Everyone has probably heard about the latest hype in IT, which has coined the phrase “Internet of Things” or IoT, but is it actually hype, or something that could seriously change the way in which we interact with our devices, surroundings and environment. This article will demonstrate some of the practical applications for IoT that are already being used and then the potential possibilities that IoT could bring to that sector.

Before we start looking at the practical usage for IoT, perhaps its worth defining what IoT actually means. To provide an overview, the Information Society & Media Directorate-General of the European Union commissioned a video demonstrating the power of IoT.

Many differing sectors are already benefiting from the applications of IoT, some of which may surprise the level of technology they will utilise to assist with their businesses.  So lets start with one of the sectors we all are affected by and yet one of  most advanced IoT users.

IoT in Agriculture
Whatever image you may conjure up of farms and farming, actually when it comes to technology, farms are usually early adopters of new and emerging technologies. Most farmers these days walk their fields with GPS-enabled smartphones in their hands continually monitoring all aspects of their farms. As farms get larger and larger to maximise potential, farmers have been quick to deploy data-gathering, Internet-enabled devices to help keep track of them. All of this real-time data then enables farmer to make quick decisions and react to the changing conditions before their crops and herds are affected. As the machines are ploughing the fields, they are also now making vital measurements and feeding these back into cloud-based insights e.g. Soil temperatures, acidity levels, air quality, moisture and wind aspects. Smart irrigation solutions can then react to this data and provide the exact right quantity of resources, in just the right places, whilst also detecting leaks in water pipes etc.

​Even cows are now online and provide data in real time to their farmers. Farmers are always looking for techniques to detect changes in their cattle, so that they are able to quickly react to the changing circumstances. For example; censors can now detect by the activity of certain cows (and how the other cows are reacting around it) which ones are on heat, pregnant or have fallen ill. By then aggregating and sharing this big data with other farms, trend analysis and predictive analysis can start making recommendations enabling farmers to plan well ahead.

IoT in Healthcare
With today’s wearable technology it seems strange that we still rely upon physical symptoms and someone determination to visit a doctor in order to gain a diagnosis. Often, the symptoms have got to the point where it is too late to provide preventative medication, and now the patient and doctors have to rely upon reactive medicine. Many medical conditions can be prevented, or at least minimised if the early signs were detected, these often do not show as physical until the illness has taken hold.

Take many heart conditions, these are only noticed once an attack is in place, by this time the damage has been done and can often mean life changing circumstances for the patient. However if we could detect the early sign that lead up to heart conditions and raise these alerts, we could dramatically reduce the impact and start preventing some of these common conditions.

Many wearable items are internet connected, albeit via their partnered smartphone, and many of these are continually taking vitals from the wearer, including heart-rate, exertion / exercise, stress levels and oxygen levels to name a few. This is only the tip of the iceberg, soon we will see wearables that can take far more vital signs with far more accuracy. Soon wearables are coming the the marketing that will be able to take blood pressure, blood alcohol levels even blood sugar with the need for a pin prick ! Not only would this be life changing for existing sufferers, the early identification of these signs will also start to prevent conditions.

So what has IoT have to do with these wearables, well imagine what could be done with all of the analytic data being collected from millions of connected devices. Being able to analyse data being collected from all these patients could lead to faster and more accurate research being undertaken, however the more human side of these analytics, imagine if this data was sent automatically to the local GP. If this data was accessible by GPs, patient could potentially now receive a call from the doctor after being alerted to anomalies in the patients vital signs (taking vitals once every few months at a doctors visit is nothing when compared to the minute by minute data available from these wearables). Just think what could be achieved if a patient sugar levels changing could be detected (a sign of the onset of diabetes), a patient can be alerted, changes made that could prevent diabetes from affecting them. Really powerful applications of IoT wearables that can truly affect peoples lives and save NHS money in the long term.

In Conclusion
To summarise, IoT is already here and not just as a gimmick to remotely control your home’s central heating and lights from your smartphone, but as a game changer in some surprising industries. Who would have thought that industries like agriculture and healthcare would be leading the way in leading technologies.  This just goes to show how IoT can quickly make a huge impact on lives and businesses. The only concern comes to the security aspect of IoT, with all devices connected to the internet, makes the challenge to take control of such devices a realistic one. Purely hypothetical, but imagine someone wishes to break into the house, they could simply hacker into the lock remotely, or shout through the letterbox “Alexa, unlock front door…” (It should be noted that this functionality does not exist on Amazon’s Alexa). Plan IoT right and secure it right, it will be the next big thing to change the way we interact with anything in our environment.

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