IoT (Internet of Things) in catching fire recently. There is excitement in Silicon Valley about this topic. Talks and meet ups are springing everywhere on IoT.
What is IoT? First, look around the appliances in a household: TVs, stoves, refrigerators, and thermostats can all be connected. When they are Internet connected, they gather information and form a complete view of your need at home. They can then help you to experience home more pleasantly (Think of Nest)
Outside homes, IoT can be installed everywhere. In a store, sensors on the shelves can monitor customer traffic and inventory in real time. Surveillance cameras on the streets and in public places are captured crime in action. Uber’s taxies send out data on their locations and their passengers.
IoT will be very useful for hospitals where patient monitoring is required. In agriculture fields, sensors help to monitor crops, light and humidity.
From such sensors, they can also discover building occupancy and provide a report of building utilization. Furthermore, they can provide meeting room occupancy report and dynamically re-allocate meeting rooms when no one shows up. This could be very useful for large companies when meetings rooms are in high demand.
The most exciting application of IoT would be location tracking of each person’s smart Phone (or watch). Imagine you walk into Starbucks, and your favorite drink will be ready right there waiting for you.
The data generated from IoT devices are much larger than the Internet traffic data. In addition, data need to be processed in real time in order to get response immediately. We are living in an exciting age, where data mining plays a central role in the next industrial revolution.
