The Internet of Things
Everywhere we look at, everything we see and most of everything we use
represents the growth in technology that is happening. Every day we are advancing in
technological terms. A concept that is being brought up and talked about a lot more
recently is the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things is a concept where physical
objects are embedded with technological devices such as electronics or software that
allow them to connect wirelessly and communicate over a network. The Internet of
Things is also known and most often referred to as IoT. Even though, this concept may be
new to us and just surfacing, it is a concept that has been around for a little while. Kevin
Ashton, a British man, first documented the Internet of Things in 1999. Garther Inc., a
research company, has predicted that by the year 2020 there will be an estimated 26
billion devices connected to the Internet of Things network. By 2025, it is said that the
Internet of Things will have spread widely around the country, the world, and will be very
beneficial.
IoT is going to be present in many aspects of life. The media, the monitoring of the
environment, energy management, healthcare, transportation and people’s everyday lives
are all around going to be affected with the benefits and use of IoT. Some examples of
these devices are heart monitoring devices, microchips in animals, cars with built in
sensors, devices assisting in search and rescue, mammogram performing sports bras and
monitored energy appliances. With the come up of IoT, communication between people is
going to decrease, as well as human to computer interaction. IoT is going to make it to
where data is sent over a network thus eliminating the delivery face to face or from a
computer or technological device. IoT is going to make it possible for doctors to get
results on their patients right away. There are going to be devices that act as heart
monitors and if something is off this information can be sent directly to a doctor through
an immediate alert. There are also talks of a sports bra that can conduct the job of a
doctor giving a mammogram. IoT is going to be an all-around improvement of the way
humans interact with technology.
Processes:
A process in the internet of things is delivering the right information to the right
person (or machine) at the right time. The internet of things is an important phase in the
evolution of the internet, we are seeing how the physical world of smart devices,
machines and ‘things’ is coalescing with the digital word of systems and software. It is
not just about connectivity technologies or even the analytic models discovered from data
generated by the myriads of devices or ‘things’. To be impactful, IoT technologies need
to solve real problems that typically involve multiple collaborating activities that include
people, systems, and ‘things’. It needs orchestration through automated intelligent
processes or ‘Process of Everything’. Through this it will function to its full potential and
have the ability to solve real problems that will change personal lives and businesses.
Business process management has its roots in workflow systems that focus on people.
Now, emerging intelligent is extending from people to system, to intelligent ‘things’ that
all coordinate towards specific business objectives. Intelligent business process
management is empowered with the capabilities that include business rule, predictive
analytics, real-time decision, event correlations, and especially dynamic case
management. It coordinates all participants in complex, dynamic processes and cases to
complete business objectives.
Things:
The “Things” in the internet of things represents the physical devices and objects
connected to the Internet and each other for intelligent decision making. The element of
things will sense and deliver more data, respond to control inputs, and provide more
information to help people and machines make decisions. It includes many physical items
like sensors, meter, actuators, and other types of devices that can be attached to any
object, that are or will be capable of connecting to the network and sharing information.
Examples of “things” in the internet of everything would be smart meters that
communicate energy consumption, assembly line robots that automate factory floor
operations and smart transportation systems that adapt to traffic conditions. The “things”
can also be physical objects such as contact lenses, biometric shirts, and sports bra. The
Internet of things is so advanced that they even have driverless cars.
Smart Contact lenses
Google has teamed up with pharmaceutical company Novartis to create contact
lenses that will actually be used for patients with diabetes or other health
conditions. Google’s contact-lens technology is one way to help diabetics
patients better manage their condition by measuring their glucose levels.
Currently patients with diabetes have to prick their fingers to check the blood
glucose level throughout the day, not only is this painful but it can also be time
consuming. The Google’s smart lens technology would constantly be
measuring the tear fluid in the patient’s eye to track the glucose levels. Every
time the contact lens checks you glucose level, you will receive a wireless
message which will be sent to your phone. The smart lenses our fitted with tiny
sensors and microchips, the sensors and microchips are used to identify how
