IoT applications refer to the various use cases and scenarios where IoT technology is implemented to enhance efficiency, productivity, and convenience. Some common IoT applications include smart homes, industrial automation, smart cities, healthcare monitoring, and precision agriculture.
Over the past five years, the term “Internet of Things”, has been growing in popularity. It looks like we will hear more about it over the next few years. As with many buzzwords, people are often confused and wonder “What is it?”
We are here because of that. This article will explain what the Internet of Things is (or IoT as it’s short), the different IoT applications, and how they are being used by different industries. It also explains what the future of IoT looks like.
What is the Internet of Things?
Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is the Internet of Things? There are many definitions of the Internet of Things. It is also difficult to define. The most basic definition of the IoT is this: It is a network made up of Internet-connected devices, vehicles, and appliances that can share and collect data without human interaction. That’s it.
IoT devices collect information and send it to a central data server. The information is then processed, collated and distilled, and used to simplify a variety of tasks. IoT is a boon for the business world, government, organizations, and individual consumers.
IoT-equipped devices include smartphones and laptops, coffee makers, refrigerators, and even refrigerators. Mine auto-orders replacement water filters. Google Home, Apple watches, and Fitbits are just a few of the many devices that can be connected to the IoT. Any device that has sensors and an Internet connection can be connected to the IoT.
IoT is often mentioned alongside Big Data because the former generates large amounts of data. You could argue that although all of the Internet of Things information is Big Data, not all of the Big Data comes from the Internet of Things.
Also read: How to Protect Your Business From an IoT Hack: 3 Tips
What is the Internet of Things Applications?
The Internet of Things is a tool that can be used in many areas of life. It works in both the public and private sectors. People can use IoT to track lost pets, house security systems, and appliance maintenance schedules.
The IoT can be used by consumers to make restaurant reservations, track their exercise progress, and even receive coupons for stores by simply walking past the store in question.
IoT can be used by businesses to track supply chains, track customers’ spending habits, collect feedback, monitor inventory levels, and engage in predictive maintenance of their machines and devices.
The IoT is also useful in ITIL. This is a set IT service management. IT departments are being asked to do more in an increasingly digital world, where more is being reliant on wireless networks.
IoT technology is an obvious beneficiary because blockchain is increasingly being used to make transactions and process data more efficiently and securely. In the future, we can expect IoT to be more integrated with Blockchain.
Top Applications of IoT
Because the Internet of Things has been adopted by many industries, its widespread acceptance is a fact of everyday life. IoT’s versatility makes them attractive to so many organizations and government departments that it is hard to ignore. Below are some IoT applications that can be used across different industries.
1. IoT Applications in Agriculture
Indoor planting is possible with IoT. This allows for monitoring and managing micro-climate conditions, which increases productivity. IoT technology is also useful for outside planting. Devices can sense soil moisture, nutrients, and weather data to better control smart irrigation systems and fertilizer systems. This prevents water waste by ensuring that sprinkler systems only use water when it is needed.
2. IoT Applications in Consumer Use
IoT devices, such as smart homes and wearables, make life easier for the private citizen. Wearables include accessories like Fitbits, smartphones, Apple watches, and health monitors to name a few. These devices enhance entertainment, network connectivity, and health.
Smart homes can activate environmental controls to ensure your home is comfortable when you return. You can start a dinner that needs an oven or crockpot remotely so it is ready for you when you arrive. The consumer can control lights and appliances remotely. They can also activate a smart lock that allows the right people to enter the house, even if they don’t have keys.
3. IoT Applications in Healthcare
Wearable IoT devices allow hospitals to monitor patients’ health at home. This allows them to reduce hospital stays and provide up-to-the-minute information that could save lives. Smart beds in hospitals keep staff updated about the availability of space and reduce wait times for that space. IoT sensors can be installed on critical equipment to reduce breakdowns and increase reliability. This could make a difference in saving your life.
IoT makes elder care much more convenient. In addition to the above-mentioned real-time home monitoring, Sensors can detect if a patient is having a heart attack or has fallen.
Also read: Top 10 IoT Boards for Development and Prototyping
4. IoT Applications in Insurance
The IoT revolution can be a boon for the insurance industry. Insurance companies may offer discounts to policyholders for IoT wearables like Fitbit. The insurer can use fitness tracking to offer personalized policies and encourage healthier lifestyles. This is a win-win situation for both customer and the insurer.
5. IoT Applications in Manufacturing
Another big winner of the IoT sweepstakes is the world of manufacturing and industrial automation. The use of RFID and GPS technology allows manufacturers to track products from their origin on the factory floor through to their final destination. This can be used to trace the entire supply chain, from the point of purchase to the moment it leaves the warehouse. These sensors can collect information about travel time, product condition, as well as the environmental conditions to which the product was exposed.
Factory equipment can be fitted with sensors that help detect bottlenecks and reduce waste. These sensors can also be attached to factory equipment and used to track machine performance, forecasting when it will need maintenance, and thereby avoiding costly breakdowns.
6. IoT Applications in Retail
IoT technology offers a lot of benefits to the retail industry. IoT sensors can be used to collect information from IoT sensors and use it to control warehouse automation and robots. This relies heavily on RFIDs, already widely used worldwide.
It is difficult to locate malls because business tends to fluctuate and online shopping has reduced the need for brick-and-mortar businesses. IoT is able to analyze mall traffic and make adjustments so that malls can offer better customer service while also reducing overhead.
IoT allows retailers to target customers based on past purchases. This is a great way to engage customers. With IoT data, retailers can create personalized promotions for loyal customers. This eliminates the need to use mass-marketing promotions that aren’t as effective. Many of these promotions can easily be done through customers’ smartphones, particularly if they have the right app.
7. IoT Applications in Transportation
Most people are aware of the advances in self-driving cars. This is just one example of the enormous potential of transportation. GPS is an example of IoT and is used to assist transportation companies in plotting faster routes for freight trucks, speeding up delivery times.
Navigation has made significant improvements, this time referring to a car’s GPS or a smartphone. However, city planners can use this data to determine traffic patterns, parking demand, road construction, and maintenance.
Apps can even be created that will prevent cars from starting if they are intoxicated.
8. IoT Applications in Utilities/Energy
IoT sensors can monitor environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, and lighting. IoT sensors provide information that can be used to create algorithms that regulate energy consumption and adjust the settings, eliminating the human factor. Let’s face the truth, most people have forgotten to turn off the lights or lower the thermostat. ).
Businesses and private homes can save significant amounts of energy with IoT-driven environment control. This is good news for everyone!
Data gathered through the Internet of Things can be used on a larger scale to improve the efficiency of municipal power grids, such as by analyzing usage factors. The sensors can also pinpoint outages quicker, increasing repair crew response times and decreasing blackout times.
9. IoT Applications in Wearables
Wearables can be used for a variety of purposes, from medical to fitness and GPS tracking. The number of IoT devices has more than doubled over the past three years.
These fitness bands track calories burned, distance traveled, heart rate, blood oxygen level, heartbeats per minute, heartbeats per hour, and other metrics. IoT devices are mostly wristbands/watches. They can also be used as clip-on devices or smart fabric, earbuds, and clip-on devices.
Virtual glasses and GPS tracking belts are two other examples of wearables. These energy-efficient, small devices that are equipped with software and sensors collect and organize information about users. The Internet of Things was created by top companies such as Samsung, Google, Fitbit, and Google.
10. IoT Applications in Traffic Monitoring
The Internet of Things is a major contributor to smart cities and is very useful in managing vehicular traffic in large cities. IoT can be used to collect data from vehicles using mobile phones via apps like Google Maps and Waze. It provides information about traffic conditions, estimated arrival times, and distance to destination.
The traffic pattern analysis provides commuters with a clear idea of what could happen during peak hours. They will thus be better equipped to avoid traffic and know the possible alternatives.
11. IoT Applications in Fleet Management
IoT sensors have been an asset for data collection, geolocation, performance analysis, and fuel savings.
They facilitate effective interconnectivity among the drivers, managers, and vehicles. They ensure that owners and drivers are informed about all aspects of vehicle operation and status. Real-time maintenance alarms can be used to help drivers avoid being dependent on them for detection.
Also read: 12 Best IoT Security Solutions and Vendors
12. IoT Applications in Hospitality
The application of IoT to hotels has led to some interesting improvements in service quality. It has made it possible to automate various interactions in a simple and hassle-free way, including electronic keys that are sent directly to guests’ mobile devices. It allows for easy check-in, instant information about the availability of rooms, and faster assignment of housekeeping duties, while also disabling doors.
Integrated applications that use IoT technology can manage the location of guests, send offers for activities of interest, realize orders to the rooms, charge accounts automatically to the rooms, and many other things.
13. IoT Applications in Smart Grid
IoT technology enables better monitoring and control of the electrical system, from intelligent energy meters to the placement of sensors at strategic locations.
Smart grids are a holistic solution that uses Information Technology to reduce waste and costs, improve electricity efficiency and reliability, and increase electricity economics and reliability.
Bidirectional communication between the service provider and end-user is crucial for fault detection, decision-making, and repair. It allows users to monitor their energy consumption and determine the most efficient ways to cut down on it.
14. IoT Applications in Water Supply
A sensor that is connected to the Internet and accompanied by software allows seamless data collection, processing, and analysis. This can be used externally in water meters.
They also allow end users to monitor their consumption via an app or a web page. Water saving has been greatly improved by automatic alerts that detect excess consumption above the average range record. This indicates the presence of water leakage.
15. IoT Applications in Maintenance Management
IoT technology can be applied in many areas, including maintenance management. Software and sensors that specialize in EAM/CMMS maintenance management offer a multifunctional tool that can be used across many disciplines. It extends the useful life of physical assets and ensures their availability and reliability.
Monitoring physical assets in real time allows for the detection of situations when measurements are out of range. This can be used to determine if condition-based maintenance (CBM), or AI applications predict failures.
Conclusion — Top IoT Applications
IoT (Internet of Things) technology has become increasingly popular in recent years. Some of the top IoT applications include smart home automation, industrial automation and monitoring, healthcare monitoring and management, smart manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation and logistics. These applications have improved efficiency, safety, and convenience in various industries and daily life. As IoT technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications in the future.
