IoT represents the fourth-generation technology that facilitates the connection and transformation of products into smart, intelligent and communicative entities. IoT has already established its footprint in various business verticals such as medical, heath care, automobile, and industrial applications. IoT empowers the collection, analysis, and transmission of information across various networks, encompassing both server and edge devices. This information can then undergo further processing and distribution to multiple inter-connected devices through cloud connectivity.

IoT Application in Oil & Gas Industry:

IoT is used in the Oil and Gas Industry for two basic reasons: First - low power design, a fundamental requirement for intrinsically safe products, Second - two-way wireless communication. These two advantages are a boon for the products used in Oil and Gas industries. The only challenge is for the product design to meet the hazardous location certification.

An intrinsic safe certification is mandatory for any device placed in hazardous locations. The certification code depends on the type of protection, zone, and the region where the product shall be installed.

In the North American and Canadian markets, the area classification is done in three classes:

Class I: Location where flammable gases and vapors are present.

Class II: Location where combustible dust is present.

Class III: Location where flying is present.

The hazardous area is further divided into two divisions, based upon the probability that a dangerous fuel to air mixture will occur or not.

Dvision-1: Location is where there is a high probability (by underwriting standards) that an explosive concentration of gas or vapor is present during normal operation of the plant.

Division-2: Location is where there is a very low probability that the flammable material is present in the explosive concentration during normal operation of the plant; so, an explosive concentration is expected only in case of a failure of the plant containment system.

The GROUP is also one of the meaningful nomenclatures of the hazardous area terms.

The four gas groups were created so that electrical equipment intended to be used in hazardous (classified) locations could be rated for families of gases and vapors and tested with a designated worst-case gas/air mixture to cover the entire group.

The temperature class definitions are used to designate the maximum operating temperatures on the surface of the equipment, which should not exceed the ignition temperature of the surrounding atmosphere.

Areas classified per NEC Article 505 are divided into three zones based on the probability of an ignitable concentration being present, rather than into two divisions as per NEC article 501. Areas that would be classified division 1 are further divided into zone 0 and zone 1.  A zone 0 area is more likely to contain an ignitable atmosphere than zone 1 area. Division 2 and zone 2 areas are essentially equivalent.

Zone-0: Presence of ignitable concentration of combustible gases and vapors continuously, or for long periods of time.

Zone-1: Intermittent hazard may be present.

Zone-2: Hazard will be present under abnormal conditions.

IoT-based products can be designed for various applications, a few of them are listed below:

1. Temperature Sensor
2. Pressure Monitoring
3. Gas Monitoring
4. Flow Monitoring

A typical block diagram of the IoT application is shown below:

Figure 1: IOT Block Diagram

An IoT product might consist of a battery as a power source or can be powered externally from either 9V ~ 36V DC supply available in the process control applications or 110/230Vac input.

The microcontroller can be selected based on the applications, power consumption, and the peripheral requirements. The microcontroller converts the analog signal to digital and based on the configuration can send the data on wired/wireless to the remote station. Analog signal conditioning stands as a pivotal component of the product, bridging the connection between the sensor and facilitating the conversion of analog signals for compatibility with the microcontroller. The Bluetooth interface suggested in the example is due to its wide acceptance and low power consumption. The wireless interface depends on the end-application of the product.

Electronics Design Consideration

The electronics design of an IoT product for a hazardous location is very complex and needs a careful selection of the architecture and base components as compared to the IoT developed for commercial applications. In case the IoT is for a hazardous location, the product must be intrinsically safe and should not cause an explosion under fault conditions. The product architecture should be designed considering various mechanical, and electronics requirements as defined in the IEC 60079 standards, certification requirements and the functional specifications.

Power Source: This is one of the main elements in an IoT-based product. Battery selection should meet the overall power budget of the product, followed by the battery lifetime. In case of intrinsic safety, special consideration is required for where the battery in charged. IEC 60079-11 clause 7.4 provide details for the type of battery and its construction details. Separation distance from the battery and electrical interface should be done as per Table-5 of IEC 60079-11. If the battery is used in the compartment, sufficient ventilation must be provided to ensure that no dangerous gas accumulation occurs during discharge or inactivity periods. In scenarios where IoT operates on DC power sources such as 9~36Vdc (nominal 24Vdc), the selection of power supply barrier protection becomes a critical consideration, particularly when catering to intrinsic safety norms. This necessitates a thorough analysis of the product’s prerequisites and the mandatory certifications. Adding to the complexity is the existence of IoT devices functioning on 230Vac, demands intrinsic safe calculations and certifications aligned with Um = 250V.

Microcontroller: Its central processing unit of the IoT product. The architecture of the microcontroller, power, and clock frequency processing must be carefully selected for a particular application. The Analog to Digital Conversion (ADC) part of the microcontroller should be selected based on the required accuracy, update rate, and resolution. Microcontroller should have enough sleep modes so that the power is optimally utilized for IoT applications and should have sufficient memory/peripheral interface to meet the product specifications.

Analog Signal Conditioning: The front-end block should meet the intrinsic safe requirements as per the IEC 60079 standards and should also protect the product from EMI-EMC testing. Barrier circuit should provide enough isolation for meeting the spark-gap ignition requirements and impedance requirement of the transducer. Also, along with the safety requirements, the designer should ensure that extracted sensor signal is not degraded from the excessive noise present in outside environment. All the sensors used for collecting data from the process parameters to the signal conditioning block must be certified for the particular zone.

Wireless Communications: There are various wireless options available for sending data from the IoT product to the sensor such as (6LOWPAN, ZigBEE, ZWave, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless HART). Selection of a particular wireless interface requires knowledge of end application, RF-power, antenna, and protocol. Selection of the interface for a particular IoT application should be done keeping these basic things in mind:

1. The amount of data to be shared to the server.
2. RF power.
3. Power consumed for each bit of data transferred.
4. Update rate of the data and distance of communication.
5. Security of data.

In case of intrinsic safe applications, it’s important to note that the use of certified modules does not directly confer suitability for deployment in hazardous locations. The product must undergo fresh testing within an intrinsic safe lab to assess both quantifiable and non-quantifiable ffaults, along with spark testing. or the countable and non-countable faults and spark testing. The RF power transmitted from the devices should be limited as per Table-1x of IEC 60079-0.

Conclusion

When building IoT solutions for hazardous locations, special conditions relating to creepage and clearance, encapsulation, and separation distance must be carefully considered. Also, when battery and RF signals are used, it’s expected the designer should be aware of the applicable standards and limitation of these standards for such products.

With more than 25 years of experience in designing mission-critical and consumer-grade embedded hardware designs, eInfochips is well poised to make products which are smaller, faster, reliable, efficient, intelligent and economical. We have worked on developing complex embedded control systems for avionics and industrial solutions. At the same time, we have also developed portable and power efficient systems for wearables, medical devices, home automation and surveillance solutions.

eInfochips, as an Arrow company, has a strong ecosystem of manufacturing partners who can help right from electronic prototype design, manufacturing, production, and certification. eInfochips works closely with the contract manufacturers to make sure that the designs are optimized for testing (DFT) and manufacturing (DFM) to reduce design alterations on production transfer. To know more about this contact us.

References

1. "IEC 60079–0" in Explosive Atmospheres - Part 0: General Requirements, Geneva. Switzerland.
2. "IEC 60079–11 Part 11" in Equipment Protection by Intrinsic Safety “i”, Geneva, Switzerland.
3. "UL 2225" in Standard for Safety; Cables and Cable Fittings for Use In Hazardous (Classified) Locations, Northbrook. IL:UL.
4. "CSA C22.1–18 Rule 18–092" in Canadian Electrical Code Part I, Toronto, Canada:CSA Group.
5. "NFPA 70" in National Electrical Code, Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association.
6. "CAN/CSA C22.2 No.60079–0" in Explosive Atmospheres - Part 0: General Requirements, Toronto, Canada:CSA Group.

About Authors:

Kartik Gandhi, currently serving in the capacity of Senior Director of Engineering, possesses a distinguished career spanning over two decades, marked by a profound expertise in fields including Business Analysis, Presales, and Embedded Systems. Throughout his professional journey, Mr. kartik has demonstrated his proficiency across diverse platforms, notably Qualcomm and NXP, and has contributed his talents to several esteemed product-based organizations.

Dr. Suraj Pardeshi has more than 20 years of experience in Research & Development, Product Design & Development, and testing. He has worked on various IoT-enabled platforms for Industrial applications. He has more than 15 publications in various National and International journals. He holds two Indian patents, Gold Medalist and Ph.D (Electrical) from M.S University, Vadodara.

Against the backdrop of digital technology and the industrial revolution, the Internet of Things has become the most influential and disruptive of all the latest technologies. As an advanced technology, IoT is showing a palpable difference in how businesses operate. 

Although the Fourth Industrial Revolution is still in its infancy, early adopters of this advanced technology are edging out the competition with their competitive advantage. 

Businesses eager to become a part of this disruptive technology are jostling against each other to implement IoT solutions. Yet, they are unaware of the steps in effective implementation and the challenges they might face during the process. 

This is a complete guide– the only one you’ll need – that focuses on delivering effective and uncomplicated IoT implementation. 

Key Elements of IoT

There are three main elements of IoT technology:

• Connectivity:

IoT devices are connected to the internet and have a URI – Unique Resource Identifier – that can relay data to the connected network. The devices can be connected among themselves to a centralized server, a cloud, or a network of servers.

• Data Communication:

IoT devices continuously share data with other devices in the network or the server. 

• Interaction

IoT devices do not simply gather data. They transmit it to their endpoints or server. There is no point in collecting data if it is not put to good use. The collected data is used to deliver IoT smart solutions in automation, take real-time business decisions, formulate strategies, or monitor processes. 

How Does IoT work?

IoT devices have URI and come with embedded sensors. With these sensors, the devices sense their environment and gather information. For example, the devices could be air conditioners, smart watches, cars, etc. Then, all the devices dump their collected data into the IoT platform or gateway. 

The IoT platform then performs analytics on the data from various sources and derives useful information per the requirement. 

What are the Layers in IoT Architecture?

Although there isn’t a standard IoT structure that’s universally accepted, the 4-layer architecture is considered to be the basic form. The four layers include perception, network, middleware, and application.

• Perception:

Perception is the first or the physical layer of IoT architecture. All the sensors, edge devices, and actuators gather useful information based on the project needs in this layer. The purpose of this layer is to gather data and transfer it to the next layer. 

• Network:

It is the connecting layer between perception and application. This layer gathers information from the perception and transmits the data to other devices or servers. 

• Middleware: 

The middleware layer offers storage and processing capabilities. It stores the incoming data and applies appropriate analytics based on requirements. 

• Application: 

The user interacts with the application layer, responsible for taking specific services to the end-user. 

Implementation Requirements

Effective and seamless implementation of IoT depends on specific tools, such as:

• High-Level Security 

Security is one of the fundamental IoT implementation requirements. Since the IoT devices gather real-time sensitive data about the environment, it is critical to put in place high-level security measures that ensure that sensitive information stays protected and confidential.  

• Asset Management

Asset management includes the software, hardware, and processes that ensure that the devices are registered, upgraded, secured, and well-managed. 

• Cloud Computing

Since massive amounts of structured and unstructured data are gathered and processed, it is stored in the cloud. The cloud acts as a centralized repository of resources that allows the data to be accessed easily. Cloud computing ensures seamless communication between various IoT devices. 

• Data Analytics

With advanced algorithms, large amounts of data are processed and analyzed from the cloud platform. As a result, you can derive trends based on the analytics, and corrective action can be taken. 

What are the IoT Implementation Steps?

Knowing the appropriate IoT implementation steps will help your business align your goals and expectations against the solution. You can also ensure the entire process is time-bound, cost-efficient, and satisfies all your business needs. 

Set Business Objectives 

IoT implementation should serve your business goals and objectives. Unfortunately, not every entrepreneur is an accomplished technician or computer-savvy. You can hire experts if you lack the practical know-how regarding IoT, the components needed, and specialist knowledge. 

Think of what you will accomplish with IoT, such as improving customer experience, eliminating operational inconsistencies, reducing costs, etc. With a clear understanding of IoT technology, you should be able to align your business needs to IoT applications. 

Hardware Components and Tools

Selecting the necessary tools, components, hardware, and software systems needed for the implementation is the next critical step. First, you must choose the tools and technology, keeping in mind connectivity and interoperability. 

You should also select the right IoT platform that acts as a centralized repository for collecting and controlling all aspects of the network and devices. You can choose to have a custom-made platform or get one from suppliers. 

Some of the major components you require for implementation include,

• Sensors
• Gateways
• Communication protocols
• IoT platforms
• Analytics and data management software

Implementation

Before initiating the implementation process, it is recommended that you put together a team of IoT experts and professionals with selected use case experience and knowledge. Make sure that the team comprises experts from operations and IT with a specific skill set in IoT. 

A typical team should be experts with skills in mechanical engineering, embedded system design, electrical and industrial design, technical expertise, and front/back-end development. 

Prototyping

Before giving the go-ahead, the team must develop an Internet of Things implementation prototype. 

A prototype will help you experiment and identify fault lines, connectivity, and compatibility issues. After testing the prototype, you can include modified design ideas. 

Integrate with Advanced technologies

After the sensors gather useful data, you can add layers of other technologies such as analytics, edge computing, and machine learning. 

The amount of unstructured data collected by the sensors far exceeds structured data. However, both structured and unstructured, machine learning, deep learning neural systems, and cognitive computing technologies can be used for improvement. 

Take Security Measures

Security is one of the top concerns of most businesses. With IoT depending predominantly on the internet for functioning, it is prone to security attacks. However, communication protocols, endpoint security, encryption, and access control management can minimize security breaches. 

Although there are no standardized IoT implementation steps, most projects follow these processes. But the exact sequence of IoT implementation depends on your project’s specific needs.

Challenges in IoT Implementation

Every new technology comes with its own set of implementation challenges. 

When you keep these challenges of IoT implementation in mind, you’ll be better equipped to handle them. 

• Lack of Network Security

When your entire system is dependent on the network connectivity for functioning, you are just adding another layer of security concern to deal with. 

Unless you have a robust network security system, you are bound to face issues such as hacking into the servers or devices. Unfortunately, the IoT hacking statistics are rising, with over 1.5 million security breaches reported in 2021 alone. 

• Data Retention and Storage 

IoT devices continually gather data, and over time the data becomes unwieldy to handle. Such massive amounts of data need high-capacity storage units and advanced IoT analytics technologies. 

• Lack of Compatibility 

IoT implementation involves several sensors, devices, and tools, and a successful implementation largely depends on the seamless integration between these systems. In addition, since there are no standards for devices or protocols, there could be major compatibility issues during implementation. 

IoT is the latest technology that is delivering promising results. Yet, similar to any technology, without proper implementation, your businesses can’t hope to leverage its immense benefits. 

Taking chances with IoT implementation is not a smart business move, as your productivity, security, customer experience, and future depend on proper and effective implementation. The only way to harness this technology would be to seek a reliable IoT app development company that can take your initiatives towards success.

The Internet of Things network of interconnected devices such as sensors, gateways, and computers that transfer the data over a wireless network eliminates the need for human intervention. IoT devices can be remotely tracked, and controlled in real-time. It also enables users to connect and interact with others over the internet. The applications of IoT are tremendous and it can be found in every part of human life, ranging from smartwatches to self-driving cars.

What Is IoT Device Management?

IoT device management refers to the ability to remotely accessing, monitoring, tracking and managing the functionality of IoT devices in order to ensure the deployed devices are secure, up to date and compliant. Here’s a breakdown of the reasons why businesses need an IoT device management platform:

• Accelerate time to market

One of the biggest perks of the IoT device management platform is that it helps developers to reduce the time frame of product development and testing, thereby enabling them to release products to market on time. Furthermore, streamlining and automating network and device management tasks enables businesses to concentrate on their core competencies while lowering costs.

• Secure device on and off boarding

A smart device is not, and should not be, automatically connected to an IoT network. A secure approach is required to configure and add only authorized devices to the network architecture, and a network and device management tool makes this simple and straightforward. End nodes can be authenticated and secure communications established via a web interface by registering and attaching them to the authorized base station using their network keys and identification credentials. Only after the node has completed the onboarding process it will be allowed to join the network and securely transmit data using network-level encryption. Similarly, if deployed nodes are no longer required, they can be easily offboarded from the web UI – without having to travel to the field.

• Streamline network monitoring and troubleshooting

IoT device management platform enables firms to gain a top to bottom view of all registered nodes, network traffic and their status in a single interface. It acts as a central hub for data aggregation across base stations in a network with multiple base stations. This is especially useful for monitoring and identifying unexpected network and device problems. Businesses can quickly identify and determine the root causes of bottlenecks with real-time visibility into incoming data, battery level, and keep-alive messages from individual nodes. For example, if a node fails to deliver messages on a regular basis, the radio traffic may be overloaded. If, on the other hand, it completely disconnects from the network and stops sending messages, it could be due to a hardware or firmware flaw. Similarly, by continuously monitoring battery levels, firms can schedule maintenance for multiple devices at the same time, saving time and money.

• Simplifies downstream application deployment

IoT device management platform serves as a link between the edge network, downstream data servers of users and enterprise applications. Using protocols like MQTT and API calls, a versatile IoT device management solution allows for easy integration with any backend system, whether on-premises or in the cloud. As a result, firms can easily deploy and scale IoT applications to meet changing business needs, whether by adding new devices to an existing app or connecting to a new analytics platform. It also enables businesses to gain a better view of all current integrations and applications from a single window thereby simplifying the management of an entire IoT project.

• Eliminate security risks

Considering the ever-increasing complexity of cyber-attacks, it is critical to equip connected IoT network components such as base stations and routers with the most up-to-date security features. A manual approach cannot keep up with the demand for continuous and timely updates to these critical network infrastructures, particularly those deployed remotely - Here comes the need for an IoT device management tool. It will enable businesses to update operating systems automatically and run security updates from afar, helping them to save money while also ensuring their remote base stations are well-prepared against malicious attacks. Furthermore, round-the-clock monitoring of the network assists firms in the early detection of unusual patterns, such as an increase in data traffic, which could indicate a breach and eliminate security hazards.

Conclusion

The advancements in IoT and AI services have made it critical for businesses to rely on efficient and secure methods to manage and control their networks and devices at scale. An IoT device management platform helps businesses to track, manage and gain real-time insights into all devices and stay on top of their deployment. When combined with a robust wireless solution, it enables firms to seamlessly expand their IoT network and solutions at minimal cost and complexity.

How Doews IoT help in Retail? Continuous and seamless communication is now a reality between people, processes and things.  IoT has been enabling retailers to connect with people and businesses and gain useful insight about product performance and engagement of people with such products. 

Importance of IoT in Retail

• It helps improve customer experience in new ways and helps brick and mortar shops compete with their online counterparts by engaging customers in different ways.
• IoT can track customer preferences, analyze their habits and share relevant information with the marketing teams and help improve the product or brand features and design and keep the customer updated on new products, delivery status etc.
• Using IoT retailers can increase efficiency and profitability in various ways for their benefit.
• IoT can significantly improve the overall customer experience, like automated checkouts and integration with messaging platforms and order systems.
• It helps increase efficiency in transportation and logistics by reducing the time to deliver goods to market or store. It helps in vehicle management, and tracking deliveries. This helps in reducing costs, improving the bottom line and increasing customer satisfaction.
• Inventory management becomes easier with IoT. Tracking inventory is much easier and simpler from the stocking of goods to initiating a purchase.
• It helps increase operational efficiency in warehouses, by optimizing temperature controls, improving maintenance, and managing the warehouse. 

Use Cases of IoT in Retail

1. IoT is used in Facility management to ensure day-to-day areas are clean and can be used to monitor consumable supplies levels. It can be used to monitor store environments like temperature, lighting, ventilation and refrigeration. IoT can identify key areas that can provide a complete 360 degrees view of facility management.
2. It can help in tracking the number of persons entering a facility. This is especially useful because of the pandemic situation, to ensure that no overcrowding takes place.
   Occupancy sensors provide vital data on store traffic patterns and also on the time spent in any particular area. This helps retailers with better planning and product placement strategies. This helps in guided selling with more effective display setups, layouts, and space management.
3. IoT helps in a big way for Supply chain and logistics, by providing information on the stock levels. 
4. IoT helps in asset tracking in items like shopping carts and baskets. Sensors can ensure that location data is available for all carts making retrieval easy. It can help lock carts if they are taken out of location.
5. IoT devices can and are being used to personalize user experience. Bluetooth beacons are used to send personalized real-time alerts to phones when the customer is near an aisle or a store. This can prompt a customer to enter the store or look at the aisle area and take advantage of offers etc. IoT-based beacons, helps Target, collect user data and also send hyper-personalized content to customers.
6. Smart shelves are another example of innovative IoT ideas. Maintaining shelves to refill products or ensure correct items are placed on the right shelves is a time-consuming task. Smart shelves automate these tasks easily. They can help save time and resolve manual errors.

Businesses should utilize new technologies to revolutionize the retail sector in a better way. Digitalization or digital transformation of brick and mortar stores is not a new concept. With every industry wanting to improve its services and facilities and trying to stay ahead of the competition, digitalization in retail industry is playing a big role in this transformation. To summarize, digitalization helps in enhanced data collection, helps data-driven customer insights, gives a better customer experience, and increases profits and productivity. It encourages a digital culture.

The Internet of Things is one of the technologies making yesterday’s science fiction the reality of today. It will act as a force multiplier for digitization and can potentially transform the world into a smart one - smart cities, smart vehicles, smart manufacturing, smart homes, and many others. According to IDC, spending on IoT by businesses and other entities is going to surpass $1 trillion in 2023. Further, out of the projected connected devices of 29 billion, around 18 billion are expected to be related to IoT. And the data generated by these devices will be to the tune of 73.1 zettabytes by 2025.

In other words, ignoring the penetration of IoT across domains and not investing in its vast sweep could be detrimental to the competitiveness of business enterprises in the future. Even though the IoT will continue on its upward trajectory in use cases and device numbers, enterprises should take into account the challenges related to interoperability and security. Let us discuss the top IoT predictions that IoT testing services, or for that matter, the CIOs of enterprises, should acknowledge and incorporate in their value chain.

Top IoT Forecasts for CIOs to Recognize

As a smart technology, the Internet of Things is going to change the landscape of the digital world. The top IoT forecasts for the years to come are mentioned below:

# AI-based IoT data analysis: With IoT being adopted as a frontline technology by most organizations, there will be a need to gather, store, process, and analyze huge amounts of data generated by it. This is where AI-based data analysis will take over from traditional analysis wherein data mined by IoT devices will be analyzed for known patterns to draw insights about various aspects of an organization. AI is going to be applied to a host of IoT-generated data in the form of still images, video, speech, text, and network traffic activities. This should drive the CIOs of business enterprises to implement the necessary skills and tools to leverage AI in their IoT testing approach.

# IoT with legal, social, and ethical dimensions: With the increased adoption of IoT across business segments, a wide range of social, ethical, and legal issues may come to the fore. These may include privacy, regulatory compliance, algorithmic bias, and ownership of data, among others. In fact, the success of any IoT solution should not be based on its technical prowess or effectiveness alone, but on social acceptability as well. Hence, CIOs should review their corporate strategy, IoT and AI systems, and key algorithms by external agencies for any potential bias. In doing so, they may include external IoT testing services to not only validate the technical aspects of such systems but their social, ethical, and legal dimensions as well.

# Data broking and infonomics: According to a Gartner survey, businesses are going to include the buying and selling of IoT data as an essential part of their strategy. As per the theory of infonomics, the monetization of IoT data will be treated as a strategic asset by businesses and included in their accounts. CIOs should educate their staff on the opportunities and risks pertaining to data broking and set the appropriate IT policies, including incorporating mandatory IoT testingin the value chain.

# Transition from Intelligent Edge to Intelligent Mesh: The transition from cloud to edge architectures in the IoT space is underway and is likely to give way to a more unstructured architecture in the form of a dynamic mesh. The mesh architectures will lead to more intelligent, responsive, and flexible IoT systems, but with additional complexities. As a result, CIOs must prepare their organisations for the impact of mesh architectures on IoT systems. Consequently, the focus of the Internet of Things QA testing should be to ensure every aspect of the IoT and mesh architecture performs as desired.

# IoT Governance: With the expansion of the IoT space, a proper setup for governance, including an IoT testing framework, should be instituted. This is to ensure appropriate behavior in the generation, storage, deletion, and usage of IoT-related data. IoT governance would entail device audits, control of devices, firmware updates, and the usage of information delivered, among others. CIOs must educate their organizations on issues related to IoT governance.

Conclusion 

The Internet of Things will continue to expand and play an important role for business enterprises in areas such as data mining, analysis, and management, decision-making, privacy, security, and others. CIOs must make their enteprises ready to leverage the opportunities offered by the IoT as well as set up proper architectures, including IoT security testing, to mitigate any associated risks.

The Internet of Things is one of the technologies making yesterday’s science fiction the reality of today. It will act as a force multiplier for digitization and can potentially transform the world into a smart one - smart cities, smart vehicles, smart manufacturing, smart homes, and many others. According to IDC, spending on IoT by businesses and other entities is going to reach $1 trillion in 2022. Further, out of the projected connected devices of 29 billion by 2022, around 18 billion are expected to be related to IoT. And the data generated by these devices will be to the tune of 73.1 zettabytes by 2025.

In other words, ignoring the penetration of IoT across domains and not investing in its vast sweep could be detrimental to the competitiveness of business enterprises in the future. Even though the IoT will continue on its upward trajectory in use cases and device numbers, enterprises should take into account the challenges related to interoperability and security. Let us discuss the top IoT predictions that IoT testing services, or for that matter, the CIOs of enterprises, should acknowledge and incorporate in their value chain.

Top IoT Forecasts for CIOs to Recognize

As a smart technology, the Internet of Things is going to change the landscape of the digital world. The top IoT forecasts for the years to come are mentioned below:

# AI-based IoT data analysis: With IoT being adopted as a frontline technology by most organizations, there will be a need to gather, store, process, and analyze huge amounts of data generated by it. This is where AI-based data analysis will take over from traditional analysis wherein data mined by IoT devices will be analyzed for known patterns to draw insights about various aspects of an organization. AI is going to be applied to a host of IoT-generated data in the form of still images, video, speech, text, and network traffic activities. This should drive the CIOs of business enterprises to implement the necessary skills and tools to leverage AI in their IoT testing approach.

# IoT with legal, social, and ethical dimensions: With the increased adoption of IoT across business segments, a wide range of social, ethical, and legal issues may come to the fore. These may include privacy, regulatory compliance, algorithmic bias, and ownership of data, among others. In fact, the success of any IoT solution should not be based on its technical prowess or effectiveness alone, but on social acceptability as well. Hence, CIOs should review their corporate strategy, IoT and AI systems, and key algorithms by external agencies for any potential bias. In doing so, they may include external IoT testing services to not only validate the technical aspects of such systems but their social, ethical, and legal dimensions as well.

# Data broking and infonomics: According to a Gartner survey, businesses are going to include the buying and selling of IoT data as an essential part of their strategy. As per the theory of infonomics, the monetization of IoT data will be treated as a strategic asset by businesses and included in their accounts. CIOs should educate their staff on the opportunities and risks pertaining to data broking and set the appropriate IT policies, including incorporating mandatory IoT testing in the value chain.

# Transition from Intelligent Edge to Intelligent Mesh: The transition from cloud to edge architectures in the IoT space is underway and is likely to give way to a more unstructured architecture in the form of a dynamic mesh. The mesh architectures will lead to more intelligent, responsive, and flexible IoT systems, but with additional complexities. As a result, CIOs must prepare their organisations for the impact of mesh architectures on IoT systems. Consequently, the focus of the Internet of Things QA testing should be to ensure every aspect of the IoT and mesh architecture performs as desired.

# IoT Governance: With the expansion of the IoT space, a proper setup for governance, including an IoT testing framework, should be instituted. This is to ensure appropriate behavior in the generation, storage, deletion, and usage of IoT-related data. IoT governance would entail device audits, control of devices, firmware updates, and the usage of information delivered, among others. CIOs must educate their organizations on issues related to IoT governance.

Conclusion 

The Internet of Things will continue to expand and play an important role for business enterprises in areas such as data mining, analysis, and management, decision-making, privacy, security, and others. CIOs must make their enteprises ready to leverage the opportunities offered by the IoT as well as set up proper architectures, including IoT security testing, to mitigate any associated risks.

Automation has become the buzzword these days, with business enterprises going about adopting newer technologies to be competitive and profitable. The Internet of Things, or IoT, is one such technology that has the potential to transform the way we perceive and act upon things - such as driving a car using smart IoT technology. The technology has been adopted on a large scale, especially in industrial applications, as a means to digitally transform processes and derive a host of benefits. These include reducing effort and cost, achieving speed, accuracy, higher productivity, and efficiency. The growing fascination for such devices is driving the market crazy with a valuation of $520 billion.  Furthermore, IoT technology is expected to receive up to $1 trillion in investments by 2022 (Source: research.aimultiple.com).

All said and done, the downside to the breakneck speed at which IoT is being adopted across the board is the neglect of security considerations. Business enterprises, in their zeal to adopt IoT technology to drive digital transformation, do not always give the security of such devices and the network on which they operate enough attention. This leaves these devices with vulnerabilities, which have the potential to be exploited by cybercriminals to cause data breaches with dire consequences for all stakeholders. Let us understand the IoT and how to strengthen its security.

Understanding IoT 

The Internet of Things comprises everyday devices that are interconnected through the internet or other wireless networks and can be controlled remotely. Everyday devices are fitted with sensors and microchips that can send or receive data over the internet. This creates the possibility of these devices being controlled remotely. The use of IoT in physical areas like homes, cars, offices, and even cities has a transformational effect in terms of turning them smart. For instance, your alarm clock can read the calendar and sets itself up to buzz at the right time.

Why is IoT security important? 

The world is poised to move into a “smart” ecosystem where automation, in all likelihood, is going to change our lives for the better. However, given that the internet or any wireless network is the carrier for IoT “signals”, cybercriminals can hack into the devices or networks and cause havoc. For instance, hackers can penetrate the IoT network of any company to cause system downtime or spy on homeowners to garner crucial information. Since billions of devices are connected to the IoT network, it is important to develop and comply with security standards to prevent tampering or breaches. Let us understand how IoT security testing can help in establishing such a secure ecosystem.

Protecting IoT devices and networks from cyber attacks

As companies develop new products with IoT capabilities, consumers are simply lapping them up. However, this increases the possibility of cyber-attacks on such devices. Let us understand how the Internet of Things QA testing for security can prevent such attacks.

IoT penetration testing: In this type of IoT testing methodology, the QA testers try to penetrate the IoT network and devices by exploiting the inherent vulnerabilities with full knowledge of the management. With IoT penetration testing, QA testers check the security of such devices and find out the vulnerabilities as they continue to operate in the real world. It helps stakeholders understand the types of vulnerabilities or glitches existing in the IoT system and how they can be exploited by real threat actors. After knowing the vulnerabilities through IoT security testing, the loopholes are plugged, thereby strengthening the security of the IoT system and making it virtually impregnable.

Threat modeling: This IoT testing approach helps determine the threat model for the IoT system and how it can be breached. For instance, if an IoT-enabled camera is installed to monitor a house or spy on people within a specific distance, it can be breached by a hacker to gain access to the images captured by the camera. With threat modeling, the vulnerability that allowed the hacker to gain access to the camera is eliminated.

Firmware analysis: Firmware is a type of software that is used in embedded devices like sensors to execute a dedicated function. It can be found on devices such as routers, smart appliances, or medical devices. As with any other software, firmware can contain vulnerabilities or bugs that can be exploited by cybercriminals. Firmware analysis is a type of IoT testing approach that looks for security issues such as buffer overflows, backdoors, and others.

Best practices to secure the IoT devices or systems

No matter how robust the security of IoT systems is, if the people operating the devices are not thorough with the security protocols, hackers can gain entry into the systems. The best practices to be followed to keep the IoT systems secure are listed below:

• Change default credentials frequently and use strong passwords
• Implement a VPN with strong encryption to transmit and store data
• Perform IoT security testing frequently
• Change default router settings
• Disconnect devices when not in use
• Do not use Universal Plug and Play
• Update firmware regularly

Conclusion  

With the rapid growth of IoT systems, businesses should turn their focus to securing these devices from any unauthorized access. They should be thoroughly assessed to identify and mitigate any security vulnerabilities in the code. Even though IoT technology has the potential to transform our lives for the better, it is critical to understand that it can have security risks as well. It is only by implementing IoT device testing solutions in the value chain that businesses can ensure the protection of data from falling into the wrong hands.  

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

There was a time when we used to imagine how self-driving cars and home automation systems would look. However, over time the advancements in the IT domain have converted our fascinating assumptions and stories into reality.

In order to transform our imagination into reality, emerging technologies, such as AI/ML, IoT, and cloud, have played an essential role. These technology domains are like a buzzword across the global industries. Most of them, including AI and cloud, has become the mainstream technologies for IT operations, but IoT is yet to become one.

What we know about IoT technology is that it is some sort of technology connecting electronic devices communicating over internet connectivity. But you know what fascinates us the most, is that why it is known as the Internet of Things? Let’s find out.

What is IoT (Internet of Things)?

In simple terms, the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a system where several physical (circuit-based electronics) devices are interconnected and communicate via Internet connectivity. They also gather and share data among connected devices, applications, or systems to further perform analytical operations. The data is shared among them in such a way, feeling like they are actually communicating to us and other connected things.

Apart from being a commercial system, the IoT platform is being used in many props, from smart wearables to industrial sensors, biotelemetry, and many others.

As per the research of Statistica – a leading research firm, the adoption of IoT technology or devices is expected to reach 13.8 billion units by the end of 2021 and 30.9 billion units by 2025.

The History of The Internet of Things:

The first forecasting about IoT was done by Nikola Tesla in 1926, where he said that: “When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance.”

Further, the first project of connecting sensors and intelligence to the basic things was first ideated in the decade of 1980-the 1990s. Also, the journey from internet-connected vending machines to self-operable cars was very slow due to some technology and required skills barriers. Initially, the chips were big and bulky in size, creating barriers to establishing effective communication between objects.

Today, processors have become very cheap, compact, powerful, and cost-effective to connect billions of devices together.

The Invention of the RFID tags – They are more like low-power chips establishing wireless communication and have solved some connectivity-related issues by increasing internet broadband’s uptime alongside cellular and wireless networking.

The Invention of IPv6 – It is among another connected internet of things providing sufficient IP addresses for connecting IoT devices of the whole world. It plays an essential role in scaling IoT networks.

In the beginning, IoT was a buzzword among businesses and manufacturing industries where its application used to identify as M2M (Machine-to-Machine), but now it is being mounted in our homes, offices, and many places with smart devices.

This way, IoT technology is transforming our way of living, and we all can agree with it today.

Benefits of Having IoT Technology In Place:

Better Data Monitoring:

The IoT technology primarily helps us in monitoring. It also helps us detect the precise quantity and quality of supplies, check the air quality at home, and many others. It also provides data that is difficult or even almost impossible to collect flawlessly. For example, it can detect the quantity of printer ink present in the printer and let us know that it’s time to buy a new ink cartridge to avoid future hurry and trips to the store. The advancement of IoT has been done to the extent that it can also check the expiration of the product.

Easy Access:

Nowadays, technologies have become so advanced that real-time information sharing can be done smoothly from anywhere across the world with just a smart device and internet connectivity. IoT devices integrated with emerging technologies like AI/ML and cloud can make it possible to share data from one location to another in real-time.
Cost-Effectiveness:

The more organizations adopt IoT devices to enhance their productivity and profitability, the more this technology will be tailored to help businesses achieve success. IoT devices are increasingly impacting from cybersecurity to workforce efficiency alongside companies’ bottom line. If IoT devices are built using highly integrated sensors, they definitely support business applications to run at their peak level at reduced maintenance costs.

Efficiency and Productivity:

The efficiency in terms of the IoT can be referred to as automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks that ultimately cut down the overall time and effort investment. For example, an IoT-based automated program for converting PDF into other formats and sending it to the respected recipients directly. This process eliminates obstacles to PDF editing and archiving alongside better communication and documentation speeds.

Summing Up:

IoT can be considered the next-gen technology that automates all of our mundane workloads, gathers data in real-time, performs analytical processes on those data, and provides actionable insights to their improvement areas at reduced costs. IoT technology also plays an essential role in creating new business opportunities for organizations through innovations to traditional IT operational models. Also, they offer a better customer experience, which also acts as a revenue generation model for businesses.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, as the name suggests, enable a company, no matter the industry, to better plan the use and management of its resources and achieve seamless operations. Such solutions, when integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT), i.e. a network of connected devices that enables the exchange of data in real-time, can work wonders in the manufacturing sector. No, really. Now, if you are wondering why that is, allow us to demonstrate via some key benefits of this duo.

1. Better management of assets: Perhaps one of the best things about technologies and their evolution that helped businesses tend to their assets, machines, and equipment much better than before, i.e. not wait to tend to it till it has broken down and rendered unproductive, even if temporarily so. But thanks to IoT sensors embedded in such assets, it becomes that much easier to identify any wear and tear, any issues, etc. across their lifetime. These factors are then flagged to the ERP software, which then further informs the appropriate teams and people responsible for the maintenance of such assets. This allows companies to undertake preventive maintenance, thus prolonging the life of their assets. It also helps ensure that operations are not interrupted since maintenance work can be scheduled in a manner to prevent or minimize downtime.
2. Access to real-time analytics: As the basic idea of IoT suggests, what they do is double up as a source of 24x7 information. They glean data collected from the sensors and then channel said data into the requisite systems. This ability to collect data at all times, from all the connected devices, means manufacturing businesses can process the data through ERP systems to gain access to highly valuable information such as market trends, processes that might need improvements, any possible quality issues, and so much more. Such information, in turn, drives much more informed strategies and marketing-related decisions and that too in real-time.
3. Improved quality control: Quality is typically one of the key concerns on the priority list of any business involved in manufacturing, no matter what it is that one may be making. Of course, this is where long-established, archaic quality checks would come in, but the problem is that it is quite time-consuming, prone to high levels of human error, etc. This problem, thankfully, is easily addressed with an IoT-integrated ERP solution, which can empower companies and their management to better the quality of their offerings via round-the-clock monitoring of their production processes.

As the world and the technologies around us continue to evolve at a dizzying pace, ERP solutions have emerged as the crowd favorite for all modern businesses. Now, as evidenced from the above discussion, the said popularity of enterprise software development, fortified with advanced technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence, etc., can bring a world of benefits to manufacturing companies as well as those operating in other sectors across the globe.

Hence, driving the demand for such solutions further up. With that being said, if you too wish to make use of all the aforementioned benefits and countless others such as automation, better levels of customer service, and more, you know the integration of ERP with IoT is the right way forward.

If in previous years many of the Internet of Things (IoT) predictions have failed, the year 2020 has been no exception. This time justified by the virus outbreak.

In my article " 2020 IoT Trends and Predictions: Be prepared for the IoT Tsunami" I wrote that we should be prepared for the Internet of Things (IoT) tsunami, but it won't be in 2020". I didn't imagine the special circumstances of the year "MMXX". Today, I do see clearly that Covid-19’s impact is difficult to ignore looking forward into 2021 and beyond. This pandemic is going to accelerate adoption in many industries that have been affected and will have to make some changes to how they operate.

The year 2020 has been a significant year in terms of the emergence of technologies leading to a much better space of IoT to flourish and grow.

I'm not going to make my own predictions this year. Although I have taken a responsibility for my followers to collect and publish the predictions of other recognized or enthusiastic voices of the IoT.

Here I summarize some of them. My advice is to keep relying on optimistic predictions as there are many Reasons to Believe in Internet of Things.

• Forrester - Predictions 2021: Technology Diverity Drives IoT Growth
  • Network connectivity chaos will reign. We expect interest in satellite and other lower-power networking technologies to increase by 20% in the coming year.
  • Connected device makers will double down on healthcare use cases. In 2021, proactive engagement using wearables and sensors to detect patients’ health at home will surge.
  • Smart office initiatives will drive employee-experience transformation. We expect at least 80% of firms to develop comprehensive on-premises return-to-work office strategies that include IoT applications to enhance employee safety and improve resource efficiency.
  • The near ubiquity of connected machines will finally disrupt traditional business. In 2021, field service firms and industrial OEMs will rush to keep up with customer demand for more connected assets and machines.
  • Consumer and employee location data will be core to convenience. In 2021, brands must utilize location to generate convenience for consumers or employees with virtual queues, curbside pickup, and checking in for reservations.
• CRN - 5 Hot IoT Trends To Watch in 2021 And Beyond
  • Changes In Real Estate Trends Will Push Smart Office Initiatives
  • The Internet Of Behavior Is Coming To Your Workplace
  • Location Data Will Become More Prominent
  • This Year’s Pivot To Remote Operations Will Expand Connected Assets
  • Connected Health Care Will Ramp Up In 2021
• The future of IoT: 5 major predictoins for 2021, based on Forrester
• TechoPedia - 6 IoT Predictions for 2021: What's Next? –
  1. An Increase in IoT Remote Workforce Management Products
  2. More IoT-Enabled Options for Smart Cities
  3. Improving Driving and Autonomous Vehicles
  4. The IoT Will Boost Predictive Maintenance
  5. The Connected Home over Internet Protocol (CHIP) Standard Will Become a Reality
  6. Market Enticements With Multipurpose Products
• Forbes - 5 IoT Trends To Watch In 2021
  1. Can You Turn Off Your Alexa? We'll likely see an increase in the security surrounding smart devices, including AI-driven, automated ability to scan networks for IoT devices.
  2. More Use Cases in More Industries - the IoT has the ability to mean big money for almost any industry.
  3. IoT Helping to Build Digital Twins - the IoT may be the perfect partner for the development of digital twins, for almost any application. Especially for things like construction, engineering, and architecture, that could mean huge cost and time savings.
  4. IoT and Data Analytics - the IoT is no longer just about monitoring behavior and spitting out data. It's about processing data quickly and making recommendations (or taking actions) based on those findings.
  5. Improving Data Processing at the Edge - With the confluence of 5G networks, an increase in IoT and IIoT devices, and a dramatic increase in the amount of data we are collecting, I don't see this trend going anywhere but up
• Security Today - By 2021, 36 bilion IoT devices will be installed around the world.
• IoT Agenda - Mitch Maiman - Intelligent Product Solutions (IPS)- IoT predictions for 2021–
  • Medical IoT
  • Radio frequency services
  • AI and augmented reality
  • Electric vehicles
  • Remote work
• IoT Agenda - Carmen Fontana, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer -Top 5 IoT predictions for gworing use cases in 2021
  • Wearables will blur the line between consumer gadgets and medical devices
  • Consumers will be more concerned about data privacy
  • AI IoT products will be more accessible
  • Digital twin adoption will explode due to increased remote work
  • Edge computing will benefit from green energy investment
• IoT World Today - IoT Trends 2021: A Focus on Gundamentals, Not Nice-to-Haves. IoT trends in 2021 will focus on core needs such as health-and-safety efforts and equipment monitoring, but IoT in customer experience will also develop.
• Rockwell Automation Predictions for 2021
  • IT/OT Integration is critical for answering the $77 billion need for IIoT
  • Edge is the new cloud
  • Digital twins save $1 trillion in manufacturing costs
  • Pandemic promotes AR training as the new standard for a distributed workforce
  • Automation accelerates employee advancement through human-machine interface
• Top 5 IoT Predictions For 2021; What Future Holds?
  • Private IoT networks
  • Digital health
  • Cities would turn smarter
  • Remote offices
  • Improved location services
• online - 10 IoT Trends for 2020/2021: Latest Predictions According to Experts 
• J2 Innovations - Smart Building, Equpement and IoT Trends for 2021 –
  • Remote work and management
  • Changing the way we work
  • Flexible spaces
  • Digital processes- 2021 will see ever more processes becoming digital.
  • The convergence of IT and OT - The industry will continue to see a concerted push to integrate and leverage the vast amounts of valuable data derived from Operational Technologies (OT) into the Information Technology (IT) side of the enterprise
  • A new kind of interoperability - A good example of that is The Web of Things (WoT), which is an open source standard being pioneered by Siemens
• Krakul - IoT trends to expect in 2021 - Cloud service providers are the most prominent vendors within the IoT space. 2021 will also see the rise in IoT development partnerships. Brands, who not only require cloud transformation will need a hardware partner to ensure IoT devices perform to both consumer and business needs. Whether those IoT device applications will see use by consumers, businesses or the industry – the common concerns shaping IoT solutions for 2021 include:
  • integration
  • usability
  • security
  • interoperability
  • user safety
  • return on investment (ROI) for the business case
• Analysis Mason - predictions for business connectivity, communications, IoT and security in 2021 –
  • A major mobile operator will buy one of the IoT market disruptors.
  • A new deployment model for private LTE/5G networks will emerge – the public industrial network
  • Private networks will become a topic for financial sponsors.
• TBR (Ezra Gottheil)- 2021 DEVICES & COMMERCIAL IOT PREDICTIONS
  • AI in IoT will increasingly be encapsulated in specific functions like recognition and detection
  • Conversational user interfaces, based on voice or typed communication, will play an increasing role in business Solutions
  • THE EMERGENCE OF THE CHIEF DATA OFFICER ROLE WILL INCREASE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY, ACCELERATING IOT ADOPTION
• Predictions for Embedded Machine Learning for IoT in 2021 
  • From increasingly capable hardware to TinyML, embedded machine learning will make strides in 2021.
  • More capable microcontrollers combined with on-device machine learning at the edge is poised to develop further in 2021. These developments with further advances in video surveillance, manufacturing and more.
  • The impact of COVID-19 on the global supply chain, however, may stunt innovation and growth of embedded machine learning.
• Frost & Sullivan -Top 4 Growth Opportunities in the Internet of Things Industry for 2021 
  • Exponential growth of edge computing in public and private networks
  • Convergence between IT and OT to drive end-user concerns on IIoT security, privacy, and data protection
  • Emerging techs: convergence of IoT, AI, and blockchain
  • The future of retail post COVID-19

Key Takeaways               

In spite the global pandemic has influenced product introduction timelines, causing some things to be fast-tracked, while others lose priority, enterprises, consumers, and different stakeholders will continue to drive demand for new and improved internet of things applications, technologies, and solutions in 2021 across verticals and geographies.

IoT will continue to gain footholds, as people and enterprises become comfortable and familiar with the technology and it is incorporated into daily life in seamless ways.

You must not forget that by the year 2025 IoT devices installed worldwide would be 75.44 Billion.  That is a whopping number, which will relentlessly soar further, will give a positive impact on our lives and businesses alike.

I expect an exciting year for IoT advancements in 2021. And you?

After so many years evangelizing the Internet of Things (IoT) or developing IoT products or selling IoT services or using IoT technologies, it is hard to believe that today there are as many defenders as detractors of these technologies. Why does the doubt still assail us: "Believe or Not Believe in the IoT"? What's the reason we keep saying every year that the time for IoT is finally now?

It does not seem strange to you that if we have already experienced the power of change that involves having connected devices in ourselves (wearables), in our homes, in cities, in transportation, in business, we continue with so many non-believers. Maybe, because the expectations in 2013 were so great that now in 2020 we need more tangible and realistic data and facts to continue believing.

In recent months I have had more time to review my articles and some white papers and I think I have found some reasons to continue believing, but also reasons not to believe.

Here below there are some of these reasons for you to decide where to position yourself.

Top reasons to believe

• Mackinsey continue presenting us new opportunities with IoT
  • If in 2015 “Internet of Things: Mapping the value beyond the hype” the company estimated a potential economic impact as much as 11,1 US trillions per year in 2025 for IoT applications in 9 settings.
  • In 2019 “Growing opportunities in the Internet of Things” they said that “The number of businesses that use the IoT technologies has increased from 13 percent in 2014 to about 25 percent today. And the worldwide number of IoT connected devices is projected to increase to 43 billion by 2023, an almost threefold increase from 2018.”
• Gartner in 2019 predicted that by 2021, there will be over 25 Billion live IoT endpoints that will allow unlimited number of IoT use cases.
• Harbor Research considers that the market opportunity for industrial internet of things (IIoT) and industry 4.0 is still emergent.
  • Solutions are not completely new but are evolving from the convergence of existing technologies; creative combinations of these technologies will drive many new growth opportunities;
  • As integration and interoperability across the industrial technology “stack” relies on classic IT principles like open architectures, many leading IT players are entering the industrial arena;

• IoT regulation is coming - The lack of regulation is one of the biggest issues associated with IoT devices, but things are starting to change in that regard as well. The U.S. government was among the first to take the threat posed by unsecured IoT devices seriously, introducing several IoT-related bills in Congress over the last couple of years. It all began with the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017, which set minimum security standards for connected devices obtained by the government. This legislation was followed by the SMART IoT Act, which tasked the Department of Commerce with conducting a study of the current IoT industry in the United States.
• Synergy of IoT and AI - IoT supported by artificial intelligence enhances considerably the success in a large repertory of every-day applications with dominant one’s enterprise, transportation, robotics, industrial, and automation systems applications.
• Believe in superpowers again, thanks to IoT - Today, IoT sensors are everywhere – in your car, in electronic appliances, in traffic lights, even probably on the pigeon outside your window (it’s true, it happened in London!). IoT sensors will help cities map air quality, identify high-pollution pockets, trigger alerts if pollution levels rise dangerously, while tracking changes over time and taking preventive measures to correct the situation. thanks to IoT, connected cars will now communicate seamlessly with IoT sensors and find empty parking spots easily. Sensors in your car will also communicate with your GPS and the manufacturer’s system, making maintenance and driving a breeze!. City sensors will identify high-traffic areas and regulate traffic flows by updating your GPS with alternate routes. These IoT sensors can also identify and repair broken street lamps. IoT will be our knight in shining, super-strong metallic armor and prevent accidents like floods, fires and even road accidents, by simply monitoring fatigue levels of truck drivers!. Washing machines, refrigerators, air-conditioners will now self-monitor their usage, performance, servicing requirements, while triggering alerts before potential breakdowns and optimizing performance with automatic software updates. IoT sensors will now help medical professional monitor pulse rates, blood pressure and other vitals more efficiently, while triggering alerts in case of emergencies. Soon, Nano sensors in smart pills will make healthcare super-personalized and 10x more efficient!

Top reasons not to believe

1. Three fourths of IoT projects failing globally. Government and enterprises across the globe are rolling out Internet of Things (IoT) projects but almost three-fourths of them fail, impacted by factors like culture and leadership, according to US tech giant Cisco (2017). Businesses are spending $745 billion worldwide on IoT hardware and software in 2019 alone. Yet, three out of every four IoT implementations are failing.
2. Few IoT projects survive proof-of-concept stage - About 60% of IoT initiatives get stalled at the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage. If the right steps aren’t taken in the beginning, say you don’t think far enough beyond the IT infrastructure, you end up in limbo: caught between the dream of what IoT could do for your business and the reality of today’s ROI. That spot is called proof-of-concept (POC) purgatory.
3. IoT Security still a big concern - The 2019 annual report of SonicWall Caoture Labs threat researchers analyzing data from over 200,000 malicious events indicated that 217.5 percent increase in IoT attacks in 2018.
4. There are several obstacles companies face both in calculating and realizing ROI from IoT. Very few companies can quantify the current, pre-IoT costs. The instinct is often to stop after calculating the cost impact on the layer of operations immediately adjacent to the potential IoT project.  For example, when quantifying the baseline cost of reactive (versus predictive or prescriptive) maintenance, too many companies would only include down time for unexpected outages, but may not consider reduced life of the machine, maintenance overtime, lost sales due to long lead times, supply chain volatility risk for spare parts, and the list goes on.
5. Privacy, And No, That’s Not the Same as Security. The Big Corporations don’t expect to make a big profit on the devices themselves. the Big Money in IoT is in Big Data. And enterprises and consumers do not want to expose everything sensors are learning about your company or you.
6. No Killer Application – I suggest to read my article “Worth it waste your time searching the Killer IoT Application?"
7. No Interoperable Technology ecosystems - We have a plethora of IoT vendors, both large and small, jumping into the fray and trying to establish a foothold, in hopes of either creating their own ecosystem (for the startups) or extending their existing one (for the behemoths).
8. Digital Fatigue – It is not enough for us to try to explain IoT, that now more technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, 5G, AR / VR are joining the party and of course companies say enough.

You have the last word

We can go on forever looking for reasons to believe or not believe in IoT but we cannot continue to deny the evidence that the millions of connected devices already out there and the millions that will soon be waiting for us to exploit their full potential.

I still believe. But you have the last word.

Thanks in advance for your Likes and Shares

In the era of digitalization, IoT is fostering the upcoming revolution in mobile apps. The ways companies used to provide mobile app development are changing because of IoT. After helping thousands of corporates to deliver extraordinary user experiences, IoT is all set with some new and advanced mobile app development trends. 

The tech world is the one that is continuously evolving. Every year and each day, innovations come to light. Each of them is revolutionizing our lives in one or the other ways. From the first wheel to smart cities, humans have come a long way.

The evolution and foundation of smart cities is the result of IoT or the Internet of Things. IoT has definitely stirred quite an uproar in the digital world with the mass potential it has. It can bring everything and everyone online. 

As per the latest mobile app stats, IoT will become a more significant player in the mobile app development industry. The market share of IoT is going to increase more than double in 2021 with a staggering amount of 520 billion USD. While four years back in 2017, this number was 235 billion USD. 

Soon the IoT mobile app development will face new trends in the coming year and beyond.

Let us take a look at the top IoT mobile app development trends.

IoT App Trend #1: Cybersecurity for IoT

With an increase in the number of devices online, cybersecurity is the top priority for all businesses as IoT gains popularity. The network is expected to expand in the coming years, and so the data volume will also increase. All this draws attention to more information to protect.

IoT security will see an exponential rise as more users will store their data over the cloud. From banking details to home security, everything is easily breached if the security firewall is weak in IoT applications. 

Therefore mobile app development companies need to work upon the up-gradation of their IoT enabled mobile apps. 

IoT App Trend #2: Roaring Popularity of Smart Home Devices

When smart home devices were launched, many mocked them by calling them unrealistic toys for lazy youngsters. Now, the same people are finding it increasingly difficult to resist the charm of IoT devices. 

IoT devices are expected to be very popular in 2021 and the years to come. The reason behind their growing popularity is that the IoT devices are becoming highly intuitive and innovative. They are extended not only to the comfort of home automation but also to home security and the safety of your family.

Another great advantage of implementing smart IoT development adoption is the need to save energy. The intelligent lights or intelligent thermostats help in conserving energy, reducing bills. These reasons will lead to more and more people to adopt smart home devices.

IoT App Trend #3: Backed by AI and ML

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning both are thriving technologies. Both of these are the facilitators of automation. We all know how Artificial Intelligence has touched millions of lives around the globe. 

Together with IoT, AI and ML are unique data-driven technologies shaping the future of human-machine interactions. The developers set up a combination of IoT and Artificial Intelligence that helps automate the routine tasks, simplifies work, and gets the most accurate information.

IoT App Trend #4: IoT and Healthcare

With the revolution in the health-tech industry, healthcare companies are turning towards mobile platforms. IoT enabled apps to open up new opportunities to improve the medical sector.

IoT has immense applications that are already running in the healthcare field and is expected to increase by 26.2% 

Healthcare apps featuring IoT technology are expected to reform the world of medical sciences. These IoT mobile apps can even help doctors and medical professionals treat their patients even from a distance.

Smart wearables and implants will be able to record diverse parameters to keep the patient’s health in check. By integrating sensors, portable devices, and all kinds of medical equipment, real-time updates of a patient’s health can be recorded and sent to the concerned person. 

IoT App Trend #5: Edge Computing to Overtake Cloud Computing

This is a change where we have to be careful. For the past many years, IoT devices have been storing their data on cloud storage. However, the IoT developers, development services, and manufacturers have started thinking about the utility of storing, calculating, and analyzing data to the limit.

So basically this means, in place of sending the entire data from IoT devices to the cloud, the data is first transmitted to a local or nearer storage device located close to the IoT device or on the edge of the network. 

This local storage device then analyzes, sorts, filters and calculates the data and then sends all or only a part of the data to the cloud, reducing the traffic on the network avoiding any bottleneck situation.

Known as “edge computing”, this approach has several advantages if used correctly. Firstly, it helps in the better management of the large amount of data that each device sends. Second, the reduced dependency on cloud storage allows devices and applications to perform faster and also reduce latency.

Being able to collect and process data locally, the IoT application is expected to consume lesser bandwidth and work even when connectivity to the cloud is affected. After seeing these positive aspects, state-of-the-art computing is looking forward to better innovation and broad adoption in IoT, both consumer and industrial.

Reduced connectivity to the cloud will also result in fewer security costs and facilitate better security practices. 2021 will see better state-of-the-art IT in IoT.

IoT App Trend #6: Are You Excited About Smart Cities?

Well, all of us are super excited to witness smart cities. Smart cities are one of the significant accomplishments of IoT and modernization. Integrated with IoT-powered devices, smart cities promise improved efficiency and security for the common folk on the streets and inside their homes.

With superfast data transfer supported by 5G, public transportation will also see a massive change in the way they work. 

By now, we know that IoT will focus on developing smart parking lots, street lights, and traffic controls. To add up to this, with IoT and fast internet, we will live inside a world where our refrigerators will be aware of what food we have inside.

IoT will impact traffic congestion and security. It will also help in the development of sustainable cities leading us to a green future.

IoT App Trend #7: Blockchain for IoT Security

Many financial and governmental institutions, entrepreneurs, consumers as well as industrialists will be decentralized, self-governing, and be quite smart. Most of the new companies are seen building their territory on the entanglement of IOTA to develop modules and other components for firms without the cost of SaaS and Cloud.

IOTA is a distributed ledger especially designed to record and execute transactions between devices in the IoT ecosystem.

If you are in this industry, then you should prepare to see the centralized and monolithic computer models that are separated in the jobs and microservices. All this will be distributed to decentralized machines and devices. 

In the coming future, IoT will penetrate the disciplines of health, government, transactions, and others that we cannot think of right now. Such types of IoT technology trends will create significant effective differences.

IoT App Trend #8: IoT for Retail Apps

The eCommerce industry will also get benefited from IoT integration. Retail supply change will be more efficient after the incorporation of IoT mobile apps. It is expected to improve the online shopping experience for individuals across the globe.

Also, IoT will make the retail experience more personalized for each customer with in-app advertisements based on the user’s shopping history. We already get notifications once we purchase a product from a particular eStore. With IoT enabled mobile apps, the app will guide us to our favorite store using in-site maps.

IoT App Trend #9- Will IoT Boost Predictive Maintenance?

Yes, it will. In 2021 and beyond, the smart home system will notify the owner about plumbing leaks, appliance failures, or any other problem so that the house owner can avoid any disaster. Soon these intelligent sensors will enter our houses.

In response to these predictive skills of IoT, we can expect to see home care offers as a contractor service. If there will be a need for any emergency action, your presence in the house will not be necessary. 

IoT App Trend #10: Easy and Better Commuting

IoT mobile applications are expected to make commuting easier for students, the elderly, the business person, and many more. Today, due to heavy traffic, commuting is a significant issue for most of us. With major innovations in technology and integration of IoT, mobile applications will make traveling a breeze for everyone.

Here are some of the conventional ways that commuting will change:

• Smart street lights will make walking on the road safe for pedestrians
• Finding parking spaces will be a lot easier and seamless with data-driven parking apps. 
• In-app navigation and public transportation will definitely make public transit more reliable 
• IoT powered mobile apps will also improve routing between different modes of transfer.

With so many innovative ideas and benefits for iOS and android based IoT mobile apps, the mobile app development market will see an influx of transportation apps in the years to come.

IoT App Trend #11: Sustainable-as-a-Service Becomes the Norm.

While talking about the IoT trends, SaaS or Sustainable-as-a-Service is considered as one of the hot topics for the estimated market. Because of the low cost of entry, SaaS is quickly getting to the top list for being the favorite firm in the IT gaming sector. 

Out of these emerging technological IoT trends, Software-as-a-service will make the lives of people better than ever.

IoT App Trend #12- Energy and Resource Management 

Do you know what affects energy management the most? Well, energy management majorly depends on the acquisition of a better understanding of how to consume resources. IoT mobile app-based electronics are expected to play a significant role in the conservation of energy. 

All of these IoT trends can be integrated into resource management, making lives more accessible, more comfortable, and responsible.

Automatic notifications can also be added to the mobile app in order to send information to the owner in case the power threshold exceeds. Various other fancy features can also be added to these IoT mobile apps such as sprinkler control, in-house temperature management, etc.

Conclusion

We all know that IoT has great potential to bring revolutionary changes in the present mobile app development industry trends. It is expected to open up immense possibilities for every business or individual related to this field. Directly or indirectly, IoT will drive the future of almost every industry.

The above mentioned are some of the trends that will dominate the IoT app development ecosystem in the years to come. Amid all these predictions and trends, the future is promising and worth the wait. 

If I had to choose three reasons why the adoption of the IoT it´s delayed several years, one of the three would include would be the mistake in their strategy, faith, IoT employee sales skills and poor investment in key industries by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in this business.

When I wrote more than 5 years ago my post “How to select your M2M/IoT Service Provider” I referenced several annual reports from analysts like Gartner and vendors like Ericsson or Cisco. All of them presented very optimistic predictions that unfortunately have not been fulfilled.

During this time Mobile Network Operators have adapted to the market crude reality of the market with sometimes erratic strategies. Despite this fact has not discouraged new entrants that have energized a market with again high growth expectations. Today Tier 1 and Tier 2 Mobile Network Operators are competing with many IoT Connectivity providers in all industries and use cases. The good news for these new entrants is that the MNOs have not known captivate their customers.

What do I think the MNOS are thinking now?

1-    The Technological Battle of LPWAN networks

I do not want to open in this article a debate on which LPWAN connectivity technology (5G, NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRA, Sigfox, ….) is the best. Each of these technologies will likely play an important role in the IoT space depending on the use case, so understanding the features and differences of each is critical.

You must not forget other IoT connectivity technologies (Satellite, Mesh networks, WiFi, Zigbee,..). I have always championed the idea of multiple IoT network coexistence in which objects will connect to provide an IoT service or be part of an aggregated IoT service. And those services can be provided by both licensed and unlicensed cellular networks. Let's assume that we will not have a single protocol that regulates all of them in a long time. We are also not going to ask manufacturers of objects to incorporate the different connectivity possibilities in their designs for obvious reasons of cost and battery life. What would be very valuable is that all IoT devices could add a unique identifier that allow will be part of a SuperIoTNet that works like the current internet. But now is future fiction.

2-    The Connectivity Services Offering 

Ideally we should try to find in our IoT Connectivity Service Provider offering something like Telefonica, an end-to-end complete commercial IoT connectivity offer that allow design and build a tailored secure IoT solution. But this in not gold all that glitters. We must evaluate the ability of these IoT Connectivity Service Providers to make easy the adoption of IoT in Small and Medium Business (SMBs) with pre-integrated industry solutions based on a rich ecosystem.

Customers wants to receive specialised advice to solve any IoT need at a one-stop-shop, including full stack technology solutions from hardware selection to middleware, application development and SaaS operations. Not many IoT Connectivity Providers have the internal resources to provide these services, in that cases customers should involve either or a partner or better an independent consultant as myself.

For some customers an offering like “IoT connectivity as a Service” provided by Arkessa can be an advantage, for others “The 1NCE IoT Flat Rate”, an all-inclusive connectivity package that comprises all elements and features that IoT customer need while having their assets connected is more important. For experienced M2M customers, the portfolio Kore Wireless and industry specialization is attractive. Eseye for instances solve your IoT challenges from device to AWS cloud. In Europe SMBs must consider in the short list Wireless Logic with 4 million devices connected to its platforms globally. Special mention to module companies like Sierra Wireless that offers a Connectivity and Device Management service that connects to 600+ partner networks around the globe with multiple redundant routes in every country to eliminate local coverage gaps or Telit which  Connectivity Service allow companies Monitor, Manage & Monetize their assets.

I am expecting the unlimited opportunities with the Internet of Things after the announcement a few days ago by DT Deutsche Telekom to spin out IoT unit and launch a global open ‘hub.’  More info about new DT IoT offering here: “From vertical to horizontal and back to vertical: our way to the new horizon”

Sorry, I can not extend this paragraph with more companies, but in the picture there are many other companies with attractive services that must be considered for your unique Business case.

3-    eSIM: Threat or Opportunity

The SIM card has also been evolving since its creation in 1991. From the size of a credit card it went to mini-SIM or the classic SIM that began to reduce in size, first to microSIM and then to nanoSIM and finally the embedded SIM (also called eSIM or eUICC or MMF2 UICC).

Presented in the preludes of the Mobile World Congress 2016, the eSIM is still a SIM but it will be embedded in the devices, without the possibility of withdrawing it. eSIM is a global specification by the GSMA which enables remote SIM provisioning of any mobile device. The eSIM is designed to remotely ​manage multiple mobile network operator subscriptions and be compliant​ with GSMA's Remote SIM Provisioning specifications​.  Install one eSIM during manufacturing and change the carrier on the fly.

To date, 200 mobile carriers in more than 80 countries offer eSIM consumer services. The embedded UICC is expected to reach over 200 million shipments in 2019 (source: Eurosmart, November 2019).

GSMA promises not to rig the eSIM standard in favour of its members.

eSIM now allows consumers to store multiple operator profiles on a device simultaneously, and switch between them remotely, though only one can be used at a time. The specification now extends to a wider range of devices. Manufacturers and operators can now enable consumers to select the operator of their choice and then securely download that operator’s SIM application to any device.

At first glance, building or supporting a global eSIM solution presents a major challenge (integration with other service providers and guarantee customer experience is expensive) and not appear to benefit Communication Service Providers. Looks like stupid to invest in a solution that make easier for customers to leave them. That´s why they have not done much to extend its use.

Why is good for IoT?.  UICC and eSIM technology gives enterprises control of IoT connectivity, simplifies international deployments of IoT devices and the transition to mobility services. Large scale international deployments are possible using a single factory installed SIM. The user subscription can be updated when the device is in the field.

ARM white paper introduces 7 top  Innovative eSIM use cases: Automotive, Shipping and Logistics, Object tracking and site monitoring, Smart Energy, Wearables, Agriculture, Home Security.

Sources:

GSMA: https://www.gsma.com/esim/

Cisco Blog: “Manufacture there, connect anywhere: Cisco eSIM Flex enables global connectivity for enterprises and service providers”

Xataka: https://www.xatakamovil.com/conectividad/esim-que-que-ventajas-aporta-cuando-llegara-masivamente-todo-tipo-dispositivos

Thales: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/mobile/connectivity/esim/esim

Arkessa: https://www.arkessa.com/euicc/

ARM:  7 Top eSIM use cases

Choosing IoT Connectivity Service Providers

Choosing the right IoT Connectivity Service provider is not as easy as many can think. You can make a preselection using the lasts Gartner Magic Quadrant, also explore the local cellular Operators that have deployed a NB-IoT or LTE-M network and finally analyze other operators that maybe you never heard about them as I did.

The selection of the right IoT Connectivity Service Provider is a strategic decision for any Digital Transformation initiative, especially in enterprises adopting new resilient business models and optimizations of business processes. Some criteria you must consider selecting  your IoT CSP are:

• Your internal capabilities
• The offering: IoT Connectivity Services / IoT Managed Connectivity Services / IoT Connectivity Security Service / eSim Services
• The cost of the IoT Connectivity Services and the flexibility of the tariffs
• The type of IoT networks they have deployed and the coverage
• The alliances with other IoT Connectivity Service Providers for global deployments
• The types of M2M/IoT certified devices / modules and their applicability to your use cases.
• The experience and references in your industry and vertical solution
• The capabilities of their IoT Connectivity and Device Management Platforms
• Open APIS for Integration with your Enterprise Systems
• BSS/OSS systems and their applicability to your use
• New business models eg IOTConnectivity as a Service
• Levels of Support
• Ecosystem of partners

Key Takeaways

It is not worth spending one minute more crying for the reasons that MNOs were unable to energize the IoT market earlier. We are where we are and the future is still bright, for those who really know how to see it.

The selection of the right IoT Connectivity Service Provider for your enterprise is a strategic decision. When my clients ask which is the best IoT Connectivity Service Provider? my first advice is: ". Let's define together your digital strategy, prioritize key uses cases, analyze new business model and your internal capabilities first and then work on the IoT Connectivity technology needed , which connectivity services comply with your requirements  and finally build a detailed business case that justify the value of your investment".

There is no best IoT connectivity Technology. It all depends on the use cases and the business model.

IoT security testing should comprise activities like checking for endpoints, authentication, encryption, firewalls, and compliance requirements. The testing helps the IoT ecosystem to function safely and prevent incidences of a data breach.

The Internet of Things or IoT has swept the realm of technology and become mainstream as far as automation is concerned. Its popularity is attributable to features such as communication between machines, easy usage, and the integration of various devices, enabling technologies, and protocols.

When one talks about smart cities, smart transport, smart healthcare, or smart homes, the role of IoT is paramount.  According to Gartner, the number of connected things courtesy IoT is projected to reach 20.8 billion by 2020. Since IoT is about connected products that communicate with each other and share a huge volume of data, it is vulnerable to security breaches. With greater digitization and a rush towards delivering smart devices to add more comfort to people’s lives, businesses may end up keeping their flanks uncovered. The threats related to cybersecurity, besides threatening the smooth functioning of the digital ecosystem, are putting a question mark on the implementation of the IoT ecosystem.

The future is likely to be driven by smart systems with IoT at their core. Since such systems will witness a huge exchange of data, their security needs to be ensured. Also, as the smooth functioning of such smart systems will hinge on the accuracy and integrity of data, enabling IoT security at every step of the way should be the norm. If statistics are to be believed then around 84% of companies adopting IoT have reported security breaches of some kind (Source: Stoodnt.com.) The resident vulnerabilities in such systems are exploited by cybercriminals to exhibit malicious behavior such as committing credit card theft, phishing and spamming, distributed denial of service attacks, and malware distribution, among others.

How to conduct IoT security testing effectively

The security implications of a vulnerable or broken IoT system can be catastrophic for individuals, businesses, and entities. The devices and the transfer of data within them should be monitored by the implementing agency to check for a data breach. The best ways to conduct IoT security is as follow:

• Checking of endpoints: As more devices or endpoints are added to expand the network, more vulnerabilities are created. Since IoT systems are built using devices of different configurations, computing and storage power, and running on different versions and types of operating systems, every such device should be evaluated for safety. An inventory of such devices should be made and tracked.
• Authentication: Care should be taken that the vendor-supplied default passwords for specific systems should be dealt with at the beginning. If not, these can be exploited by hackers to take control of the IoT ecosystem and wreak havoc. Moreover, every device in the IoT system should be authenticated before being plugged into the network. This should be made an integral part of the internet of things testing.
• Firewalls: The firewall present in the network should be tested for its capability of filtering specific data range and controlling traffic. Also, data aimed at terminating the device to ensure its optimal performance should be tested.
• Encryption: Since IoT systems transmit data among themselves they should be encrypted for safety. During testing IoT applications the encryption approach and nitty-gritty should be thoroughly checked and validated. If not, then while relaying the location of assets in the IoT system, the information can be easily read by a hacker.
• Compliance: Mere testing of IoT devices is not complete unless compliance with standards like FCC and ETSI/CE is carried out. These regulations and standards have been instituted to validate the performance of the IoT devices based on certain parameters. So, any IoT testing approach should take into account compliance with such regulations.

Why IoT systems should undergo security testing?

The smart devices forming part of the IoT system need to undergo IoT testing (security) to:

• Prevent data theft: The unsecured endpoints within the system can leave a trail for hackers to strike but for the IoT device testing solutions. The vulnerabilities can be used to break into the controlling mechanism of the system in order to launch more malicious forms of attacks.
• Protect brand equity: When scores of companies are competing with each other to get a pie of the IoT market, a security breach or malware attack can put a brand in jeopardy. With IoT penetration testing, such attacks can be pre-empted with the elimination of vulnerabilities and glitches.

Conclusion

The IoT ecosystem is projected to grow at a humongous pace and scale. Technology companies having an integrated IoT security testing approach are likely to earn a huge chunk of the pie. The approach when executed at regular intervals should be able to help enterprises achieve growth across domains.