The Internet of Things

OK, so the Things send and receive data. But what’s at the other end?

In the diagram above,

• ‘Display Data‘ refers to the visualization of sensor data which usually takes the form of a dashboard. It can also take the form of notifications – emails, tweets, SMS messages, etc as shown below.
• ‘Manually Control Devices‘ refers to operations where a user controls the devices based on information, either from the dashboard or from elsewhere – e.g. the weather forecast, a traffic incident or some other source of information.
• ‘Automatically Control Devices‘ is where the system makes decisions and takes action without user intervention – this the IoT function which can transform the finances of a business by optimising operations and generating significant revenue.

Lets look at some real world examples to see how the technology is being used today.

Reducing your electricity bill

Right now, electricity companies often charge different rates depending on whether you use the energy during the day or at night. This is because it benefits them if they get a smooth flow of electricity over each 24 hour period, rather than a huge peak during the day and massive drop off at night time. They charge different rates to incentivise you to use electricity at night whenever possible.

So let’s take that to the next level. Imagine that the standard rate that you pay now was the maximum you ever paid, but the rate could be lower at any period during the day depending on the overall energy demand at any point in time. Instead of 2 different rates, the rate could change every minute. Then imagine you have a dishwasher – and you don’t want it rumbling away during the night, but it would be great if it ran at the cheapest time during the day.

So you switch it on and it waits for the price to drop before starting the wash cycle – but how does it know that there won’t be a cheaper rate later that day? It does this by monitoring electricity usage every day over many months, and looking for patterns to determine the time of day with the lowest cost electricity. This ability to analyze and learn are key features of IoT known as ‘Analytics’ and ‘Machine Learning’ which drive huge revenue streams.

Far fetched and futuristic right? Well, no – it’s here already – check out Cambridge based SMAP Energy to see this business model working right now.

Smart Farming

Now let’s imagine you are a farmer who uses a system which monitors the soil moisture levels – and sends the data back to a dashboard so that you know when the crops need watering.

Simple so far – how about if the system checked the water level itself, and decided when to water the crops..

And how about if it also knew the weather forecast so that it didn’t water the crops if it was about to rain?

But, you are of course connected to a smart water meter. If there are water restrictions due to a shortage, and you use too much, you could get a hefty fine.

So how about if your system knew how much you had used, what the limit was on that day and ensured that you never went above the maximum usage? Problem solved – saving you money, time and effort, and of course reducing your impact on the environment – another key area where the IoT is starting to make a big difference.

And finally..

I can’t move on from this topic without mentioning Amazon. Love them or hate them, they deliver 3.5 billion packages per year (2019), and they still manage to get the package you ordered at 11pm to you before you’ve finished breakfast. How do they do it? IoT of course – they are probably the most stream-lined interconnected logistics business on the planet.

The Internet of Things is everywhere and it’s growing at an astounding rate: