In this fast-moving world we humans expect ease in executing each of our days to day activities. In our busy schedule, we forget to turn off the television, air conditioner, heaters, lights, close garage doors, etc., On the other hand office premises, shopping malls, theme parks, schools, colleges are all paying third-party vendors in order to monitor the temperature, air index, light controls, fire extinguishers, and emergency power backups.
IoT:
Internet of things(IoT) is based on controlling electrical appliances over the internet with the help of sensors. Using IoT, users can get to know the real-time analytics and take control of electrical devices that have been installed within the IoT network instead of manual interactions.
Why IoT?
Imagine if somebody turns off the light in your home when you are at your office. How does it sound like when somebody turns on your television and plays your favorite channel, turns on the air conditioner, and acclimatizes the room to the ideal temperature just before you arrive home? Sounds cool, right?. IoT is at the center of all this controlling the electronic devices that are connected to a cloud-oriented network. The user can control the devices through mobile or web platforms.
Installation of IoT Devices:
Installation of IoT in your home or at a commercial premise makes them automated. For an automated environment, IoT requires a secure network associated with the internet, control sensors, IoT controller, and a Stable IoT control application(web/mobile). Installation of the IoT environment might need deep knowledge of networking.
Energy Saving with IoT:
The IoT connections are made with LAN, SAN, and PAN. That means we don’t need to connect them to the Public network which could be insecure and increases the risks of being hacked into. Moreover, the IoT controllers are constructed with embedded systems that are more energy-efficient.
Solar-Powered IoT sensors:
Mainly these kinds of sensors are embedded with solar cells which are compatible with outdoor-based IoT solutions such as automated gardens, garages, theme parks, weather forecasting, measuring the air quality index inside a specific area of the city. Due to them being solar-powered, no electricity is required and since they are wireless installation will be very easy and portable.
Light Cell Powered IoT Sensors:
Light cell-powered sensors will have light cells that absorb light exposure inside the room and in turn charge the sensor. Mostly this kind of sensor will be used indoors where they would be installed in places that are exposed to light. The light cell-powered sensor isn’t suitable for outdoor installation because light-cells are sensitive to too much light which may damage the cell. This kind of sensor will be used in occupancy detection, illuminance detection, Co2, and humidity sensing.
Lesser Human Interaction:
When there is an environment that is automated and is totally controlled by a web-based IoT application a single administrator would suffice to take total control of the building. This means there is no need for additional manpower to look after every floor inside the building which tremendously reduces the costs.
Medical and Healthcare Applications:
In the healthcare domains, IoT has played a revolutionary role in recent times by monitoring and collecting information about the patient’s health data in real-time. An advanced hearing device that tunes the sound as per the patient’s requirement, real-time heartbeat and blood pressure monitor like pacemakers, digital wrist bands are capable of keenly and continuously monitoring the vitals of patients. Moreover, doctors would be able to create emergency alerts using the application based on the patient’s condition to ensure appropriate support is provided to the patient in a timely manner without the manual interaction of nurses which in turn contributes to the increase of healthcare revenue and reduction of cost.
Industrial Applications:
Automated assembling and process controls inside factories lead industries towards smart manufacturing. This results in a great increase in productivity and ensures fulfillment of the ever-rising market demands.
Energy management in IoT:
When you are a top player in IoT, then energy management comes in handy by tracking the energy consumption in the form of pie charts, graphical representations, and interactive reporting with drill-down mechanisms through which users can derive meaningful insights. With such a provision, users can fetch the energy consumption of an individual or a whole bunch of lights based on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly usage basis. IoT applications also allow calculation of the total estimated cost of electrical devices based on a monthly or weekly basis so that users can plan the energy consumption proactively.
Alert Creation:
IoT is now your new personal assistant! Sounds strange, right? But it’s real when you become an IoT user. User can create customized alerts for all electrical appliances such as Alert for when the room temperature goes high; Alert for when the television runs for a long period of time; Alert for when the heater is turned ON for more than 20 minutes; Alert for when the garage door is kept open for longer than the usual time, etc., Once the alert is received, the user can immediately log in to the IoT application and turn it off immediately. In this manner, users can save energy efficiently and there will be no need for them to call up their neighbors, when they are away from home, to turn off the electrical appliances.
Scheduling:
Scheduling helps in setting a pre-devised plan on when to turn on and off each device. This feature is most helpful in IoT installed in schools, offices, hospitals, public buildings, etc., where scheduling can be set for working and non-working hours. This means to turn on the device at working hours and turn it off during non-working hours which plays a much important role in energy saving. Users can also create a weekend schedule to turn off all the appliances during non-working days.
Conclusion:
Our world is getting transforming digitally in all aspects. So we might need to switch to smarter solutions in order to be energy efficient, reduce electricity costs, be responsible and contribute in a small way for the better of the environment. The initial investment in IoT may be a bit high but when you get to know its long-term benefits it’s definitely going to be worth your money.
