There was a time when the Internet connection was restricted just to computers, tablets and smartphones but today everything around us from coffee machines to household lighting fixtures and from vending machines to cars, can be brought online to interact with other machines. Thus, idea of online interaction and communication between physical objects is referred as the Internet of Things. In other terms, The Internet of Things is a network of interrelated computing devices, machines, objects or people with unique identifiers having ability to transfer data over a network without requiring any help from human or computers.
The concept of Internet of Things has evolved due to merging of several technologies that range from wireless communication to the Internet and from micro-electromechanical systems to embedded systems. Thus, this indicates that fields like embedded systems, wireless networks, automation, control systems and others have contributed to the existence of Internet of Things. However, this concept was first popularize is the year 1999 by the MIT’s Auto-ID Center and market analysis publications. Earlier RFID or Radio-frequency identification was considered as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things and was estimated that if people and objects in daily life were equipped with identifiers and monitors then computers could manage and control them.
Currently the Internet of Things is being used throughout the home, business, offices and hospitals and is most prominently used across the domestic appliances. Several Internet-connected devices like lights, smart outlets, thermostats and key tracking devices help people save considerable amount of time and money. In Internet of Things the physical objects are perfectly integrated into the information network that becomes active participants of the processes. It further allows the devices to be remotely controlled and monitored and these devices can be remotely turned on or off as per the requirement, thereby saving good amount of money in gas, electric and water bills.
Embedded system is the foundation for the deployment of several Internet of Things solutions, especially within industrial Internet of Things applications. Thus, to capitalize on this, leading players of embedded system hardware and software developments are planning to implement the transformation into their products to greatly benefit from the growing IoT market. The Internet of Things is certainly the biggest change that will impact the embedded field and the designers need to gear up to meet the coming challenges of the Internet of Things.
