The Fading Line between Atoms and Bits

Roberto Saracco

We have already started, and in the coming years more and more “Things” will be connected to the Internet, creating what we sometimes call the Internet of Things (IoT). There will be things with embedded electronics that will be connected directly to the Internet; others will be connected to nearby 'Things' that act as a gateway to the Internet.

 

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Early IoT Applications Illustrate Emerging Trends

Chung-Sheng Li

The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) is often discussed as a phenomenon of the future, rather than as an enabler of current applications. Yet early applications in use today can provide a clear sense of the shape of things to come, if not the full gamut of possibilities.

Too often, in my view, the “full gamut of possibilities” blinds us to the IoT’s present capabilities. The notion that, if we connect a zillion “things”, applications will emerge may be true. But a more pragmatic approach would be to ask, which things should we connect, and to what end?

 

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The Internet of Things: A Title that is both Wrong and Unhelpful

William Webb

We have come to adopt the title Internet of Things (IoT) to describe the idea of connecting a myriad of machines such as smart meters, parking sensors, intelligent thermostats and much more. The “things” are a wide range of machines, sensors, devices and similar – broadly anything that involves electronics and would benefit from connectivity. The “Internet” is the idea that these will be inter-connected in a manner similar to the Internet.

 

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The Internet of Things: The Story So Far

Payam Barnaghi and Amit Sheth

The combination of embedded technologies, wired and wireless communications and low cost sensing devices on the Internet make up the Internet of Things (IoT). With an expected 50 billion connected things by 2020, this has created huge interest. Predating the current situation in the IoT were RFID technologies for identifying real world objects, (wireless) sensor and actuator networks.

 

 

This Month's Contributors

Roberto Saracco is the President of EIT ICTLABS Italy and Italy Node Director (European Institute of Innovation and Technology).
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Chung-Sheng Li is currently the director of the Commercial Systems Department. He has been with IBM T.J. Watson Research Center since May 1990.
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William Webb is CEO of the Weightless SIG, a body standardizing a new M2M technology and President-Elect of the IET.
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Payam Barnaghi is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Institute for Communication Systems at the University of Surrey.
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Amit Sheth is the LexisNexis Ohio Eminent Scholar and director of Kno.e.sis at Wright State University.
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Raffaele Giaffreda, Editor-in-Chief
raffaele.giaffreda@create-net.org

Stuart Sharrock, Managing Editor
stuartsharrock@ieee.org

 

About the IoT eNewsletter

The IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) eNewsletter is a bi-monthly online publication that features practical and timely technical information and forward-looking commentary on IoT developments and deployments around the world. Designed to bring clarity to global IoT-related activities and developments and foster greater understanding and collaboration between diverse stakeholders, the IEEE IoT eNewsletter provides a broad view by bringing together diverse experts, thought leaders, and decision-makers to exchange information and discuss IoT-related issues.