University Of Swat

Abubakar Haroon

Department: Computer Science

This article is all about the internet of things and we will discuss what is the internet of things
and how it is work. First here we will discuss what internet of things is and how useful it is in our
daily life routine. Internet of things is basically when all of our daily life equipments is attached
with the internet. It is an idea example, our home where everything is connected with the
internet, if someone enters to home and the lights turned on so it is because of the iot. The other
name for internet of things is iot, in short form.

Iot is an automatic system. It is a network of physical objects or in other words “things”. The
internet of things basically sense the things through sensors and then it collects the data about the
things that is sensed. And also it is an embedded system and this system is composed of software
and electronic circuits. In software there is coding for the hardware. When the objects sensed
through sensors it is then remotely controlled and and connected it with the physical world and
with the embedded system that is imbuilded in it and then the output is useful and efficient and
we can take benefit from it. Experts wants this technology to be more efficient and the main
purpose is to make it simple as possible for the use of an individual and want to make it
interesting so more people will take interest in it so people will also work in this field so it will
be more broud. The internet of things describes physical objects with sensors, processing ability,
software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems
over the internet or other communication network. And also the experts of this field conducted
that in 2020 there will be almost 50 BILLION objects for the internet of things. And everyone
can take benefit from it easily through their daily life. A British businessman Kevin Ashton gave
the name internet of things in 1999. The term “Internet of things” was coined in 1999 by the
computer scientist Kivin Ashton. He decided to make a network connecting objects in the
physical world to the internet. So for a ‘Thing’ to be part of the Internet it needs to have all the
elements of a computer.
It may not be as powerful as your laptop computer. It may not have all the usual devices
that you find on a normal household computer, such as a keyboard, mouse and screen.
They tend to be smaller, more compact so they can be embedded into artefacts easily and
cheaply. Some times they have to very robust to with stand unusual weather conditions,
climates, hazardous materials etc. Other times they are designed to operate inside of
humans so they need to work along with the human body.
Things, in the IoT, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring
implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters,
automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire-fighters in
search and rescue. These devices collect useful data with the help of various existing
technologies and then autonomously flow the data between other devices.
Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize
Wi-Fi for remote monitoring. Besides the plethora of new application areas for Internet
connected automation to expand into, IoT is also expected to generate large amounts of
data from diverse locations that is aggregated very quickly, thereby increasing the need to
better index, store and process such data. The Internet of things needs a lot of network
connections. These connections need to know how to ‘talk to each other’ similar to when
you send a text message from your phone to your friend’s phone. For this communication
to take place there is a proposed "white space" radio standard called weightless. While
mobile and WiFi networks are likely to be key technologies for the IoT, it will ultimately
be necessary to look to other technical solutions and frequency bands to ensure that the
IoT is allowed to flourish. White space is just one example.
One of the first applications of Internet of Things was in the early 1980s. The Internet
Vending Machine is an internet-connected soda vending machine that allows customers
to check the availability status of soda remotely using a finger interface. Originally
developed circa 1982 by a group of students at Carnegie Mellon University, the machine
became known as one of the very first Internet appliances and inspired a number of
modified versions allowing people to queue their purchases on the machine remotely via
Internet, such as the Trojan coffee pot[4].
Today the IoT does more than just track if the there are any drinks left in the vending
machine, for example in Kenya they are using the remote cameras to help track animals
and prevent poaching[6]. They are using a network of cameras and a raspberry Pi. The
cameras are left in key spots in the wilderness of Kenya, where they take as many as 30
pictures a day, passing that information back over satellites to England - where it's fed
into the Instant Wild App so supporters can help identify animals. The project is a
collaboration between the Zoological Society London (ZSL) - which runs London Zoo -
Introduction to Internet of Things Dr. Patricia Charlton
Date 15 October 2015 Creative Digital Solutions
LTD

and the Kenya Wildlife Service, and uses kit developed by Cambridge Consultants.
The way that it's used is they drive out to a remote area and place cameras to observe
wildlife or poaching activity. Each of the cameras is connected over wireless back to a
central node, which may be hidden - maybe in a tree or a rock or some other place where
it can be disguised.
Pictures make their way to that central node which then transmits them over the Iridium
Satellite Network, which is a global communication network of 66 satellites that fly
around the globe in low-earth orbit, providing a complete coverage of the earth. Over that
system, they’re transmitted back to the ZSL's servers in London.
When the project started, the main thrust was animals and conservation, through getting
to know where they were and what their movements were. As the project went on, the
threat to wildlife has soared... so poaching is now their number one concern.
It would be possible to transmit other things by including sensors that detect gunshots and
to try to workout where the gunshot is coming from. Also, to perhaps capture vibrations
to detect cars in a region a region where they don't expect them to be. Where there are no
rangers in the area, they can raise a suitable alarm.
Xively originally known as Pachube, was created 2007 as a data brokerage platform by Usman Haque.
Pachube allows mashing up live or historic data streams, especially from sensors, to build new
applications that were not thinkable in the single domains before. Pachube was noticed by the broader
public following the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. There, many individuals used low-
cost DIY Geiger counters to monitor the radioactive fallout across the country. The data was streamed to
Pachube and together with the maps API from Google a live map could be created. The tool was
renamed to Xively and is still used today.

There are many IoT that are wearable. People use wearable sensors to track how they are doing in sport,
their health or other personal aspects of themselves. For example Nike+ Sensor makes it easy to track
your time, distance, pace and more while you run. Afterward, upload you your run data to Nikeplus.com,
world's running club, where you can monitor your progress, join challenges, map your runs and connect
with friends.

Original Document

Introduction to The Internet of Things

Author : Dr. Patricia Charlton

Creative Digital Solutions LTD

Co-founder and Director of Creative Digital Solutions

http://creativedigitalsolutions.org

Patricia.Charlton@pobox.com

This is an introduction article about the Internet of Things and pulls some basic resources together to
help people new to the area to think about this emerging space.

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of things is the idea, for example of creating a home where everything is connected to the
Internet, creating a scalable connection of devices from individually dumb devices. Bins, toasters, washing
machines and lights will be able to talk to each other for automatic, more efficient control and monitoring.
The Internet of Things is often referred to as IoT.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics,
software, sensors and connectivity to enable objects to collect and exchange data. The Internet of Things
allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating
opportunities for more direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems, and
resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. Each thing is uniquely identifiable
through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet
infrastructure. Experts estimate that the IoT will consist of almost 50 billion objects by 2020. There are
many visions and discussions about IoT, the videos provide two views of the potential of these visions and
ideas, some are already realizable now [2][3].

The term “Internet of Things” was coined by British entrepreneur Kevin Ashton in 1999.Typically, IoT is
expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine to
machine communication (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications [1].

The starting point for Internet of Things applications are the things themselves. These things are devices
and typically have no screen (although that's not always the case), a low-power processor, some sort of
embedded operating system and a way of communicating (usually wirelessly) using one or more
communication protocols. The things may connect directly to the Internet, to neighboring things or to an
Internet gateway device – typically a plastic box with blinking lights.

So for a ‘Thing’ to be part of the Internet it needs to have all the elements of a computer. It may not be as
powerful as your laptop computer. It may not have all the usual devices that you find on a normal household
computer, such as a keyboard, mouse and screen. They tend to be smaller, more compact so they can be
embedded into artefacts easily and cheaply. Some times they have to very robust to with stand unusual
weather conditions, climates, hazardous materials etc. Other times they are designed to operate inside of
humans so they need to work along with the human body.

Things, in the IoT, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip
transponders on farm animals, electric clams in coastal waters, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field
operation devices that assist fire-fighters in search and rescue. These devices collect useful data with the
help of various existing technologies and then autonomously flow the data between other devices.

Current market examples include smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize Wi-Fi for remote
monitoring. Besides the plethora of new application areas for Internet connected automation to expand into,
IoT is also expected to generate large amounts of data from diverse locations that is aggregated very quickly,
thereby increasing the need to better index, store and process such data. The Internet of things needs a lot
of network connections. These connections need to know how to ‘talk to each other’ similar to when you
send a text message from your phone to your friend’s phone. For this communication to take place there is
a proposed "white space" radio standard called weightless. While mobile and WiFi networks are likely to
be key technologies for the IoT, it will ultimately be necessary to look to other technical solutions and
frequency bands to ensure that the IoT is allowed to flourish. White space is just one example.

Example of IoT applications

One of the first applications of Internet of Things was in the early 1980s. The Internet Vending Machine is
an internet-connected soda vending machine that allows customers to check the availability status of soda
remotely using a finger interface. Originally developed circa 1982 by a group of students at Carnegie
Mellon University, the machine became known as one of the very first Internet appliances and inspired a
number of modified versions allowing people to queue their purchases on the machine remotely via Internet,
such as the Trojan coffee pot[4].

Today the IoT does more than just track if the there are any drinks left in the vending machine, for example
in Kenya they are using the remote cameras to help track animals and prevent poaching[6]. They are using
a network of cameras and a raspberry Pi. The cameras are left in key spots in the wilderness of Kenya,
where they take as many as 30 pictures a day, passing that information back over satellites to England -
where it's fed into the Instant Wild App so supporters can help identify animals. The project is a
collaboration between the Zoological Society London (ZSL) - which runs London Zoo - and the Kenya
Wildlife Service, and uses kit developed by Cambridge Consultants.

The way that it's used is they drive out to a remote area and place cameras to observe wildlife or poaching
activity. Each of the cameras is connected over wireless back to a central node, which may be hidden -
maybe in a tree or a rock or some other place where it can be disguised.

Pictures make their way to that central node which then transmits them over the Iridium Satellite Network,
which is a global communication network of 66 satellites that fly around the globe in low-earth orbit,
providing a complete coverage of the earth. Over that system, they’re transmitted back to the ZSL's servers
in London.

When the project started, the main thrust was animals and conservation, through getting to know where
they were and what their movements were. As the project went on, the threat to wildlife has soared... so
poaching is now their number one concern.

It would be possible to transmit other things by including sensors that detect gunshots and to try to workout
where the gunshot is coming from. Also, to perhaps capture vibrations to detect cars in a region a region
where they don't expect them to be. Where there are no rangers in the area, they can raise a suitable alarm.

Other apps of IoT

You can now have your phone company effectively offer you a new service for connecting your car to the
Internet. This can have a benefit to the safety and the maintenance of that vehicle, where things can be
monitored remotely, and in many cases updated remotely, saving a trip to the dealership. But also there is
entertainment value for passengers in the backseat, for example, or providing navigation, etc.
Environmental improvements are possible, for example using temperature sensors throughout the
manufacturing floor or the home to effectively reduce and manage their power use. The Netherlands has
used the Internet of Things for their bins so that the bins can send messages out when they need to be
emptied. However, in London the smart bins in the streets were removed when the technology was being
used to track people’s smart phones for advertising.

Xively originally known as Pachube, was created 2007 as a data brokerage platform by Usman Haque.
Pachube allows mashing up live or historic data streams, especially from sensors, to build new
applications that were not thinkable in the single domains before. Pachube was noticed by the broader
public following the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. There, many individuals used low-
cost DIY Geiger counters to monitor the radioactive fallout across the country. The data was streamed to
Pachube and together with the maps API from Google a live map could be created. The tool was
renamed to Xively and is still used today.

There are many IoT that are wearable. People use wearable sensors to track how they are doing in sport,
their health or other personal aspects of themselves. For example Nike+ Sensor makes it easy to track
your time, distance, pace and more while you run. Afterward, upload you your run data to Nikeplus.com,
world's running club, where you can monitor your progress, join challenges, map your runs and connect
with friends.

So how do we make an Internet of Things happen?

The term Internet of Things (IoT) describes several technologies and research disciplines that enable the
Internet to reach out into the real world of physical objects. Technologies like RFID, short- range wireless
communications, real-time localization, and sensor networks are becoming increasingly pervasive,
making the IoT a reality.

Fig 1: Ingredients of the Internet of Things

The Ingredients of the Internet of Things

(a) The “Thing” (b) The Local Network (c) The Internet (d) The Cloud

The “Thing” may provide

• Identification and info storage (RFID tags, MAC (Media access control) address)

• Information collection (Sensor networks, store sensor values)

• Information processing(Understanding commands, filtering data)

• Communications (Transmit and receive messages)

• Actuation (Switch control, motor control)

It means adding an embedded device to say a chair, window, ceiling fan or bulb for them to have theses
capabilities. So the thing has to have some kind of computer hardware for it to be part of the Internet of
Things because it needs to be able to connect to a network.
How do we make an Internet of Thing work?
In all these applications, data is collected locally through various sensors. Some processing and data
reduction are also performed, and the resulting information is then transmitted (Fig. 2). On the receiving
side, data from several sources can be put together and further processed (by a software application) until
meaningful information is generated and provided to the user through an additional service.

Fig(2) . Data flow in an IoT application moves from sensors to the cloud.

Fig 3. An IoT SoC normally contains at least a microcontroller and a communication

interface.[5]

The device that performs these functions for example monitoring your car or your cat can be built around
a system-on-chip (SoC) – that is a processor – a smaller type of CPU (computer processing unit) that you
will find in your home computer. The device also has a battery/power management, embedded flash (e-
flash) memory (data storage), user interfaces (I/F) and other I/O, the wireless or wired communications
interface, and the mission-critical sensor I/F (Fig. 3). Sensor devices are commonly divided into analog
and digital categories.
What can you to do next?
There are some platforms that you can use to get started with to build and experiment with an IoT
application. One approach is to use tools and platforms, such as, Node-RED[7], which is a visual tool for
wiring the Internet of Things.

If you want to explore physical devices and explore sensors there are simulation tools, for example such
as auto desk 123D [8] and simple devices such as BBC micro:bit[9].

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things
[2] http://shows.howstuffworks.com/fwthinking-show/fwthinking-ep1-internet-of-things-
video.htm
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsKZGOxNKw
[4] http://postscapes.com/internet-of-things-history
[5] http://electronicdesign.com/analog/define-analog-sensor-interfaces-iot-socs
[6] Kenya Reference: http://www.alphr.com/news/interviews/384106/poachers-caught-red-
handed-by-the-raspberry-pi
[7] http://nodered.org/
[8] http://www.123dapp.com/circuits
[9] https://www.microbit.co.uk/