lighting and electric meters in urban areas, which provides low power consumption, use the ZigBee communication protocol. It is also used with security systems and in smart homes.

IoT Data Protocols : To link low-power IoT devices, IoT data protocols are employed. These protocols enable point-to-point communication with hardware on the user's side without the need for an Internet connection. In IoT data protocols, connectivity is accomplished via a wired or cellular network. Some examples of IoT data protocols include:

Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT): MQTT, one of the most popular protocols for IoT devices, gathers data from a variety of electrical devices and allows for remote device monitoring. It is a subscribe/publish protocol that operates over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), allowing for event-driven message exchange across wireless networks. MQTT is mostly utilized in low-cost devices that need less power and memory. For example, fire alarms, automobile sensors, smart watches, and text-messaging applications.
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communication Protocol : It is an open industry standard designed to offer remote application administration for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. M2M communication protocols are low-cost and rely on public networks. It establishes a setting in which two devices may communicate and share data. This protocol facilitates machine self-monitoring and helps systems to adapt to changing environments. Smart homes, automatic vehicle identification, vending machines, and ATM machines all employ M2M communication protocols.

🔴Applications of IoT

Smart homes - A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating. It includes smart TVs, smart doors, smart AC, smart refrigerators etc.
Smart agriculture - It is a system built for monitoring the crop field with the help of sensors (light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture, etc.) and automating the irrigation system.
Smart cities - Smart cities use IoT devices such as connected sensors, lights, and meters to collect and analyze data. The cities then use this data to improve infrastructure, public utilities and services, and more
Smart transportation - The IOT offers many number of solutions in transport sector like toll systems, traffic management, vehicle tracking, vehicle to vehicle communication, smart parking, accident prevention infrastructure monitoring Smart parking - With the help of IoT and ultrasonic sensors, available parking places could be displayed in a web application, hence cars can be parked automatically by finding vacant place.

🔴IoT frameworks

The IoT framework is what allows linked devices to communicate with one another via the Internet. It is no surprise, however, that it is known as the 'Internet of Things' framework, or the framework that supports the interaction of 'Things' (devices) through the Internet.

KAA IoT: On this platform, you may manage a N number of devices that are connected to each other via cross-device interoperability. By supplying and installing remote devices, you may monitor your system in real time. KAA facilitates data flow between networked devices, the IoT Cloud, information and visualization systems, and other IoT Ecosystem components.
Microsoft Azure IoT : The Microsoft Azure IoT Suite offers prepackaged solutions as well as the opportunity to customize and construct new solutions to match the project's needs. Microsoft Azure Internet of Things Suite provides the greatest security methods, great scalability, and simple interaction with your present or future systems.
Thingspeak : The ThingSpeak framework allows users to not only analyze but also display data in MATLAB. The fact that this open source IoT framework achieves this eliminates the requirement for the user to purchase a license in order to execute such services.
Arduino: Arduino is one of the most recommended IoT framework open source, especially if you intend to own a computer that perceives and has strong control over the world. The Arduino open source is a combination of both the hardware and software systems of IoT, which makes it very simple and easy to use.

For more details about Arduino, you can check my article Its All about Arduino 🤷‍♀️ .

🔴Sensors

Sensors plays an important role in IoT as they are used to collect the data from environment and to sense that data. There are various types of sensors. For detailed information about sensors, you can check my article Dive Into The World Of Sensors 🌍🌟

🔴Wireless Sensor Network

It is a network that collects information by distributing numerous sensor nodes over a big geographic region. It does not have direct internet access. It is a wireless network with no infrastructure that is implemented ad hoc in a large number of wireless sensors to monitor system, physical, or environmental factors. Sensor nodes in WSN are equipped with an integrated processor that regulates and monitors the environment in a specific region. They are linked to the Base Station, which serves as the WSN System's processing unit. A WSN System's base station is linked to the Internet to share data.

🔴Levels Of IoT

IoT has 6 levels-

Level 1 - A single node/device in a level-1 IoT system provides sensing and/or actuation, stores data, does analysis, and hosts the application. Level-1 IoT systems are appropriate for modelling low-cost, low-complexity solutions in which the data involved is little and the analysis needs are not computationally heavy.
Level 2 - A single node in a Level-2 IoT system handles sensing, actuation, and local analysis. Data is often kept in the cloud, and the application is also cloud-based. Level-2 IoT systems are appropriate for solutions involving large amounts of data; nevertheless, the major analytical required is not computationally expensive and may be performed locally.
Level 3 - A single node constitutes a level-3 IoT system. The application is cloud-based, and data is saved and analyzed on the cloud. Level-3 IoT systems are appropriate for applications with large amounts of data and computationally heavy analytic needs.
Level 4 - Multiple nodes in a level-4 IoT system do local analysis. The application is cloud-based, and the data is saved on the cloud. Level 4 has both local and cloud-based observer nodes that may subscribe to and receive data gathered in the cloud from IoT devices. Level-4 IoT systems are appropriate for solutions that need several nodes, large amounts of data, and computationally expensive analysis.
Level 5 - Level-5 IoT systems are appropriate for wireless sensor network-based solutions with large amounts of data and computationally intense analytical needs. Multiple end nodes and one coordination node comprise a level-5 IoT system. The end nodes are responsible for sensing and/or actuation. Data is collected from the end nodes and sent to the cloud via the coordinating node. The application is cloud-based, and data is saved and analyzed on the cloud.
Level 6 - Multiple independent end nodes in a level-6 IoT system execute sensing and/or actuation and transfer data to the cloud. The application is cloud-based, and the data is saved on the cloud. The analytics component analyses the data and saves the results to a cloud database. The cloud-based application is used to visualize the findings. The centralized controller monitors the state of all end nodes and issues control orders to them.

🔴Arduino Programming

For coding, Arduino IDE is used. Arduino has its own programming language which is very much similar to C++. The codes are known as sketches. Two functions or methods are used - Void setup() and void loop(). The setup is considered as the preparation block, while the loop is considered as the execution block. In void setup(), we define pinMode(). The specific pin number is set as the INPUT or OUTPUT in the pinMode () function.

Take an easy example to turn on an LED. We want to ON the LED for 4 seconds and OFF the LED for 1.5 seconds.

void setup ()  
{  
pinMode ( 13, OUTPUT);  // to set the OUTPUT mode of pin number 13.  
}  
void loop ()  
{  
digitalWrite (13, HIGH);   
delay (4000);  // 4 seconds = 4 x 1000 milliseconds  
digitalWrite (13, LOW);  
delay (1500);  // 1.5 seconds = 1.5 x 1000 milliseconds  
}

🔴IIOT

The industrial internet of things (IIoT) is the expansion and use of the internet of things (IoT) in industrial sectors and applications. IIoT is applied in industries such as manufacturing, supply chain management, and supply chain monitoring.

🔴IoT security

IoT security would assist in bringing the game-changing technologies of smart and self-driving gadgets to market more quickly. As a result, IoT security is critical. If cyber attackers obtain access to your IoT devices, they may steal personal information such as credit card numbers, names, addresses, and so on. IoT security refers to the discipline of keeping your IoT systems safe. IoT security technologies defend against attacks and breaches, as well as identify and monitor hazards.

All You Need To Know About IoT 💯