12
Internet of Things (IoT)
Overview
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the growing global trend of connecting sensors—objects and devices—to computer-based networks. Active and passive chipsets are becoming embedded into virtually all aspects of life across every imaginable sector. Some of the most notable devices today are the Home Assistant (Echo, HomePod, and others) and Nest thermostats. Other applications include inventory management, supply chain, logistics, and security. Global migration to 5G and narrow-band IoT will result in more advanced developments in the coming year. Globally, many cities are testing large-scale IoT applications such as city water metering using smart technologies.
Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the global trend of connecting as many devices as possible to computer-based networks. According to Gartner (2017), there were an estimated 8 billion connected devices in 2017 which will grow to 20.4 billion by 2020. These connected items range from refrigerators to jet engines, all operating together every minute of every day. The intention is to make life more efficient. But, as always, there is a very real danger of abuse.
Although the Internet has been in wide use since the 1990s, according to Evans (2011) IoT was officially “born” around 2009 when the ratio of connected objects-to-people became equal. Experts say eventually there will be trillions of trackable objects—thousands for each individual—to help us navigate our world. But one of many hurdles is interoperability. There is no coherent set of standards, and some nations are determined to establish their own views of what IoT should be for their citizens.
The result is a world of chaos that some view through a lens of blue sky predictions of global standardization. We continue to slowly move toward a time when personal and family medical records, home appliances, vehicles, and media entertainment devices may seamlessly meld with government, medical, and business institutions. In practical terms we have to change our views and expectations of privacy, because privacy has to be balanced with our equally important and changing view of security. Our habits, behaviors, purchases, and even communication are increasingly being tracked, linked, mined, and archived to the extent allowed by privacy laws, which vary significantly around the globe.
The boundless benefits of IoT are balanced with predictions of equally dire consequences. This chapter offers an overview for understanding the potential, the benefits, and the dangers this connectivity brings. IoT may be the defining technology issue of the 21st century.
Background
Since the beginning of commerce, companies have dreamed of being the provider of everything a consumer would want. Manufacturers and service providers are competing to be part of the system that provides IoT products, from familiar giants like Samsung and Sony to relatively unknown newcomers like Red Hat and Zebra Technologies.
The concept of the Internet of Things was anticipated long before the Internet was invented. As early as 1932, Jay B. Nash anticipated smart machines in Spectatoritis:
These mechanical slaves jump to our aid. As we step into a room, at the touch of a button a dozen light our way. Another slave sits twenty-four hours a day at our thermostat, regulating the heat of our home. Another sits night and day at our automatic refrigerator. They start our car; run our motors; shine our shoes, and curl our hair. They practically eliminate time and space by their very fleetness (p.265).
According to Press (2014), the thinking behind IoT evolved throughout the 20th century, starting with things like Dick Tracy’s 2-way wrist radio in the 1940s to wearable computers (1955), head mounted displays (1960), and familiar tech acronyms ARPANET (1969), RFID (1973), and UPC (1974). As these converged with existing technologies, new applications were conceived which begat newer advances.
How IoT works
In all the configurations, the internet of things is essentially made up of four key elements; mass creation and diffusion of smart objects, hyper-fast machine-to-machine communication, widespread RF technologies, and an ever-increasing capacity to store information at a central hub.
The first step in having so many objects connected to the Internet is to have a unique identifier for each object—specifically a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address. Each object must have a unique IP address. In moving from IPv4 (32-bit numbering system) to IPv6 (128-bit) (see Chapter 23), the capacity for unique addresses went from 4.3 billion to over 340 undecillion addresses (340 billion billion billion billion…).
The next factor is whether the smart object is to be active or passive. A passive connection uses RFID (radio frequency identification) tags which contain a small amount of information needed simply to identify the object. For tracking inventory like clothing, toys, toiletries, or office supplies, knowing where the object is and when it was bought is the primary function of the RFID tag.
An active connection is more robust and makes our devices “smart.” Using embedded sensors and computing power allows the object to gather and process information from its own environment and/or through the Internet. These objects include cars, appliances, medical devices (anything involving insurance!), and pretty much anything needing the capability of initiating the sending and receiving of information.
Thus, when you put billions and billions of passive and active objects together with ever-more-powerful computers with almost limitless storage capacity, you have the Internet of Everything. Any individual, business, institution, or government has the capability to monitor anything that can be tagged. Whether it is food, clothing, shelter, or services, these can be analyzed individually or in conjunction with each other. The most common application used today is the relatively innocuous function of inventory management. Future applications are only limited by our imagination (concerns about privacy are discussed later in this chapter).
The Technology (Alphabet Soup)
To be an IoT object or device, it must be able to connect and transmit information using Internet transfer protocols. Efforts are underway to test narrow-band IoT using cellular networks in several cities around the world. IoT platforms serve as a bridge between the devices’ sensors and data networks (Meola, 2016).
There is aggressive competition among companies offering interoperability standards to connect everything together in a seamless tapestry of services. In 2016, it looked like there were two dominant initiatives, the AllSeen Alliance and the Open Interconnect Consortium. The AllSeen Alliance was started by Qualcomm and included LG, Sharp, Panasonic, HTC, Sony, Electrolux, Cisco, and Microsoft. Qualcomm came out with the AllJoyn protocol in 2011 and gave it to the Linux Foundation in 2013 which became the basis for the AllSeen Alliance (Bradbury, 2017). Nature seems to love a good struggle, so a competing group, the Open Interconnect Consortium, was formed by a group that included Intel, Samsung, and GE. After some wrangling and negotiations, the two groups resolved their differences and merged to create the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) in 2016.
Still, the protocols from the two groups (AllJoyn from AllSeen, and IoTivity from OIC) remain part of the Linux Foundation effort to manage IoT development and some software bridges have been built to bring them together (Bradbury, 2017). In Fall 2017, Linux announced the creation of an effort to pull vendors together, calling it the EdgeX Foundry (Bradbury, 2017). Since Linux champions open-source software, their hope is to move vendors to common frameworks that interact with each other.
The world of standards-seekers seems to be dividing up into industrial and consumer-oriented sectors. Industrial vendors don’t want to control so much as integrate with the wider field. On this side, one notable effort to harmonize connected components is the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) founded by AT&T, Cisco, GE, Intel, and IBM.
The consumer side is, as one might expect, more wide-open. Vendors release their own framework and then try to get others to jump on. Examples are Google’s Works with Nest and Apple’s Homekit. Google chose Nest, the smart thermostat, as the central hub of a smart home because the Nest Learning Thermostat can handle many core home maintenance tasks (Burns, 2014). The thermostat has a motion detector and the ability to learn user behavior. Because Nest is integrated with wireless protocols it doesn’t need a control panel which would in turn require constant user interaction. Nest operates “serendipitously” which means it is activated when it needs to do something; it doesn’t need a human to constantly tell it what to do (Burns, 2014).
According to Meola (2016), the top IoT platforms include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, IoT Platform, ThingWorx IBM’s Watson, Cisco IoT Cloud Connect, Oracle Integrated Cloud, and GE Predix.
Recent Developments
IoT is so big and moves so fast we can only provide the briefest of snapshots. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) suggested in 2015 that the four core areas businesses should focus on regarding IoT are (1) Premises monitoring, (2) Product monitoring, (3) Supply chain monitoring, and (4) Customer monitoring. Premises monitoring tracks customers’ experiences at physical locations like stores, offices, kiosks, and hotels. Product monitoring tracks products or services after the customer purchases them. Supply chain monitoring tracks the production and distribution of operations. Customer monitoring tracks how customers are using products and services as well as what they say about them. These four areas probably cover the bulk of the current work being done to implement IoT.
Image of Smartphone Purchase with QR Code
Source: J. Wilkinson
The wall between the industry side and the consumer side is wafer thin, exemplified by the push to develop so-called “smart homes.” Smart homes involve several types of overlapping industries, goods, and services (automobile/transportation, electric/water/utilities, police/fire/security/safety, media/entertainment/communication, to name a few).
So other than automobiles (see Chapter 13), the family home is the best starting point to see the impact of IoT technology. There are two main approaches, the fully-connected ‘smart home’ and the piecemeal ‘connected home.’ In practical terms, given the rate of change in technology and devices, most people live in a connected home that strives to becoming ‘smarter.’
A smart home is a closed system that can respond—after proper programming—to those who live and manage the home itself with each device “geared for central control” (Sorrel, 2014). The connected home takes those closed systems and integrates them with vendors and service providers so they can share information. This enables the businesses to optimize services and revenue opportunities. Today’s fully-connected “smart home” should have off-the-shelf innovations that are fully integrated with the building. Probably the leaders in this area today are General Electric, and LG with its SmartThinQ line of appliances. At CES 2018, LG demonstrated how the fully integrated showers, kitchen, laundry, and more can be managed with either Google’s Home or Amazon’s Echo (Gibbs, 2018).
Most people are probably living in a ‘connected home,’ adopting IoT technology as a one-at-a-time exercise of experimentation, trial, and error. Whether you live in a smart home or a connected home, efficiencies are in the eyes of the beholder. The idea of dozens of independent objects working off and on around your home is science fiction myth. In practical terms, we mostly want one device to rule them all. Enter the Home Assistant.
Home Assistants
Since the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show when Amazon’s Echo made headlines, several companies have since entered the market. According to Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a main theme of CES 2018 was connecting appliances, “TVs, refrigerators and vacuums controllable by voice and to work together. Samsung, Amazon and Google are all competing for this space.” (Newcomb, January 12, 2018).
Smart Home
Source: J. Wilkinson & Technology Futures, Inc.
“Computer, OBEY”
Levels of Interaction for Personal Assistants?
It is important to separate science fiction from science fact. We are all on a journey, and IoT personal assistants are rapidly improving in their capability to serve us. There are at least six stages of evolution for these automated helpers before they attain human status and personhood. But don’t ask them to prepare your personal jetpack for work just yet.
The Six Stages of Personal Assistants:
Example: “What time is it?” [time given]. “Play Mandy by Barry Manilow.” [song plays].
Example: “Play three songs from U2, then play two songs from Foo Fighters.” [tasks done].
Example: “Read the latest news, but don’t include any sports stories.” [task done].
Example: “Play that great new song from Taylor Swift about her last boyfriend, then read the latest news…Oh, and I want to see this morning’s phone interview segment with the president from ‘Fox and Friends’.” [song played, segue to news, then cut to full interview segment].
Example: “It’s cold in here and it’s been a rough day.” [cue thermostat adjustment, then play soft jazz, then refrigerator pops ice cube into prepared glass of favorite beverage. Advanced feature might include a confidential text being sent to best friends recommending a quick casual call.]
Example: “Siri, beam me up NOW!” [trouble eliminated, refrigerator pops ice cube into glass…]
Amazon Echo
Source: J. Meadows
As of January 2018, Amazon Echo seems to be the current frontrunner, with its Bluetooth speaker powered by Alexa. Alexa works with many devices directly and IFTTT (If This Then That) to control others via ‘recipes’ you can create yourself (Griffith and Colon, 2017). The Echo (with Alexa) is voice-activated and voice-controlled, but touchscreens can also be added to help in environments where sound might be an issue.
An integrated IoT operating system will allow you to run smart house appliances with a finger and any tablet or smartphone.
Source: A.Grant
The industry is watching closely how the home assistant market grows. Analysts say if Amazon reaches more than 100 million installed Echo devices, it then becomes a “platform that can generate its own revenue” (Kharpal, 2017). A smart home assistant has built in abilities to integrate with apps like Uber or Spotify. Based upon ever increasingly sophisticated voice command technology, the Echo can evolve into a self-contained marketplace. At that stage, the consumer can ask Alexa to buy goods or services from vendors, and Amazon will be able to charge those vendors to appear prominently in its app store. Investment Bank RBC also predicts there will likely be paid skills on the Echo, for which Amazon could collect revenue share payments (Kharpal, 2017).
Other home automation hubs include the Wink Hub 2 and Apple’s Homekit. Wink Hub 2 retails for around $99 and is sold at chains like Home Depot or Target. Apple is trying to leverage its suite of internal interoperable devices with Homekit, which integrates home automation with tablets and smartphones. As of this writing the framework is reportedly still a big “buggy,” but with improvements is expected at some point to take significant market share (Sargent and Caldwell, 2017).
Apple’s connected-home platform is called HomeKit, and its home-speaker digital assistant is called HomePod. HomeKit was launched in 2014 and designed to reassure users of a secure home space by avoiding the cloud (unlike Google’s Nest or Amazon’s Alexa). HomePod was launched in 2017 as Apple’s answer to Google’s Home (using Siri, of course). Apple said research shows users typically use these assistants for music, so “Personal DJ” is but one popular feature. But like all other such devices, HomePod also handles lighting, thermostat adjustment, and other smart home features (Swanner, 2017). Apple is trying to expand the product lines for the connected home, but a barrier is the corporate “MFi” (made for iph-one/ipod/ipad) policy which limits what products can be a part of Apple’s empire.
Google Home is the home assistant speaker device competing against Amazon’s Echo, Apple’s HomePod, and others. But Google Home has additional skills that you might expect given the parent—anything relating to company business, searches, directions, and list generation (Ludlow, 2018). Amazon’s Echo is the basic unit; a smaller version is called Dot, and a version with a screen is called Echo Show. Google still has the basic Home device and the Home Mini which can be placed in different rooms as needed.
Other Smart Consumer Devices
IoT developments routinely appear almost daily in the popular press. A report from USA Today stated it costs around $2,000 to outfit your home with basic IoT features like thermostat control, smart lighting, and home security (Graham, 2017). There are several companies that offer home security and lighting. Vivint, for example, charges a monthly subscription beginning at $39.99 per month (around $500 per year). There are also several products that can be bought off the shelf at places like Best Buy, Walmart, or Target. For around $200 there is the “Ring” “video doorbell which allows you to see who is at the door and talk to them, too. For a smart lock which can be opened with your phone or via Alexa, prices range between $200-$300. So-called “smart lights” by Philips turn off and on by voice command and cost about $150. As mentioned earlier, one of the most popular products is the smart thermostat called Nest. It can be controlled by your phone from anywhere and can learn to adjust to individual needs. The Nest retails for around $250.
Security Concerns
As the home assistant market grows, so also is the concern about hacking. A team of security researchers in China found that hackers could easily exploit voice recognition systems like Siri and Alexa by using ultrasonic frequencies (Khandelwal, 2017). Humans can’t hear sounds above 20kHz (like dog whistles), but the Home Assistants can. Labelled “DolphinAttack,” the team at Zhejiang University took human voice commands and translated them into ultrasonic frequencies and played them back over a smartphone equipped with an amplifier, transducer and battery which cost less than $3. By this method an attacker could send inaudible voice commands to instruct a device to visit a malicious website. Or allow them to spy on your premises by activating outgoing video and sound. Or place fake information to emails, online posts, or calendars. Or take your phone offline by automatically setting it to “airplane mode.” Or worst of all, hide such attacks by dimming the screen and lowering the volume on the device.
Those tests worked on Siri, Google Assistant, Samsung S Voice, Huawei, HiVoice, Cortana, and Alexa. The tests worked on smartphones, iPads, MacBooks, Amazon Echo and even an Audi Q3.
The team noted that the best antidote is to program your device to ignore commands at 20kHz or any other voice command at inaudible frequencies (Khandelwal, 2017). Otherwise, end users should look for an official patch for the device. But still, users should be on the lookout for this type of activity.
Home Assistants in China
IoT has captured the attention of tech industries worldwide. In China, almost every major tech company is working on its own Chinese-language voice assistant (Joffe, 2017). Chinese search giant Baidu unveiled its model in November 2017 which offered something western models didn’t—a device that was visually attractive (Horwitz, 2017). Named the Raven H, it is a colorful stack of eight squares that can be tilted upward to become a forward-facing LED display, or used as a portable microphone for karaoke and more. Early models listed the Raven H at RMB1699 (US$255.95) compared to the American models which go for far less ($100-$180). In January 2018 the Raven H was listed online for even more—RMB2000 (US$310). Other Chinese home assistants include Echo clones like Alibaba’s Tmall Genie and JD’s Dingdong. Another factor is availability. As of this writing, the Raven H is only available from a prominent technology store in Beijing. The Raven H (or any other home assistant) is not available in cities like Zhuhai, with over a million people, down south in Guangdong province.
China’s Migration to IoT and Narrowband IoT
Gartner (2017) and others note that China is showing leadership in developing IoT. According to China Daily, telecom companies are actively working with manufacturers and developers to seamlessly integrate life in the People’s Republic of China. Drivers in Shanghai can use an app to find a space in a crowded parking lot, get there, and pay the bill with their smartphone. “Moreover, the app can calculate the probability of a space becoming empty using information from the parking ticket machine” (Ma, He, & Cheng, 2017). An important piece of this is the development of narrow-band IoT, a radio technology which connects billions of devices in a smarter way than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth (Ma, He, & Cheng, 2017).
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled a five-year plan to enable 1.7 billion connections by 2020. Several cities have been selected as testbeds for IoT applications and services. The ‘smart city’ projects are building databases and sensor networks to collect, store, and analyze information related to transportation, electricity, public safety, and the environment (Ma, He, Cheng, 2017). For example, the city of Wuxi is China’s first highstandard all-optical network and a designated test site for IoT technologies.
China has particularly jumped into narrow-band IoT testing. According to Chinese officials they are conducting several test projects in a number of cities. Narrow-band IoT connects hidden things such as water and gas meters, even underground pipes. Shenzhen started its Smart Water metering project in March, 2017. The smart water meters intelligently read and upload data to Shenzhen’s online platform. This helps residents avoid any service charge caused by false or missing meter readings or water loss from pipeline leakage. This project will enable the city to analyze water usage patterns of different consumer groups to build up or reconstruct the network to maximize efficiency and service.
European Narrowband IoT
Just as the “last mile” was the challenge for early internet connectivity, Earls (2017) notes the new challenge in IoT is the “last few feet.” Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can be insecure and, because they use a crowded range of the radio spectrum, are subject to interference. Wireless or not, power limitations mean many IoT applications only become practical when a device can sleep most of the time, waking up only when needed. So whether it’s for the home, transportation systems, agriculture, factory or distribution, developers have sought to find a safe efficient way to make IoT work in small spaces.
One solution has been found in Narrowband IoT, or NB-IoT, which enables connectivity via cellular network. Europe and China have embraced NB-IoT and are rolling out projects wherever possible. European carrier Vodafone launched NB-IoT in four European markets—Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain—and committed to rolling out the network standard across all of the countries in which it operates by 2020. Similarly, 3GPP, which involves seven different telecommunications standard development organizations, has come up with agreements to allow telecom carriers to compete in the space and move ahead with NB-IoT. Narrowband is a standardized technology that reuses most of a mobile operator’s existing network. For example, Vodafone has stated that for around 85% of its sites, the move to NB-IoT is “simply a software upgrade, which should help to keep upgrade costs low.”
An important benefit of Narrowband IoT is that it has a wider base of industry support than competing options. “The NB-IoT forum has telecom operators that represent more than 2 billion subscribers,” (Earls, 2017) Furthermore, NB-IoT has the support of Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, Qualcomm, and others, and so has a broader base of established vendors than the other technologies. Special NB-IoT device chipsets are also coming to the market. NB-IoT offers a lower cost of around $5 per device and $1 per year for connectivity. Initial interest comes from utility companies and metering, particularly water metering. Other tracking applications include child and pet trackers, consumer electronics, retail, and agriculture.
According to 3GPP, other benefits of Narrowband IoT include long battery life (a 5 watt/hour battery could last up to 10 years), the ability to support large numbers of devices; and uplink and downlink rates of around 200 kbps using only 200 kHz of available bandwidth; this is important because it means carriers won’t have problems accommodating the service (Earls, 2017).
Current Status
Gartner (2017) forecasted total spending on endpoints and services reached almost $2 trillion by the end of 2017. The number of connected things worldwide increased over 30% during 2017 to an estimated 8.4 billion connected things in use.
Gartner (2017) estimates that two-thirds (67%) of the installed base of connected things is led by three regions, Greater China, North America, and Western Europe. Furthermore, the consumer segment is the largest user of connected things. Aside from automotive systems (see chapter 13), the most used applications or devices are smart TVs and digital set-top boxes. The same report noted businesses have moved most quickly to adopt smart electric meters and commercial security cameras.
According to Weinreich (2017), total global spending on IoT devices and appliances across all environments (work and home) was an estimated $737 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach up to $1.4 trillion by 2021. According to a McKinsey Global Institute report (cited by Weinreich), IoT is projected to have an economic impact of somewhere between $4 to $11 trillion on the global economy by 2025, when factoring in its impact in sectors like manufacturing, health, retail, and the smart home.
In March, 2017, the Amazon Echo was declared ‘a megahit’ capable of generating $10 billion in revenues (Kharpal, 2017). That same report noted Investment bank RBC predicted there will be 60 million Alexa-enabled devices sold in 2020 which would bring the total install base to around 128 million.
Factors to watch
According to Meola (2016), there are three major areas that will use IoT ecosystems: consumers, governments, and businesses. Manufacturing, transportation, defense, healthcare, food services, and dozens of others will gradually adopt IoT in ways to improve efficiency, economies of scale, and security.
The “four trends in smart home technology 2018” are big data analytics, smart security systems, more décor-friendly environments, and 5G connectivity (Luke, 2017). The floodgates of database creation will be wide open with IoT. Big data is generated by billions of devices providing information, sometimes moment-by-moment. Big data enables consumers to observe their behavior and be more efficient. Big data also allows service providers to look over your shoulder and do the same for you, probably without your knowledge.
Security cameras may become as ubiquitous in the home as they are in the public square. The ability to perform facial recognition will improve until any and every visitor to your door will be recorded for posterity no matter the purpose of the visit. In a similar way, smart devices are already changing from the drab circles and cubes to become more interesting, artistic, and still functional. Designers and manufacturers know the best way to increase market share is to make their smart object friendly, cool, and almost unnoticed. Finally, as the glut of smart objects into your home reaches capacity, you will need even more network bandwidth to keep it all going strong. A device that has to buffer is a device that will be replaced. Forecasters say 5G cellular networks (see Chapter 22) will transmit data 10 times faster than 4G.
According to Soergel (2018), moving from 4G to 5G (the fifth generation of wireless connectivity) will allow consumers to download things significantly faster on compatible devices. When 4G rolled out in 2009, it allowed consumers to download at a speed of about 100 megabits per second. At that speed, a two-hour-long movie downloaded in about six minutes. But 5G is currently being tested with full adoption likely by 2020 and would download that same movie in 3.6 seconds.
Getting a job
Because IoT is so vast and encompasses so many industries, working in it may demand a particular mindset more than a set of skills. According to Bridge-water (2017), there are seven characteristics, skillsets, and personality traits that one should have to be successful in an IoT-related business:
Conclusion:
One of the final thoughts about Internet of Things developments recently is the advances in robotics. We are coming ever closer to the world envisioned by Heinlein and others where humanoid robots become part of our family. Tests are currently underway with robot pets and helpers who can read to our children, help with the groceries, and even keep company with shut-ins. Whether this heralds utopia or digresses into Terminator territory is anyone’s guess.
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* Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Sino-U.S. College, Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhuhai, China