Internet of Things
Encyclopedia
The Internet of Things refers to uniquely identifiable objects (things) and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. The term Internet of Things was first used by Kevin Ashton
Kevin Ashton
Kevin Ashton is a British technology pioneer who cofounded the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which created a global standard system for RFID and other sensors....

 in 1999. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the Auto-ID Center
Auto-ID Labs
The Auto-ID Labs network is a research group in the field of networked radio-frequency identification and emerging sensing technologies. The labs consist of seven research universities located on four different continents. These institutions were chosen by the former Auto-ID Center to design the...

 and related market analysts publications . Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is often seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things. If all objects of daily life were equipped with radio tags, they could be identified and inventoried by computers. However, unique identification of things may be achieved through other means such as barcodes or 2D-codes as well.

With all objects in the world equipped with minuscule identifying devices, daily life on Earth would undergo a transformation. Companies would not run out of stock or waste products, as all involved parties would know exactly which products are required and consumed. Mislaid and stolen items would be easily tracked and located.

Alternative definitions

Different definitions for the Internet of Things have appeared and the term is evolving as the technology and implementation of the ideas move forward. Here are several partially overlapping definitions:

Casagras: A global network infrastructure, linking physical and virtual objects through the exploitation of data capture and communication capabilities. This infrastructure includes existing and evolving Internet and network developments. It will offer specific object-identification, sensor and connection capability as the basis for the development of independent cooperative services and applications. These will be characterised by a high degree of autonomous data capture, event transfer, network connectivity and interoperability.
SAP
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...

: A world where physical objects are seamlessly integrated into the information network, and where the physical objects can become active participants in business processes. Services are available to interact with these 'smart objects' over the Internet, query and change their state and any information associated with them, taking into account security and privacy issues.
ETP EPOSS:The network formed by things/objects having identities, virtual personalities operating in smart spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate with the users, social and environmental contexts.
CERP
CERP
CERP may refer to*Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan*Commander's Emergency Response Program*European Confederation of Public Relations...

-IoT: Internet of Things (IoT) is an integrated part of Future Internet and could be defined as a dynamic global network infrastructure with self configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual ‘things’ have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network. In the IoT, ‘things’ are expected to become active participants in business, information and social processes where they are enabled to interact and communicate among themselves and with the environment by exchanging data and information ‘sensed’ about the environment, while reacting autonomously to the ‘real/physical world’ events and influencing it by running processes that trigger actions and create services with or without direct human intervention. Interfaces in the form of services facilitate interactions with these ‘smart things’ over the Internet, query and change their state and any information associated with them, taking into account security and privacy issues.
Other: The future Internet of Things links uniquely identifiable things to their virtual representations in the Internet containing or linking to additional information on their identity, status, location or any other business, social or privately relevant information at a financial or non-financial pay-off that exceeds the efforts of information provisioning and offers information access to non-predefined participants. The provided accurate and appropriate information may be accessed in the right quantity and condition, at the right time and place at the right price. The Internet of Things is not synonymous with ubiquitous / pervasive computing, the Internet Protocol (IP), communication technology, embedded devices, its applications, the Internet of People or the Intranet / Extranet of Things, yet it relies on all of these approaches. The association of intelligent virtual representations (e.g.: called avatars and embedded, hosted in the Cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...

 or centralized) and physical objects are sometimes called "cyberobjects". Cyberobjects are then considered as autonomous actors of the value chains they are involved in: able to perceive, analyze and react in various contexts; although acting under the guidance of human beings as programmed. Cyberobjects can then be assistants, advisors, decision makers, etc; and can be considered as true Agent (economics)
Agent (economics)
In economics, an agent is an actor and decision maker in a model. Typically, every agent makes decisions by solving a well or ill defined optimization/choice problem. The term agent can also be seen as equivalent to player in game theory....

, helping to change existing economic or organization models. In such a scenario, the conception of avatars refers to artifical intelligence and Complex system
Complex system
A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties not obvious from the properties of the individual parts....

.

Unique addressability of things

The original idea of the Auto-ID Center
Auto-ID Labs
The Auto-ID Labs network is a research group in the field of networked radio-frequency identification and emerging sensing technologies. The labs consist of seven research universities located on four different continents. These institutions were chosen by the former Auto-ID Center to design the...

 is based on RFID-tags and unique identification through the Electronic Product Code
Electronic Product Code
The Electronic Product Code is designed as a universal identifier that provides a unique identity for every physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. Its structure is defined in the EPCglobal Tag Data Standard , which is an open standard freely available for download from the website...

.

An alternative view, from the world of the Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...

 focuses instead on making all things (not just those electronic, smart, or RFID-enabled) addressable by the existing naming protocols, such as URI
Úri
Úriis a village and commune in the comitatus of Pest in Hungary....

. The objects themselves do not converse, but they may now be referred to by other agents, such as powerful centralized servers acting for their human owners.

The next generation of Internet applications using Internet Protocol Version 6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...

 (IPv6) would be able to communicate with devices attached to virtually all human-made objects because of the extremely large address space of IPv6. This system would therefore be able to identify any kind of object.

A combination of these ideas can be found in the current GS1
GS1
Founded in 1977, GS1 is an international not-for-profit association dedicated to the development and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across multiple sectors...

/EPCglobal
EPCglobal
EPCglobal is a joint venture between GS1 and GS1 US .It is an organization set up to achieve worldwide adoption and standardization of Electronic Product Code technology....

 EPC Information Services http://www.gs1.org/gsmp/kc/epcglobal/epcis (EPCIS EPCglobal#EPCIS) specifications. This system is being used to identify objects in industries ranging from Aerospace to Fast Moving Consumer Products and Transportation Logistics.

Trends and characteristics

Intelligence

Ambient intelligence
Ambient intelligence
In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time...

 and Autonomous control are not part of the original concept of the Internet of Things. Ambient intelligence
Ambient intelligence
In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time...

 and Autonomous control do not necessarily require Internet structures, either. However, there is a shift in research to integrate the concepts of the Internet of Things and Autonomous control. In the future the Internet of Things may be a non-deterministic and open network in which auto-organized or intelligent entities (Web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...

s, SOA
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...

 components), virtual objects (avatars) will be interoperable and able to act independently (pursuing their own objectives or shared ones) depending on the context, circumstances or environments.

Embedded intelligence presents an “AI-oriented” perspective of IoT, which can be more clearly defined as: leveraging the capacity to collect and analyze the digital traces left by people when interacting with widely deployed smart things to discover the knowledge about human life, environment interaction, as well as social connection/behavior.

Architecture

The system will likely be an example of event-driven architecture, bottom-up made (based on the context of processes and operations, in real-time) and will consider any subsidiary level. Therefore, model driven and functional approaches will coexist with new ones able to treat exceptions and unusual evolution of processes (Multi-agent system
Multi-agent system
A multi-agent system is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems that are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or a monolithic system to solve...

s, B-ADSc, etc.).

In an Internet of Things, the meaning of an event will not necessarily be based on a deterministic or syntactic model but would instead be based on the context of the event itself: this will also be a semantic web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...

. Consequently, it will not necessarily need common standards that would not be able to address every context or use: some actors (services, components, avatars) will accordingly be self-referenced and, if ever needed, adaptive to existing common standards (predicting everything would be no more than defining a "global finality" for everything that is just not possible with any of the current top-down approaches and standardizations).

Complex system

In semi-open or closed loops (i.e. value chains, whenever a global finality can be settled) it will therefore be considered and studied as a Complex system
Complex system
A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties not obvious from the properties of the individual parts....

 due to the huge number of different links and interactions between autonomous actors, and its capacity to integrate new actors. At the overall stage (full open loop) it will likely be seen as a chaotic
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...

 environment (since system
System
System is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....

s have always finality).

Size considerations

The Internet of objects would encode 50 to 100 trillion objects, and be able to follow the movement of those objects. Every human being is surrounded by 1000 to 5000 objects.

Time considerations

In this Internet of Things, made of billions of parallel and simultaneous events, time will no more be used as a common and linear dimension but will depend on each entity (object, process, information system, etc.). This Internet of Things will be accordingly based on massive parallel IT systems (Parallel computing
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...

).

Space considerations

In an Internet of Things, the precise geographic location of a thing—and also the precise geographic dimensions of a thing—will be critical. Currently, the Internet has been primarily used to manage information processed by people. Therefore, facts about a thing, such as its location in time and space, has been less critical to track because the person processing the information can decide whether or not that information was important to the action being taken, and if so, add the missing information (or decide to not take the action). (Note that some things in the internet of things will be sensors, and sensor location is usually important.) The GeoWeb
Geoweb
The Geospatial Web or Geoweb is a relatively new term that implies the merging of geographical information with the abstract information that currently dominates the Internet...

 and Digital Earth
Digital Earth
Digital Earth is the name given to a concept by former US vice president Al Gore in 1998, describing a virtual representation of the Earth that is spatially referenced and interconnected with the world’s digital knowledge archives.-Original Vision:...

 are promising applications that become possible when things can become organized and connected by location. However, challenges that remain include the constraints of variable spatial scales, the need to handle massive amounts of data, and an indexing for fast search and neighbour operations. If in the Internet of Things, things are able to take actions on their own initiative, this human-centric mediation role is eliminated, and the time-space context that we as humans take for granted must be given a central role in this information ecosystem. Just as standards play a key role in the Internet and the Web, geospatial standards will play a key role in the Internet of Things.

Sub systems

Not all elements in an Internet of Things will necessarily run in a global space. Think, for instance, of Domitica running inside a Smart House. While the same technologies are used as elsewhere, the system might only be running on- and available via a local network.

Frameworks

Internet of Things frameworks might help support the interaction between "things" and allow for more complex structures like Distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...

 and the development of Distributed application
Distributed application
-Introduction:Where classic software systems of the past century were mostly based on Client–server models and Client-centric application development, both ultimately run on one single computer, be it the client computer or the server....

s. Currently, Internet of Things frameworks seem to focus on real time data logging solutions like Pachube
Pachube
Pachube is an on-line database service provider allowing developers to connect sensor data to the Web and to build their own applications on it....

: offering some basis to work with many "things" and have them interact. Future developments might lead to specific Software development environments to create the software to work with the hardware used in the Internet of Things.

Applications

Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...

 touchatag
Touchatag
Touchatag is an RFID service for consumers, application developers and operators/enterprises created by Alcatel-Lucent...

 service and Violet's Mirror gadget provide a pragmatic consumer oriented approach to the Internet of Things by which a developer can link real world items to the online world using RFID tags and QR Code
QR Code
A QR code is a type of matrix barcode first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white...

s. The Connected Home offering of AlertMe
AlertMe
AlertMe is a UK company that provides energy and home monitoring hardware and services. AlertMe produces hardware and software to enable users to monitor and control their home energy use....

 is based on ultra-low-power ZigBee
ZigBee
ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks. Applications include wireless light switches, electrical meters with in-home-displays, and other consumer and industrial...

-enabled devices scattered around the home, which are turned into internet devices via the proxy of a home gateway. Arrayent, Inc. is a B2B company, internet-connecting consumer products (i.e. thermostats, security systems, toys, healthcare products) to smartphones, tablets, and web browsers. Pachube
Pachube
Pachube is an on-line database service provider allowing developers to connect sensor data to the Web and to build their own applications on it....

, built by Connected Environments Ltd, provides data management infrastructure for sensors, devices and environments, and describes itself as "a convenient, secure & scalable platform that helps you connect to & build the 'internet of things'". Nimbits, is an open source data historian server built on cloud computing architecture that provides connectivity between devices using data points.

Read Write Web's Top 10 Internet of Things Developments in 2010.

MISOLIMA developed its DOLLx8 Embedded Network system since 1991, where version 3.18 is designed to address more than 28 trillion IoT objects. DOLLx8 for IoT are now due to be implemented into world first MISOLIMA eco-house system based on IoT as base technology where home, office, vehicle, alarm systems, sensors, controls and devices are all integrated into one single system.

See also

  • Ambient intelligence
    Ambient intelligence
    In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s for the time...

  • Bruce Sterling
    Bruce Sterling
    Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...

  • Spime
    Spime
    Spime is a neologism for a currently theoretical object that can be tracked through space and time throughout the lifetime of the object. The name “spime” for this concept was coined by author Bruce Sterling...

  • Closed Loop Lifecycle Management
    Closed Loop Lifecycle Management
    Closed-loop lifecycle management is a natural development and extension of PLM .The concept of CL2M was first adopted during the EU funded PROMISE project . A consortium of 22 organisations set out to close the gaps in information flow between the various stages of life of any product, i.e...

  • DASH7
    DASH7
    DASH7 is an open source wireless sensor networking standard for wireless sensor networking, which operates in the 433 MHz unlicensed ISM band. DASH7 provides multi-year battery life, range of up to 2 km, low latency for connecting with moving things, a very small open source protocol...

  • Internet 0
    Internet 0
    Internet 0 is a low-speed physical layer designed to route 'IP over anything.' It was developed at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms by Neil Gershenfeld, Raffi Krikorian, and Danny Cohen...

  • IPSO Alliance
    IPSO Alliance
    The IPSO Alliance is the leading organization promoting the use of the Internet Protocol for Smart Object communications. IPSO is a global non-profit organization founded in 2008 and has more than 50 members from leading technology, communications and energy companies.-Smart Objects:Smart objects...

  • Josef Preishuber-Pflügl
    Josef Preishuber-Pflügl
    Josef Preishuber-Pflügl is an Austrian RFID and IoT expert who is project editor of various international RFID standards as ISO/IEC 18000-4, ISO/IEC 18000-6, ISO/IEC 18000-7 , ISO/IEC 29143 and ISO/IEC 29167....

  • Machine to Machine
    Machine to Machine
    Machine-to-Machine refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same ability...

  • Object hyperlinking
    Object hyperlinking
    Object hyperlinking is a neologism that usually refers to extending the Internet to objects and locations in the real world. The current Internet does not extend beyond the electronic world. Object hyperlinking aims to extend the Internet to the real world by attaching object tags with URLs as...

  • Pachube
    Pachube
    Pachube is an on-line database service provider allowing developers to connect sensor data to the Web and to build their own applications on it....

  • Realia (library science)
    Realia (library science)
    In library classification systems, the term realia refers to three-dimensional objects from real life such as coins, tools, and textiles, that do not easily fit into the orderly categories of printed material...

  • Smartdust
    Smartdust
    Smartdust is a hypothetical system of many tiny microelectromechanical systems such as sensors, robots, or other devices, that can detect, for example, light, temperature, vibration, magnetism or chemicals; are usually networked wirelessly; and are distributed over some area to perform tasks,...

  • Supranet
    Supranet
    Supranet is a term coined at the turn of the 21st century by information technology analysis firm Gartner to describe the fusion of the physical and the digital worlds.-History:...

  • Tera-play
    Tera-play
    Tera-play is the next generation of connectivity supported by communications service providers. While triple play and quadruple play describe multiple communications services offered by the same company, Tera-play describes support for communications services between people and between machines...

  • Ubiquitous computing
    Ubiquitous computing
    Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...

  • Web of Things
    Web of Things
    The Web of Things is a vision inspired from the Internet of Things where everyday devices and objects, i.e. objects that contain an embedded device or computer, are connected by fully integrating them to the Web...

  • ioBridge
    IObridge
    ioBridge, Inc. is a manufacturer of Internet-based monitor and control hardware and a provider of integrated web services.In December 2008, ioBridge released the IO-204 Monitor and Control Module and web services platform to connect electronics projects online such as an iPhone Controlled Dog Treat...



External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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