In this episode we take a first look at IoT and cover off some of the common scenarios where IoT is a great solution.
IoT has entered the pubic consciousness mostly through consumer IoT tech. Despite some of the whacky ideas, some of this is extremely useful!
What about IoT in your business though?
The important thing to remember about IoT is we look for some key characteristics:
- Devices are online – usually they connect over the Internet.
- Devices transmit information to a hub that processes and manages the devices.
- There are usually large numbers devices, or the solution can scale to add large numbers.
- The solution has the capability to issue commands to control the devices.
- Usually, the devices are widely spaced geographically (i.e. not all in one building).
OK, these aren’t iron rules per se, but they do give you an indication of the types of things we’re looking at.
Some examples of consumer IoT:
- Smart meters in your home, transmitting gas / electricity usage in real time.
- Hive heating for your home, sending signals on the temperature in your house and issuing commands to your home to heat certain rooms.
Some examples of commercial IoT:
- Asset tracking – keeping track of the location of vehicles, freight or anything else of value that moves.
- Temperature sensing – whether for refrigerators in restaurant chains or chilled distribution, you can monitor temperature automatically to ensure food stays in top condition.
- Predictive maintenance – sensors on your machinery can detect wear so you can predict when you’ll need to service it.
- Utilities – measuring the flow of water in a distribution network can allow you to identify leaks and isolate problem areas.
This is just a taste of some of the things IoT is helping with – we have plenty more examples!
Watch the video here:
Listen to the audio version here:
