Posted by Abhijit Yadavrao Talokar, Principal Consultant, Infosys
In 2014, Gartner predicted that over 4.9 billion devices will be connected owing to the Internet of Things (IoT). This extreme connectivity pertains to device-to-device and human-device interactions. With advanced technologies that enable remote capture of metrics and intuitive analytics, the age of IoT is helping enterprises detect risk of equipment failure and take immediate preventive measures to avoid damage. Let us explore how this extreme connectivity works with the IoT using some examples.
- Human-device interactions - Signals from remote devices can be captured though sensors and communicated to personnel through the Internet to ensure that appropriate action is taken. For example, drones can be used for pizza delivery.
- Device-device interactions - Signals can be transmitted between devices through the Internet, allowing a certain degree of intra-device communication without the need for human intervention. For example, anti-collision systems for railways depend on signals captured from each train. In cases where two trains erroneously travel on the same track towards each other, these captured signals can detect a probable collision and communicate it to both trains, whereupon brakes are applied automatically to avoid a potential accident.