COM 311 Agro- Informatics (1+1)

Lecture 17:

 Computers Internet of Things(IoT) and Cloud Computing

Internet of Things(IoT)

IoT is a network of physical objects or people called "things" that are embedded
with software, electronics, network, and sensors that allows these objects to collect and
exchange data.

The goal of IoT is to extend to internet connectivity from standard devices like
computer, mobile, tablet to relatively dumb devices like a toaster.

IoT makes virtually everything "smart," by improving aspects of our life with the
power of data collection, AI algorithm, and networks. The thing in IoT can also be a
person with a diabetes monitor implant, an animal with tracking devices, etc.

Kevin Ashton, in a presentation of Procter & Gamble in 1999, coined the term
“Internet of Things“. Almost every area, device, sensor, software, etc are connected to
each other. The ability to access these devices through a smartphone or through a
computer is called IoT. These devices are accessed from a distance.

For example, an Air Conditioner’s sensor can gather the data regarding the outside
temperatures, and accordingly adjust its temperature to increase or decrease it with
respect to the outside climate. Similarly, your refrigerators can also adjust its temperature
accordingly. This is how devices can interact with a network.

History of IOT
 1970- The actual idea of connected devices was proposed
 1990- John Romkey created a toaster which could be turned on/off over the
Internet
 1995- Siemens introduced the first cellular module built for M2M
 1999- The term "Internet of Things" was used by Kevin Ashton during his work at
P&G which became widely accepted
 2004 - The term was mentioned in famous publications like the Guardian, Boston
Globe, and Scientific American
 2005-UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) published its first
report on this topic.
  2008- The Internet of Things was born
 2011- Gartner, the market research company, include "The Internet of Things"
technology in their research

IoT Architecture
 IoT is the technology that builds systems capable of autonomously sensing and responding
to stimuli from the real world without human intervention. We therefore need to develop a
process flow for a definite framework over which an IoT solution is built. The IoT
Architecture generally comprises of these 4 stages:

Stage 1 (Sensors/Actuators):
 A thing in the context of “Internet of Things”, should be equipped with sensors
and actuators thus giving the ability to emit, accept and process signals.

Stage 2 (Data Acquisition Systems):

 The data from the sensors starts in analogue form which needs to be aggregated
and converted into digital streams for further processing. Data acquisition
systems perform these data aggregation and conversion functions.

Stage 3 (Edge Analytics):

 Once IoT data has been digitized and aggregated, it may require further
processing before it enters the data center, this is where Edge Analytics comes in.
 Edge analytics is an approach to data collection and analysis in which an
automated analytical computation is performed on data at a sensor, network
switch or other device instead of waiting for the data to be sent back to a
centralized data store.

Stage 4 (Cloud Analytics):

 Data that needs more in-depth processing gets forwarded to physical data centers
or cloud-based systems.
 Cloud analytics is the use of remote public or private computing resources—
known as the cloud—to analyze data on
demand. Cloud computing analytics helps streamline the business intelligence
process of gathering, integrating, analyzing, and presenting insights to enhance
business decision making.

Fundamental components of an IoT system:

1) Sensors/Devices:
 Sensors or devices are a key component that helps you to collect live data
from the surrounding environment. All this data may have various levels
of complexities. It could be a simple temperature monitoring sensor, or it
may be in the form of the video feed.
 A device may have various types of sensors which performs multiple
tasks apart from sensing. Example, A mobile phone is a device which has
multiple sensors like GPS, camera but your smartphone is not able to sense
these things.
2) Connectivity:
 All the collected data is sent to a cloud infrastructure. The sensors should
be connected to the cloud using various mediums of communications.
These communication mediums include mobile or satellite networks,
Bluetooth, WI-FI, WAN, etc.
3) Data Processing:
 Once that data is collected, and it gets to the cloud, the software performs
processing on the gathered data. This process can be just checking the
temperature, reading on devices like AC or heaters. However, it can
 sometimes also be very complex like identifying objects, using computer
vision on video.
4) User Interface:
 The information needs to be available to the end-user in some way which
can be achieved by triggering alarms on their phones or sending them
notification through email or text message. The user sometimes might need
an interface which actively checks their IOT system. For example, the user
has a camera installed in his home. He wants to access video recording and
all the feeds with the help of a web server.
 However, it's not always one-way communication. Depending on the IoT
application and complexity of the system, the user may also be able to perform an
action which may create cascading effects.
 For example, if a user detects any changes in the temperature of the refrigerator,
with the help of IOT technology the user should able to adjust the temperature
with the help of their mobile phone.

IoT Applications

1. Smart Home
 Smart homes are those where household devices/home appliances could monitor
and control remotely. When these household devices in smart homes connect with
the internet using proper network architecture and standard protocols, the whole
system can be called as Smart Home in IoT environment or IoT based Smart
Homes.
  The sensors’ data is collected and continually transferred via the local
network, to the smart home server.
 Sensors to collect internal and external home data and measure home
conditions.
 These sensors are connected to the home itself and to the attached-to-home
devices.

Internet of things (IoT)

 The internet of things (IoT) paradigm refers to devices connected to the

internet.
 Devices are objects such as sensors and actuators, equipped with a
telecommunication interface, a processing unit, limited storage and
software applications.
 It enables the integration of objects into the internet, establishing the
interaction between people and devices among devices.
 The key technology of IoT includes radio frequency identification (RFID),
sensor technology and intelligence technology.
 RFID is the foundation and networking core of the construction of IoT.
 Its processing and communication capabilities along with unique
algorithms allows the integration of a variety of elements to operate as an
integrated unit but at the same time allow easy addition and removal of
components with minimum impact, making IoT robust but flexible to
absorb changes in the environment and user preferences.
Cloud computing

 Cloud computing is a shared pool of computing resources ready to provide a

variety of computing services in different levels, from basic infrastructure to
most sophisticated application services, easily allocated and released with
minimal efforts or service provider interaction.

Internet of Things Applications – Smart Home

2. Smart City
The smart city like the name suggests is a very big innovation and spans a wide
variety of use cases, from water distribution to traffic management to waste
management, environmental monitoring, and urban security. The reason why it is
so popular is that it tries to remove the discomfort and problems of people who
live in cities. IoT solutions offered in the Smart City area solve various city-related
problems comprising of traffic, reduce air and noise pollution and help make cities
safer.

IoT Applications – Smart City

3. Smart Grids
 Smart grids is another area of application that stands out. A smart grid
basically promises to extract information on the behaviors of consumers
and electricity suppliers in an automated fashion in order to improve the
efficiency, economics, and reliability of electricity distribution. 41,000
monthly Google searches is a testament to this concept’s popularity.

Uses of IoT – Smart Grid

4. Industrial Internet
One way to think of the Industrial Internet is, as connecting machines and devices
in industries such as power generation, oil, gas, and healthcare. It is also made use of in
situations where unplanned downtime and system failures can result in life-threatening
situations. A system embedded with the IoT tends to include devices such as fitness
bands for heart monitoring or smart home appliances. These systems are functional and
can very well provide ease of use but are not reliable because they do not typically create
emergency situations if a downtime was to occur.

5. Connected Car
Connected car technology is a vast and an extensive network of multiple sensors,
antennas, embedded software, and technologies that assist in communication to
navigate in our complex world. It has the responsibility of making decisions with
consistency, accuracy, and speed. It also has to be reliable. These requirements will
become even more critical when humans give up entirely the control of the steering
wheel and brakes to the autonomous or automated vehicles that are being successfully
tested on our highways right now.

IoT Applications – Connected Car

 6. Connected Health (Digital Health/Telehealth/Telemedicine)
IoT has various applications in healthcare, which are from remote monitoring
equipment to advance & smart sensors to equipment integration. It has the potential
to improve how physicians deliver care and also keep patients safe and healthy.
Healthcare IoT can allow patients to spend more time interacting with their doctors
by which it can boost patient engagement and satisfaction. From personal fitness
sensors to surgical robots, IoT in healthcare brings new tools updated with the latest
technology in the ecosystem that helps in developing better healthcare. IoT helps in
revolutionizing healthcare and provides pocket-friendly solutions for the patient
and healthcare professional.

Internet of Things Applications – Connected Health

7. Smart Retail
Retailers have started adopting IoT solutions and using IoT embedded systems across
a number of applications that improve store operations such as increasing purchases,
reducing theft, enabling inventory management, and enhancing the consumer’s
shopping experience. Through IoT physical retailers can compete against online
challengers more strongly. They can regain their lost market share and attract consumers
into the store, thus making it easier for them to buy more while saving money.

Uses of IoT – Smart Retail

8. Smart Supply Chain
Supply chains have already been getting smarter for a couple of years. Offering
solutions to problems like tracking of goods while they are on the road or in transit, or
helping suppliers exchange inventory information are some of the popular
offerings. With an IoT enabled system, factory equipment that contains embedded
sensors communicate data about different parameters such as pressure, temperature, and
utilization of the machine. The IoT system can also process workflow and change
equipment settings to optimize performance.

Uses of IoT – Smart Supply Chain

9. Smart Farming
Smart farming is an often overlooked IoT application. However, because the number
of farming operations is usually remote and the large number of livestock that farmers
work on, all of this can be monitored by the Internet of Things and can also revolutionize
the way farmers work. But this idea is yet to reach a large-scale attention. Nevertheless,
it still remains to be one of the IoT applications that should not be underestimated. Smart
farming has the potential to become an important application field specifially in the
agricultural-product exporting countries.
 Internet of Things Applications – Smart Farming

Advantages of IoT

Key benefits of IoT technology are as follows:

 Technical Optimization: IoT technology helps a lot in improving technologies
and making them better. Example, with IoT, a manufacturer is able to collect data
from various car sensors. The manufacturer analyzes them to improve its design
and make them more efficient.
 Improved Data Collection: Traditional data collection has its limitations and its
design for passive use. IoT facilitates immediate action on data.
 Reduced Waste: IoT offers real-time information leading to effective decision
making & management of resources. For example, if a manufacturer finds an issue
in multiple car engines, he can track the manufacturing plan of those engines and
solves this issue with the manufacturing belt.
 Improved Customer Engagement: IoT allows you to improve customer
experience by detecting problems and improving the process.
Disadvantages IOT
 Security: IoT technology creates an ecosystem of connected devices. However,
during this process, the system may offer little authentication control despite
sufficient security measures.
 Privacy: The use of IOT, exposes a substantial amount of personal data, in extreme
detail, without the user's active participation. This creates lots of privacy issues.
 Flexibility: There is a huge concern regarding the flexibility of an IoT system. It is
mainly regarding integrating with another system as there are many diverse
systems involved in the process.
 Complexity: The design of the IOT system is also quite complicated. Moreover,
it's deployment and maintenance also not very easy.
 Compliance: IOT has its own set of rules and regulations. However, because of its
complexity, the task of compliance is quite challenging.
Cloud Computing
 Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services such as servers, storage,
databases, networking, software, analytics, intelligence, and more, over the Cloud
(Internet).

Cloud Computing provides an alternative to the on-premises datacentre. With

an on-premises datacentre, we have to manage everything, such as purchasing and
installing hardware, virtualization, installing the operating system, and any other
required applications, setting up the network, configuring the firewall, and setting up
storage for data. After doing all the set-up, we become responsible for maintaining it
through its entire lifecycle.
But if we choose Cloud Computing, a cloud vendor is responsible for the
hardware purchase and maintenance. They also provide a wide variety of software and
platform as a service. We can take any required services on rent. The cloud computing
services will be charged based on usage.
The cloud environment provides an easily accessible online portal that makes handy for
the user to manage the compute, storage, network, and application resources. Some cloud
service providers are in the following figure.
Advantages of cloud computing
 Cost: It reduces the huge capital costs of buying hardware and software.
 Speed: Resources can be accessed in minutes, typically within a few clicks.
 Scalability: We can increase or decrease the requirement of resources
according to the business requirements.
 Productivity: While using cloud computing, we put less operational effort. We
do not need to apply patching, as well as no need to maintain hardware and
software. So, in this way, the IT team can be more productive and focus on
achieving business goals.
 Reliability: Backup and recovery of data are less expensive and very fast for
business continuity.
 Security: Many cloud vendors offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and
controls that strengthen our data security.

Types of Cloud Computing

 Public Cloud: The cloud resources that are owned and operated by a third-
party cloud service provider are termed as public clouds. It delivers computing
resources such as servers, software, and storage over the internet
 Private Cloud: The cloud computing resources that are exclusively used inside
a single business or organization are termed as a private cloud. A private cloud
may physically be located on the company’s on-site datacentre or hosted by a
third-party service provider.
 Hybrid Cloud: It is the combination of public and private clouds, which is
bounded together by technology that allows data applications to be shared
between them. Hybrid cloud provides flexibility and more deployment options
to the business.
Types of Cloud Services

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): In IaaS, we can rent IT infrastructures like

servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems from a
cloud service vendor. We can create VM running Windows or Linux and install
anything we want on it. Using IaaS, we don’t need to care about the hardware or
virtualization software, but other than that, we do have to manage everything else.
Using IaaS, we get maximum flexibility, but still, we need to put more effort into
maintenance.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): This service provides an on-demand environment
for developing, testing, delivering, and managing software applications. The
developer is responsible for the application, and the PaaS vendor provides the
ability to deploy and run it. Using PaaS, the flexibility gets reduce, but the
management of the environment is taken care of by the cloud vendors.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS): It provides a centrally hosted and managed software
services to the end-users. It delivers software over the internet, on-demand, and
typically on a subscription basis. E.g., Microsoft One Drive, Dropbox, WordPress,
Office 365, and Amazon Kindle. SaaS is used to minimize the operational cost to
the maximum extent.