Introduction
Electronic devices have a very wide reach so far, the internet of things is fast becoming fundamental to the world of communication. The IoT is a revolution.
With IoT we are going to experience an era which will showcase advancement in connectivity among systems, networks and devices, full-fledged machine-to-machine communications.
IoT is turning the world into an always-connected, always-on information ecosystem at a very fast rate.
The concept of Internet of things IoT first came about in the year 1999 by kelvin Ashton a British entrepreneur who came up with the concept while working in the lab. 20 years forward researchers have quoted that by 2020 the world wiill be using nearly 50 billion of devices governed by IoT.
What is IoT
According to Wikipedia
The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the existing Internet infrastructure.
According to Forbes
Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and or to each other). This includes everything from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of. This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig.
The Concept of IoT
I know for some the concept of IoT still seams so complex and confusing, let me try to bring this concept of IoT home so that we can easily relate, what if your T-shirt could sense a declining health condition and send the data to your doctor or hospital no matter where you are for quick medical response, you might not even know that your health is declining? that's right, IoT is already making its presence felt in the fashion industry, or what if you can regulate the temperature of your house from anywhere with your smart phone before you get home? what if your refrigerator knows when its running low on some of your favorite consumables and automatically re-orders more of the particular items that are running low on supplies? what if you alarm clock could wake you up by 6:30 am and then communicates with the coffee maker to start brewing you a coffee?
I'd say all these would be great, the impact of the IoT is limitless as it has the ability to impact every aspects of our lives.
Applications Of IoT
The new era of connectivity is going beyond smartphones and computers, we are headed towards smart homes, connected cars wearables, smart cities, connected healthcare infact were a going to have a connected life. These devices bridge the gap between physical and digital world to improve the quality and productivity of living.
As I stated earlier the IoT has applications in almost every aspect of our lives, especially in our day today activities.
The IoT And You
Haven mentioned some application of the IoT above its very clear that the future of IoT is now.
As we know by now the concept of IoT is that by being connected to the internet all kinds of devices printers, Tvs, smartphones, cars, water heaters smart homes, smart home devices etc can automate processes thereby producing high efficiency.
Automation is very fundamental to small business, this is because labor can be very expensive, as a business owner automation through IoT can help cut the cost of labor also worthy of note is the fact that automation is accompanied with intelligent devices and equipment which can deploy improved process flow and data to cut the activities of middlemen and Manual processes.
As a business owner IoT could help you grow your business without being hindered by additional labor cost.
They say speed kills, this is true but at least not on the internet, I never heard anyone involved in an accident over high speed internet.
IoT can help get jobs done faster even without our physical presence thanks to machine-machine communication over the internet, this can go a long way in saving the cost and time spent on traveling. With IoT distance is hardly an issue.
IoT And Healthcare
The major purpose of IoT in healthcare is to harness data from various devices, wearables and sensors that reveal the current health status of an individual's health while monitoring it constantly, The patients could be in their home or maybe elderly and is suffering from a long term condition or probably has a chronic diesase, this can be referred to as Telehealth.
Health authorities have been increasingly promoting the use of health, wellness and fitness wearables as a method of encouraging healthy lifestyles.
IoT for healthcare would drive us into an era where every human is connected to a device which is connected to a daily health monitoring system through the internet. With such mechanism in place any health mishap natural or unnatural, an alarm is raised for healthcare units to rush immediately for aid no phone calls are required and no delay due to unawareness hence, lives are saved.
Imagine a patience who has high blood pressure and is about to experience a heart attack. What if his blood pressure monitor was in constant communication with a system that summons an ambulance before the heart attack happens, and he gets attended to early enough and the heart attack is averted?
These are perfect examples of the kind of advancement that could be realized through IoT with healthcare.
You would agree with me that health care as of now is mostly reactive, this is what IoT looks to eliminate in health care and also to eliminate avoidable hospitalizations and readmission, this in the long run will bring about the realization of the overall improvements we all desire from health care services.
IoT-powered healthcare would empower patients by allowing them access quality healthcare by experts without even going to the doctors through the application of telehealth.
Of course its not all bed of roses for healthcare with IoT. There are set backs which have to some extent hindered the adoption of IoT in healthcare service delivery.
The major set back happens to be the issue if security, this is because healthcare services with IoT implies data transmission and storage between various devices and this data includes confidential patients records and current health status. Anyway to fix this issue and ruin the chances of sensitive data being stolen, healthcare institutions can request from their vendors to use hardware-level storage encryption because unlike software-based storage encryption it does not have tremendous impact on CPU performance. Also healthcare institutions should control the boundaries of data access for gadgets by allowing the use of internal Wi-Fi network only and also prohibit the transmission of data via cellular network.
Although the encryption of facility Wi-Fi network affects the connectivity speed but considering the risk at hand I think it is worth it.
Smart Homes and IoT
The IoT is set to bring about a disruption in the way we live especially with respect to our home. Smart homes with a lot of connected smart home devices would make live much easier, more comfortable and convenient.
According to business insider the number of smart home devices shipped will grow from 83 million in 2015 to 193 million in 2020. This includes all smart appliances (washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc.), smart home safety and security systems (sensors, monitors, cameras, and alarm systems), and smart home energy equipment, like smart thermostats and smart lighting.
In the next decade we are going to experience a smart home boom, according to a recent study by Intel coperation. The study showed that about 68% of those interviewed were confident that smart home will become as common as smart phones.
The use of smart homes and smart homes devices would help save a lot of cost and energy because most of the home appliances would only come on when they are needed and trip off when not needed take for example smart lighting they would only come on when a place is dark or when motion is sensed or when they sense that the amount of ambient light coming in is not enough so they turn on to augment it, also take for instance the air conditioner, it could be set to come on and off at certain temperature ranges or while you are in it comes on and when you are out it goes off, you can even control the air conditioner with your smart phone even while you are away, let's say you are about to leave the office for home you can with just the touch of a button on your smart phone turn on the air conditioner so that once you get home the temperature would just be how you want it. With this level of flexibility and control a lot of Money would be saved because electric bills would be lower. Convenience is the most obvious benefit of smart homes and smart home devices.
The major disadvantage of smart homes and smart home devices is cost as they are more expensive than the non-connected devices but this is obviously going to be a temporary issue, because of the increasing level of attention the IoT is getting at the moment as more companies are beginning to produce a lot of IoT devices and solution. Once the prices of these devices crashes it would mean a turning point because adoption isn't really a problem here, people are ready to adopt smart homes and smart home devices, who wouldn't want that level of convenience and speed? but they are quite expensive.
Let's take a very brief look at some of the two most popular smart home devices.
Amazon Echo
Arguably the most recognized name in this space. It is cloud connected, voice connected and it makes a lot of things easy and accessible.
Amazon Echo functions as central hub for other smart home devices, built with a voice-activated assistant, Alexa, the convenience it provides only a few others can match.
Nest
Built with an amazing learning thermostat which can automatically adjust temperature based on your location and with it's far-field sensor it can determine the time and temperature from a distance. An update last year ensured that it now works with Alexa voice-activated assistant.
Nest thermostat also helps with controlling energy consumption, which can lower bills and also provide a comfortable environment.
IoT and Connected Cars
Did you know that connected cars can churn out up to 25 gigabytes of data per hour? The idea is to capitalize on all the data connected cars generates.
The focus of the automotive digital technology is now growing towards enhancing in-car experience.
Now what is a connected car?
A connected car is a vehicle which is able to optimize its operation and maintenance while ensuring the maximum comfort of the passengers through the use of on-board sensors and the internet.
A connected car will help you find a free parking space in smart cities, a connected car will help you find a coffee shop around or even the closest charging station.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies which will allow cars to locate each other, streamline traffic, avoid collision and probably become autonomous sooner than we expect. Also Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication can be used to stream diagnostic data to your automobile service center. All of these are powered by high-bandwidth in-vehicle networks, cameras and radar. Connected cars technology depends on vast networks of sensors, embedded software, antennas and communication technologies for better navigation. This actually means that with IoT and connected cars we are going to have a world were the rate of automobile accidents especially due to human error would be reduced to nearly 0% as humans are gradually relinquishing control of the steering wheel and brakes to the vehicles which are increasingly becoming autonomous.
Conclusion
Discussed above are some of the major application of the IoT which are now in use to some extent but there are to many other applications of the Iot which I wouldn't talk about intensively in this particular post.
Take for instance IoT for the Agricultural sector which involves a data centered approach to farming referred to as precision agriculture, this is based upon a combination of technologies, tools and machinery. It also involves satellite-aided measurement of crop yields, analyzing year after year, acre-by-acre both soil, climatic and environmental historic data in order to maximize the output of the field. Also in livestock farming, the application of IoT helps in data collection about the health and well being of livestock. With such data farmers can know early enough about any sick animal and pull them out by so doing preventing a potential disease breakout.
There is the industrial sector where the IoT is now being gradually deployed and its termed as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
IIoT according to Jeff Immelt, CEO, GE Eletric
It's a beautiful, desirable and investable asset.
IIoT has a great potential in the industrial sector as it ensures quality control and sustainability, tracking of goods, exchange of inventory information in real time among suppliers and retailers bringing about an automated delivery system which will increase the supply chain efficiency.
Let's also take a brief look at Smart Cities. The use of Smart surveillance, automated transportation, smarter energy management systems, water distribution, urban security among others are examples of the IoT applications in smart cities.
IoT will solve a lot of problems like traffic congestion, shortage of energy supply and pollution which are commonly faced by people living in cities.
The future of IoT is now as I have stated earlier, in coming years we should expect more smart device at even cheaper rate. IoT will bring about a major shift in the way we live and work.
I hope you guys had fun and learnt some new stuffs while reading this little piece.
I want to use this opportunity to wish you guys Happy new year once more and to thank you all for being part the great year 2017 which we ended on a very wonderful note thanks to steemit, honestly I never believed I was going to end the year that strong #untalented-adjustments you guys made it possible special thanks goes to 
I cannot forget to mention my very good friends at AIR-CLINIC 
