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Getting started on IoT solutions – Technologies & Implementation

Getting started on IoT solutions – Technologies & Implementation

19 May 2020

By: Rajesh S.


Do you know a modified Coca-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University in 1982 was the world’s first connected device that was able to report its inventory and whether newly loaded drinks are cold or not?

In this era, it is estimated that every second 127 items are added to the Internet, according to calculations by Stringify CTO Dave Evans, former chief futurist at Cisco, thanks to the Internet of Things (IOT)  for making this possible.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts the number of connected devices will touch 41.6 billion by 2025 and IoT global market revenue to reach approximately US$ 1.1 Trillion.
So, are you late in implementing IoT solutions for your company? Well, better late than never!
What are the requirements for an organization to start its exciting IoT journey?
 There are five major components that should be considered for every IoT Solution implementation.
• Devices or things
• IoT Gateway
• Cloud platform
• Data Visualization
• IoT Analytics
In each component mentioned above, a range of technologies, standards, protocols and applications are required to transfer the data from things or devices to the internet.
 Devices or Things:

A thing, in the context of the Internet of things (IoT), is an entity or physical object that has a unique identifier, an embedded system and the ability to transfer data over a network.
The primary starting point for any IoT project starts with the devices that need to be connected to the internet. Generally, devices can be divided into IP Enabled devices and Non-IP Enabled devices.
IP-Enabled
These are the devices that are capable to connect themselves directly to a network and to the internet without a need for an IoT Gateway. These devices typically support either IP V4/V6 protocol or sometimes both.
Non-IP Enabled
These devices are not capable to connect to the internet and they need an IoT Gateway to communicate to the world of connected devices.

IoT Gateway:

IoT Gateway is a device that can facilitate the bi-directional communication of data traffic between different networks and protocols. Some advanced IoT gateway also offers the basic to complex intelligence of data processing, running rules-based logic because of which, it is also called an Edge computing device.
 For the communication between the device to the gateway to the cloud, various communication technologies on the IoT are used depending on the size of the network. For example, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, ANT, Zig-Bee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, NFC, RFID, Thread (6L0WPAN) and various generations of GSM including 1G, 2G, 3G, 3.5G, 3.75G, 4G, 5G, each of which can be used depending on the type and extent of the network, whether personal, local, or widespread.
These protocols are used based on the nature and requirement of the application in terms of distance. Generally, the IoT protocols are divided as contact range (0-10 cm), medium-range (10-100 m), medium-range (100-1000 m) and (5-10 km), Long-range (up to 100 km).


IoT Cloud:


The reason why the cloud is preferred for IoT applications is its ability to auto-scale if the number of connected devices can increase exponentially in a project. Also, if the number of devices spans a few hundred it is tough for the edge devices to handle the processing load. IoT Cloud platforms are more robust, auto-scalable and cost-effective in the long run.
Here are some IoT cloud platforms to choose from:
• Amazon Web Services IoT
• IBM Watson IoT Platform
• Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
• Google Cloud IoT
• Oracle Integrated Cloud for IoT
• SAP Cloud Platform for the Internet of Things
• Cisco Jasper Control Center
• PTC ThingWorx Industrial IoT Platform
• Salesforce IoT
• Xively
• Carriots

Data Visualization:


Data Visualization will play an enormous role in assisting to make sense of this new era. IoT Data visualization tools and technologies are essential to analyse massive amounts of information and make data-driven decisions.
Here you can find some important tools,
1. Kibana – To Analyse and Monitor all your Logs
Supports third-party plugins and to get near to real experience view, it effectively uses coordinate and region maps
2. Power BI – Real-Time Data Visualization
It provides rich data visualization and IoT integrations
3. Grafana – One Tool for all your Monitoring Needs
It has several built-in support features like Graphite, CloudWatch, Elastic Search, InfluxDB.

IoT Analytics


What exactly organizations can do with millions of data being generated from sensors/devices daily? The detailed business insights can be derived only if we know how to make the proper use of these data to arrive at meaningful conclusions, meaningful and actionable insights.
Here are some popular IoT Analytics tool
1. Countly
Countly is an enterprise-grade analytics and marketing platform for mobile, web, desktop and IoT applications with a focus on data liberation and security. Countly is available in two different editions – self-hosted or private cloud Enterprise Edition with premium plugins and customisable SLA, and Community Edition with basic plugins and a free-to-use non-commercial license.
2. AWS IoT Analytics
AWS IoT Analytics is a fully managed service that makes it easy to run sophisticated analytics on massive volumes of IoT data without having to worry about all the cost and complexity typically required to build your own IoT analytics platform.
3. GroveStreams
GroveStreams is a cloud-based Data Analytics Platform for the Internet of Things that provides real-time decision-making capabilities to users and devices.
4. SAS Analytics for IoT
SAS Analytics for IoT covers the full IoT analytics life cycle – from data capture and integration to analytics and deployment.
5. Ubidots
Ubidots provides a platform for makers, developers, and companies to easily capture sensor data and turn it into useful information.


Conclusion:


Many enterprises seeking to implement IoT, face challenges along the way such as finding the right technological solution, the risk involved with high investments, communication infrastructure, successful integration with existing software systems and data security.


IntelliStride is here in the APAC region to bring strong IoT solutions that deliver the ROI on IoT investments. Our expert solution development teams take complex projects and design innovative solutions to overcome challenges and give you the data intelligence, improved efficiencies, cost savings, ease of doing operations and much more.

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