What is the Internet of Things, its Elements and Benefits?

What is the Internet of Things, its Elements and Benefits? – The development of world technology seems unstoppable. Not only in developed countries, but in developing countries also feel the impact of these developments. Technological developments are not only in the basic area of technological composition, but also technological engineering follows. New breakthroughs are starting to emerge, one of which is the Internet of Things or what can be abbreviated as IoT. Actually, technology activists have been developing IoT for a long time, but we have only really felt its popularity in the last few decades.

In this article, we will discuss what IoT is? What are the constituent elements? What are the benefits we can get when using IoT? And what fields apply IoT technology? Let’s look at the article.

What is the Internet of Things?

Internet of things is an effort to embed elements of technology into a certain object or object. Technological elements such as sensors and software. Meanwhile, the purpose of embedding technology elements into a particular object is to communicate, control, connect, and exchange data through other devices as long as they are connected to the internet.

IoT has a close relationship with the term machine-to-machine or M2M. All tools that have M2M communication capabilities are often referred to as smart devices. Thus, we can confront these smart devices to be able to assist human work in completing various existing affairs or tasks.

Elements of the IoT Ecosystem

In understanding “What is the Internet of Things?” we need more knowledge about the elements that make up the IoT ecosystem. To create an IoT ecosystem, we not only need smart devices, but also various other supporting elements in it. Here are the various elements that make up the internet of things;

• Artificial intelligence (AI)

The first is artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an attempt to resemble a human intelligence system by implementing or programming a machine. The goal is clear that the machine can think and act like humans. AI itself has several branches, one of which is machine learning. With machine learning, we mean we are one step further in learning artificial intelligence.

In IoT, almost any machine or device can become a smart machine. That means IoT has a huge impact on all aspects of our lives. This AI is in charge of collecting data, designing and developing algorithms, and installing networks.

• Sensors

Next there are sensors. A sensor is a device that has the task of recording data and information from its environment based on its type. This element is an element that distinguishes IoT machines from other sophisticated machines. With this sensor, the machine is able to determine the instrument that can change the IoT machine from a passive one to an active and integrated machine or tool.

• Connectivity

The last one is connectivity. Connectivity is also commonly referred to as the connection between networks. In the world of IoT itself there is a possibility for us to create a new network. A network specifically used for IoT devices.

Benefits of the Internet of Things in Various Fields

After knowing the explanation and elements to form an IoT ecosystem, now we will explain what are the benefits of the internet of things in various fields. Something you may not think that what is around you is the result of the existence of IoT.

In its own application, the internet of things brings a lot of benefits. In addition to its main benefits to facilitate human work, the internet of things is also useful in various fields. Here are some of them;

• Agriculture

First of all, we will discuss starting from the agricultural sector – in understanding of “What is the Internet of Things?” An IoT activist can apply IoT in the agricultural sector in various ways. One of them is in terms of data collection. The data set can be in the form of temperature, humidity, rainfall, water content in the soil, and pest monitoring and many others.

For example, farmers can find out important data such as water content in the soil and ambient temperature with sensors. The data collected can be used to make decisions to improve quality and quantity, minimize risk, and reduce the effort required to manage the farm.

Regarding data collection, traditional farmers will usually obtain the data by observing using the five senses. For example, the humidity of the air in the agricultural area. Farmers with their senses will feel the value of the humidity of the air. Once sure he will perform certain actions on the plant. Of course this is not as accurate as a machine in which there is an air humidity sensor. Well, here is a strong reason why agriculture is a very large field to benefit from the existence of IoT.

At this point in the field do you understand enough about “what is the internet of things?” about an example of its application? If not, please continue to the next applied field.

• Health

Next up is the medical and health sector – again in “What is the Internet of Things?” In the world of health, researchers continue to develop the internet of things. IoT researchers are working on a new method of examining patients. They plan in the future, medical personnel or hospitals can receive all the results of the examination directly. The sensor will send data such as blood pressure, disease history, disease in patients, and others to the IoT machine directly.

Actually, IoT technology is currently being applied in the health sector. For example, a robot nurse at a clinic in Moscow is helping the tasks of health workers during the current pandemic. However, IoT can do much more than what is currently available. In fact, in the future, work that so far medical workers have been unable to do, with IoT and AI will be able to do it to help patients.

• Transportation Sector

Next is the transportation sector. (In understanding “What is the Internet of Things?”, this field is an important one.) IoT can help humans integrate, control, and process information in transportation systems. The application of the internet of things is growing very rapidly and can be implemented on vehicle engines or on the steering function.

One example of the internet of things in the transportation sector is a car that can park itself and a car that can run on its own (autopilot). Researchers in the IoT field hope that with the existence of IoT in the transportation sector, the number of accidents can be greatly reduced. Thus, the number of human deaths due to traffic accidents can also decrease.

• Property Sector – Housing and Building

Next in the home sector. Internet of things devices can also not only be used in the business sectors, but they can also be used for personal purposes. You can make your home completely automatic, you know! What are they? It starts from turning on the lights, turning on electronic devices, and to opening the door of the house. These devices are referred to as smart home peripherals or smart home devices. If you implement IoT at home, indirectly you already have a smart home. Cool, right?

Not only about convenience, you can also save energy. That’s because you can control the smart devices in your home remotely. So, automatically no energy is wasted.

Examples of internet of things in the house are lights that can turn on automatically at night, door locks that are opened with fingerprints or with smartphones, automatic feeding places for animals, automatic flower sprinklers, and many more.

• Environment

Not to be left out, in understanding “What is the Internet of Things?”, this one field we must not forget, what is it? Yes, the last is the application of IoT in the environmental sector. Usually, this environmental sector uses IoT applications and devices that use sensors.

Examples include devices that can monitor air quality, devices that can be attached to wild animals in captivity, checking water conditions, and so on. Even the internet of things can also be used for disaster early warning systems.

How will IoT change the world? – In “What is the Internet of Things?”

Before we end the article on “What is the Internet of Things?”, we will try to understand how IoT will be able to change the world? From the descriptions and examples of the application of IoT in various fields above, we will take a sample that is related to transportation. We will go directly to the use of IoT in building a modern and sophisticated car. In fact, cars in the last decade have taken advantage of the development of IoT in them.

IoT reinvents the car by enabling connected cars. With IoT, car owners can operate their cars remotely. For example, by heating the car before the driver gets into it or by calling the car remotely via a mobile phone. Given the ability of IoT to enable device-to-device communication, cars will even be able to book their own service appointments when ‘it’ senses an abnormality within itself.

Connected cars allow car manufacturers or dealers to change car ownership models. Previously, manufacturers had close relationships with individual buyers (or none at all). Basically, the manufacturer’s relationship with the car ends once the process of sending the car to the dealer is complete. With connected cars, automakers or dealers can have an ongoing relationship with their customers. Instead of selling cars, they can charge drivers usage fees, offering “transport as a service” using autonomous cars. IoT allows manufacturers to continually improve their cars with new software, a big difference from traditional car ownership models where vehicles immediately depreciate in performance and value.

Furthermore, the self-driving car is one of the most remarkable nowadays. Indeed, the level of autonomous vehicles has not yet reached the highest level, namely level 5. The level where a car really does not require driver intervention when walking towards a certain destination. Currently some manufacturers say that they have reached level 3. This means that they are almost or even more than 50% of the maximum achievement for IoT in autonomous vehicles.

Conclusion – What is the Internet of Things?

So that’s the discussion about what is the internet of things. How, interesting, right? IoT devices that exist today can still develop to be more sophisticated in the future and are expected to be able to help humans in all sectors. It is hoped that after you read this article you will become interested in creating and developing other IoT devices that are useful for humans. See you in the next article.