Hi Guys! Glad to have you on board. Thank you for clicking this read. In this post today, I’ll walk you through the Types of Internet of Things (IoT).
IoT has been around for a while and has started making the headlines over the past couple of years. Some people experience IoT in their everyday life but are not aware of what it actually is. When physical objects “things” interact with the digital world, IoT is born. In simple words, it’s the network of connected devices integrated with sensors that work to exchange and share data over the internet. It is a rapidly growing technology with more than 18 billion connected IoT devices today and with the inception and boost of 5G technology this figure is expected to touch 125 billion by 2030. Experts say we may witness the stage when everything around us will be a thing in IoT. This is crazy.
I suggest you read this post all the way through as it aims to cover the types of Internet of Things.
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Types of Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is used to improve efficiency and services, making humans’ lives easy and productive. The connected IoT devices range from simple kitchen appliances and thermostats to heart monitors and cooling systems. And when used in sophisticated industrial tools, IoT can enhance the productivity of the manufacturing and production processes.
The Internet of Things is commonly divided into eight major types:
1: Internet of Things (IoT)
2: Internet of Everything (IoE)
3: Internet of Nano Things (IoNT)
4: Internet of Mobile Things (IoMT)
5: Internet of Mission-Critical Things (IoMT)
6: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
7: Infrastructure Internet of Things
8: Commercial Internet of Things
We’ll discuss each one in the section below.
1: Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is a network of things embedded with sensors that connect to the internet for acquiring and sharing data with other connected devices. IoT is applied to make sure which data is important and which is useless to monitor the patterns and find out issues even before they occur. The main purpose of IoT technology is to automate processes, especially that are time-consuming, repetitive, and dangerous.
You might have heard the term “smart home” that has recently soared to popularity and is the main application of the IoT. A smart home is a home with a smart system that is mainly connected with the home appliances to automate certain tasks and can be remotely controlled. From commercial and domestic purposes to industrial and military use, you’ll find IoT everywhere.
2: Internet of Everything (IoE)
Internet of Everything (IoE) is the extension of the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things includes a connected network of things (physical objects) while the Internet of Everything, on the other hand, is about things, processes, data, and people. It covers the Internet for Everyone/Everything.
The IoE plays a key part to monitor and analyze real-time data obtained from a network of thousands of sensors connected to it. This data is then applied to accelerate people-based and automated processes. The IoE is beneficial to support modern business trends and can be incorporated into programs like m-learning and e-learning to allow students to learn new technologies.
3: Internet of Nano Things (IoNT)
Nanotechnology is on the rise. Big tech industries strive to make new devices compact, precise and small that can perform similar tasks to regular electronic devices.
The Internet of Nano Things is a network of Nanodevices connected with the internet to share and acquire information. The presence of Nano components in this technology makes it separable from the general Internet of Things technology.
4: Internet of Mobile Things (IoMT)
We are connected through smartphones. We use these devices to ease our lives and improve the way we communicate with each other. The IoMT is mainly geared towards the mobility of things where change occurs in connectivity, context, privacy, and energy availability.
The connectivity identifies how mobile device is connected using connectivity protocol either WiFi, 3G/4G or wired network. The context refers to the current location of the mobile. Energy availability means how a mobile phone is charged and the privacy issue may occur because of the wide use of cell phones thus the mobile phone locations are connected with the human possessors.
5: Internet of Mission-Critical Things (IoMT)
The Internet of Mission-Critical Things (IoMT) is used in critical missions like surveillance, critical structure monitoring, search and salvage, border patrol, battleground, etc. In simple words, it’s the use of IoT in battlefield situations or military settings. The main aim of this technology is to accelerate situational awareness, monitor surrounding risks, and improve response time. The main IoMT applications include tanks, planes, connecting ships, drones, and soldiers.
6: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
The IoT plays a vital role in industries. This technology is commonly used in industries to automate production and manufacturing processes.
Automation guarantees the accuracy of the processes and removes the possibility of error which is very difficult to attain by using traditional processes and human workforce. Common industries that deploy IIoT include automotive, agriculture, logistics, and healthcare.
7: Infrastructure Internet of Things
Infrastructure IoT is focused on the development of modern infrastructure that uses IoT for maintenance, cost-saving, and operational efficiency. It is concerned to analyze and monitor the operations occurring in rural and urban infrastructures including railway tracks, bridges, and wind farms.
8: Commercial Internet of Things
Commercial Internet of Things mainly focuses on the use of IoT in commercial settings including stores, supermarkets, buildings, entertainments venues, healthcare facilities, and hotels. The main purpose of this technology is to improve business conditions, boost customer experience and monitor environmental conditions.
Developing your own IoT device is a no-brainer. There are platforms out there that are open source and offer you the opportunity to create your own IoT devices. Common platforms include Arduino.cc which is open source which means the code is developed to be accessible for the general public – anyone can edit, modify and distribute the code as they like better. And the other platform is Raspberry Pi which comes with a built-in Ethernet port allowing network communications a walk in the park.
That’s all for today. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article. If you’re unsure or have any questions regarding IoT, ask me in the section below. I’d love to assist you the best way I can. Thank you for reading this post.
