The internet of things applications – What is IoT

The Internet has become an essential factor at the present time, not in one area of life, but in all different areas of life. And that the presence of the Internet is not limited to smart and electronic devices, but it is present in everything. The wide field of technology paved the way for a new stage in which devices are connected to each other without the need for human intervention, and this is what is known as the Internet of Things (IoT), and despite its development and widespread around the world, some may consider it ambiguous. Therefore, in this article, we will learn what the Internet of Things is and its advantages, in addition to the best “The internet of things applications” that facilitate life and shorten a lot of time.

What is the Internet of Things technology?

It is an advanced method for the Internet, which appeared in 1999 and was invented by the British scientist Kevin Ashton. It is abbreviated as IoT.

It is a modern technical method that transcends the way people communicate with smart devices over the Internet, as it allows people to communicate with smart devices without the need to be in a specific place.

The fact that IoT is a complex and challenging world that includes many programming languages and more is an integrated network system consisting of four basic components:

• Sensors.
• Connect to the Internet.
• Technical software for data processing.
• user interface.

The IoT applications mechanism starts with sensors and data collection and is modified and changed without the need for human intervention. Many companies or their different sectors adopt this technology to facilitate and speed up their operations with high accuracy, and it has many functions and in all areas of life (education, health, etc.).

And that the term “things” in IoT does not refer to inanimate objects only, but even to devices that have direct contact with humans, such as a person’s impulse monitor, or a device carried by a child for tracking, for example, and so on. Therefore, the concept of things includes everything that comes to mind and everything that has a connection, even if it is a simple connection to the Internet, it is considered from the internet of things applications.

Advantages and disadvantages of IoT

The internet of things technology has many advantages, including:

1. IoT is characterized by its ability to communicate between devices with high quality and better efficiency.
2. IoT is digitally and centrally controlled while communicating with other devices without human intervention.
3. IoT is characterized by a huge amount of information in all areas.
4. IoT is characterized by its ability to monitor and control events, knowing exact supplies with ease.
5. IoT saves more time with accurate results that you get very fast.
6. IoT is characterized by automating, controlling, and maintaining all daily tasks as well.

There are more advantages that save effort and money for the user. But with all that, IoT, this modern and distinctive technology with all it contains, is not without some flaws and negatives, the most important of which is the disappearance of privacy. The basis for IoT applications is to collect various data on various devices, and this data will turn into information that is stored on the servers of giant companies; To improve the experience first and to offer suggestions second, so this data may be leaked or badly exploited against some.

The internet of things applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is applied in many areas of life, including medical, industrial, economic, and even educational, and other important areas of our lives. We will highlight the best and most important the internet of things applications:

1. Smart Cities

Smart cities are among the internet of things applications that are of great benefit in improving many public services such as transportation, lighting, and maintenance in public places, in addition to preserving cultural heritage collections. The concept of smart cities achieves, first, an increase in the quality of public services, and secondly, a reduction in operational costs resulting from the production process.

Cities with IoT applications depend on the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. The goal of smart cities is to create a digital environment that is friendly to the environment itself, that promotes a sense of belonging and living in complete happiness and lasting health. There are many services that smart cities have an effective role in improving, including:

• IoT applications provides smart cities with a database that is suitable for structural measurements of buildings, through building sensors. As it is known that the cultural and historical buildings need a continuous monitoring process. Therefore, the Internet of Things reduces the need for periodic monitoring by specialists and takes over the task of monitoring and carrying out maintenance procedures from sensing weather factors to humidity levels.
• IoT applications provides cities with a waste management service through connecting terminal devices also called smart waste containers and these are connected to the control center to process waste collection trucks.
• IoT applications provides cities with means to monitor air quality in densely populated places such as parks, and this is done by placing air quality sensors in the city and making it available to all citizens.
• IoT applications provides cities with a noise monitoring service and measures the amount of noise issued at any time. This is done through the development of a time map to monitor noise pollution in public places or places where this service is activated. Through this service, it is possible to identify the noise resulting from the movement of vehicles and thus spend a quiet night away from the sounds of microphones.
• IoT applications provides cities with a city traffic congestion monitoring service where sensors are placed to monitor traffic on city streets. In addition to the acoustic sensors that allow citizens to specify a route or a date for a trip in advance.
• IoT applications provides cities with smart street lighting, which is unique over regular lighting as it improves lighting efficiency depending on the day, time, and weather.

Thus, the internet of things for smart cities can be cities with a distinctive character, designed and constructed in a smart way that keeps pace with the developments of the current era.

2. Smart farming

The internet of things applications are even included in agriculture. The application of smart farming integrates information technologies with agricultural machinery, as sensors are placed in many different agricultural production systems. Thus, agriculture with IoT applications provides farmers with tools of a new and unique level of technology such as mapping and statistical operations as well as the improvement of many or all agricultural operations.

Farmers can connect their smartphones to sensors to access data on any situation they see in their daily farming operations, including plant status, soil level, weather, and even livestock.

The role of the Internet of things in Smart farming:

• IoT for farming provides automated irrigation through a sensitive sensor to monitor the plant’s water consumption, and calculate the amount of water flow for plants to grow crops well.
• IoT applications for farming provides monitoring of soil health, composition, and moisture level through special monitoring sensors and knowledge of the health of agricultural crops.
• IoT applications for farming provides weather forecasting and knowledge of weather conditions through a daily weather temperature and cold sensor.
• IoT applications for farming provides a way to control weeds that damage plants to avoid damage to other crops.
• IoT applications for farming provides a service to improve the quality of agricultural products through analysis, knowledge, and data collection for better agricultural planning.

Agriculture with IoT applications improves agriculture through data collection and analysis, intelligent storage, and distribution of crops that prevents their spoilage, thus addressing many problems that farmers may face.

3. smart cars

The internet of things applications in cars is nowadays widespread, especially in Tesla cars. The presence of smart cars reduces many accidents and traffic risks that may often occur, the technology of connecting the Internet to cars improves traffic first and fuel efficiency second.

Smart cars can share the connection with other car users or with specific people through C-V2X technology to communicate automatically.

In addition, smart cars are driven comfortably by heading to a less congested road and quickly.

4. smart retail

The development of technology, especially IoT applications, has led to a digital transformation in retail trade, resulting in smart retail, as it relies heavily on modern technology such as computing and artificial intelligence. And smart retail is a group of modern smart technologies designed specifically to give the user or consumer an easy and fast experience while shopping, and this is done through online stores and payment technologies for the purchase of a specific commodity.

5. Smart Stores

Smart stores have an effective role in daily life, where it is possible to shop and buy goods with ease and without standing for long periods in the queue. There will be no accountants and employees in smart stores, but rather a store-specific application for smartphones is relied upon, and each commodity taken by the buyer is identified through sensors and sensors present in the store and in all goods. The prices of the goods are calculated through the application itself, and when the buyer finishes shopping, the money is easily deducted from his account. All of these technologies rely heavily on the internet of things applications.

6. smart doors

The Internet of things applications in smart doors are popular with commercial companies and even luxury homeowners, as these doors contain a tool to lock and unlock the door and this tool is connected to the smartphone where the user can lock and unlock the doors automatically. And not only that but smart doors can be programmed to identify specific people, such as friends, who are allowed to enter without prior permission. There are many locks for smart doors, some of which work by touch or fingerprint, and others via Bluetooth.

7. smart medical systems

The Internet of things applications have a great and important benefit in the smart medical system, as it has led to a significant improvement in medical clinics and hospitals. Smart medical devices have a major role in maintaining patients’ health and safety by diagnosing patients’ health conditions through devices that collect vital data inside the patient’s body and then transmit wirelessly to the doctor’s devices.

The role of the Internet of things in the medical field:

• IoT provides support and encouragement to patients and their families to take more care of patient health through electronic dispensers that remind patients when to take medication. In addition to the electronic caps, which are tasked with alerting the patient to take medication and monitoring the amount of medication remaining for the patient.
• IoT provides many smart medical devices to the patient and is connected to the network such as ECG devices, blood pressure monitors, etc., which will improve patient health care.
• IoT provides a medical technology, which is the delivery of medication to the patient through a chip, and this is inserted under the skin and adjusted to a specific dose and contains a small sensor device whose mission is to transmit important information related to the patient, including how the drug interacts inside the patient’s body.
• IoT provides wearable devices, which are healthy sportswear, to teach the user to exercise properly so as not to suffer serious injuries. As well as smart watches in the field of health care and its task is to measure the heart rate and blood sugar, in addition to measuring other body functions, and also contains a sensor to alert when something sudden occurs. And other medical devices, such as devices for the back, alert the patient when he sits in a way that hurts and damages the spine.

There are many smart medical systems provided by the internet of things applications in the medical field that are difficult to describe, and they are constantly evolving as they contribute significantly to improving people’s healthy lives.

8. Smart Home

The Internet of things applications in smart homes have developed rapidly with the development of technology in the last two decades, as smart homes have an impact on the lives of users and these homes are full of modern technologies. Everything is controlled by sensors supported by artificial intelligence, which contributes mainly to the low level of energy by knowing the number of people living and thus turning on and off the devices automatically.

The role of the Internet of things in smart home systems:

• IoT applications provide home monitoring through a smart security system. In addition to emergency services that operate automatically when a danger arises. It also monitors the elderly and helps them in some matters.
• IoT applications provide smart lighting through sensors that automatically adjust the lighting. When there are people in the room the lights are on. And when the place is empty, it dims or turns off; To save money and reduce bills.
• IoT applications provide a smart doorbell that allows the user to receive a video call from the doorbell when someone comes to visit it.
• IoT applications provide smart heating and smart air conditioning. The user can also adjust the air conditioning and heating systems automatically with the temperature inside or outside the home.
• IoT applications provide smart refrigerators that are connected to the Internet. Able to classify food and know the appropriate time for low and high temperatures. It can communicate with the smart refrigerator while the user is in the store to see if there is something he is lacking to buy. The smart refrigerator is also controlled by voice commands.

The internet of things smart home will make the user control his home through sensors connected to all home appliances in an easy way.

9. Smart educational systems

The introduction of the internet of things applications into educational systems is today an important and indispensable necessity. Because the most powerful weapon in our world is education, and governments in many countries seek to strengthen the role of education; For the continuity of the state and the continuation of progress. The Internet of Things applications in education is important in terms of the quality of education first and the increase in effectiveness secondly, as modern and recently developed technologies have been used for education such as 3D printers, interactive whiteboards, etc.

The role of the Internet of things in smart educational systems:

• IoT provides a personalized teaching method through which the student can learn by himself without the need for direct supervision from the teaching staff. It also provides social teaching methods by joining groups for distance learning, which contain many blogs, and social networks have a role in this.
• IoT provides educational content via tablets or mobile phones through virtual classes offered by universities and schools, in addition to the student’s electronic assessment process.
• IoT provides universal benefit to the educator and learner at every time and place through tools and tutorials to improve learning outcomes for students, and through modern digital tools for faster and better explanations for educators.
• IoT provides intelligent monitoring of the school building including regulating temperature, cold, lighting, and more.
• IoT provides smart education for people with special needs, where a special tablet device is used that translates the status of each of them in relation to their studies.
• IoT provides learners with many programs to learn many languages with great ease, with specialists automatically monitoring their level and progress.
• IoT for smart learning provides special nerve sensors that determine the degree of brain activity of learners and their scientific knowledge.

Smart learning devices are characterized by the ease of managing classrooms to provide a learning environment and a teaching system that is much better than it used to be.

◽ Conclusion

In the conclusion of our topic, the internet of things applications are among the necessities in our lives, and their existence requires the existence of highly efficient communication networks that connectivity them with the Internet of Things devices. It is necessary to work on the knowledge of the internet of things applications more and develop them further and study them in many institutions to reach the maximum benefit from them.

Source (Arabic)

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