How many times a day do you check your mobile? Have you ever thought about how do you stay in contact with your dear ones without the internet? Probably no one imagines a day without the internet such as the impact it created on our lives.
Since its inception the internet has come a long way leaving all the complexities behind it has become more user-friendly and internet by adapting to the dynamics of society. Now the society is no more just a society it has transformed into a “network society” still we cannot say that this is the end product humans have desired for thousands of years. The human’s desire for connectivity has gone to such high pars that the only disconnection faced is due to the variations in bandwidths and costs.
What is IoE (Internet of Everything)?
The concept of IoE has been around for a long time, yet most people are ignorant about it. Have you ever thought of connecting your internet-supported physical devices like smartphones, smartwatches, laptops to your non-internet support physical devices like fans, coffee makers, doorknobs, etc., which work on minimal manual interaction? Probably no! IoE has made this possible to make our lives easier by creating an ecosystem of device interaction and enabling them to connect, collect, and exchange information, either with or without wires, it is now made possible. Now we can turn the light off in the kitchen from the bedroom or the fan in the bedroom from the kitchen. In simple words, IoE is an intersection created between people, data, processes, and things.
Change is the only constant in life so is the case with technology. Technology is rapidly changing every day and is changing the social fabric around it.
IoT vs IoE
You might ask, “Is there is any difference between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Everything (IoE)?” If the answer is no then you are probably mistaken. As the IoE is becoming a significant tool in everyone’s life; it is important to know the difference:
- Internet of Everything is a new concept as compared to the Internet of Things. Technology experts often state that IoE is the advanced stage of IoT. But it covers the entire area of IoT, even a little wider than IoT.
- IoE is not merely communication between machines (M2M) but also includes people in it. It makes intuitive interaction between machines and people possible, thus, combining the two powerful sources of knowledge and creating a superpower source. In scientific terms, it is put forward as:
- Machine to people (M2P)
- People to Machine(P2M)
- People to people communication(P2P)
Therefore, IoE is an intersection where all the roads like people, machines, and technology meet. To make things simpler, IoE is a world of sensors and detectors used to supervise and assess every move of either technology or human and keep in check their status.
Applications:
1. Saving Lives By Connecting Roads and Hospitals: Traffic crashes influenced the deaths of around 857 bicyclists in 2018 in the US, according to the US Department of Transportation some analysts had suggested that these lives could have been saved by leveraging the IoE.
Connecting the helmet of a rider to necessary services like traffic signals, hospitals, and nearby police stations through sensors, medical treatment can be provided which can save innumerable lives. This way information about the patient’s criticality can be directly received by the doctor by tracking a hospital around the vicinity right away so that the ambulance reaches the spot on time, enabling the ambulance to interact with the streetlights thus, showing green lights all the way, to take the victim to the hospital without any obstacles blocking the way, and allows the doctor to be ready with the essentials by the time patient arrives.
2. Supply Chain Management: Supply chain management has become a crucial sector after globalization and there has been immense competition in this sector. If there is a mechanism to alert the trucks about the early harvest, the time of delivery can be arranged with the supermarkets earlier, they can keep in check the available stock so that overstocking sales don’t take place. This way the markets can escape from financial losses and the consumers can avail fresh produce every time. Even the harvesters can directly connect with retailers through a common platform and sell their products with profit without having to incur losses bypassing the intermediaries.
To further boost customer gratification, customers can interact with the stores through their smartphones and can check notifications on the stock arrivals and the stores can even give early bird offers. It’s a win-win game for all the stakeholders involved. Ever wondered why do you get all the advertisements about items that you just looked for on some app? It’s all IoE! It is possible to collect data about the various searches that you look for all-day and IoE helps you by giving all the other available options that may be better.
3. Elderly Care: A significant amount of the population is now senior citizenry, and the needs of this section of people are completely different. There have been numerous attempts by various academicians and developers to fulfill these needs and to alleviate their day-to-day hardships. The role of IoE can serve as a solution to these everyday problems by helping the senior citizens stay active, and keeping them in touch with their loved ones. There are many robots in the market to nursing the elderly, take care of their health, give them timely medication and even by conversing with them these robots can alleviate their mental health issues if any. From assisting them on how to use smartphones to interact with their loved ones to offering companionship to those who are struggling with a disturbed mind, these robots provide emotional simulation.
4. Connecting Homes For a Comfortable Life: By establishing connections between different devices and equipment to automating the life processes IoE has innumerable opportunities to explore. Imagine how you would feel waking up to serene music with hot coffee beside your bed, imagine a robot feeding and watching your pets timely when you are not home, imagine a robot that knows your mood, taste, and health status and cooks accordingly. Imagine a home that adjusts to the outside temperature automatically. Doesn’t it look like a wonderful and comfortable life? Imagine your home and life becoming like that one from the Sci-Fi movies you see, like, and desire to have. No, don’t imagine it is possible with IoE now!
5. Agriculture is No More a Hectic Human Task: Demand for food supply is ever-increasing with increasing population but the supply even though increasing has always remained far below the demand. Governments across the world are bringing in new policies, giving incentives to farmers to equip new technologies, and increasing their spending in the R&D department to find ways to increase food production. Smart farming has always been in news but despite limited trials, it has never been employed on a full scale.
To yield better results on investment for farmers, to eradicate hunger, and to reduce the demand-supply gaps smart farming is the way to go. From assisting the farmers in sensing the soil moisture, nutrient content, and controlling the water usage to connecting the farmers directly to the markets IoE has the potential to become an enabling factor in transforming the agriculture sector.
6. Smart city technology as a solution to urban mobility:
According to an estimate of the UN, the population living in cities is expected to increase to 68% in 2050 from 55%. With increased growth comes increased challenges. WHO in a report said that approximately a 1.35million people die every year in road accidents. Overcrowding and congestion are two of the major reasons at the heart of this issue.
Santa Clara, a city in California uses cloud-based data to optimize traffic. Highway cameras are centralized in the cloud-based operations center to analyze the videos. More dynamic traffic estimates are provided hence reducing the congestion on roads and providing the commuters the less congested routes thereby minimizing the traffic accidents.
San Jose, yet another city from northern California, has piloted a traffic optimization project to understand the peak hour traffics and reduce the accidents thereby caused.
These are some cases where IoE has been tried and tested but there is more to this transformational technology that can serve as examples in the history of technology evolution.
IoE in Business:
The business process has been in existence since the beginning of time and has been growing endlessly. What has caused the growth? The first thing that shaped an impressive business model was the feedback mechanism thus, bringing “target marketing” in the game, consumer satisfaction being a major factor affecting the entire business. IoE has majorly influenced this department by bringing into market various technologies that identify the needs of its customers. Micromarketing is majorly associated with numerous websites that allow the requirements of the customers to reach the business owners.
Not only that, but IoE has also been implemented in the building of ERP software platforms like SAP Cloud Platform. This is used as an extension and integration platform for the running of various applications. SAP Fiori applications support the consumer goods system and enhance the sales process. It is all about reconnecting and re-engaging various service lines to remodel the business.
Pros: In this section, let us have a look at some benefits of the Internet of everything.
- Information access- Information accessibility will now become a hassle-free task despite your location. The network of devices makes it easy for you to access information from any corner of the earth.
- Communication- Better communication with interconnected devices with reduced inefficiencies.
- Affordability- The same data that once took hours to transfer will now be done within no time hence negligibly reducing the delay and hence reducing the costs involved.
- Automation- Automation has become the buzzword and has been intriguing humankind for quite a long time. This helps reduce human intervention and boosts the quality of services.
Cons: In this section, let us have a look at all the cons of the Internet of everything:
- Privacy and security- There are a lot of “what ifs” and “buts” in the case of security and privacy. The leakage of data has always been a matter of concern. The privilege of technology comes at the cost of security. This is a major drawback but can be overcome with adequate measures and safety protocols. Data breaching and issues in law enforcement regarding the “deep web” have blown out in the world Recently, testimony has been held against Facebook accused of leakage of data.
- Dependability- Technology has made us depend on it even for small tasks, making humans lazy and killing creativity in humans. The impact of technology is paramount in our everyday life processes
There are other obstacles like the availability of finance for the purpose and availability of power the entire time.
The Future Work:
The opportunities available for the future of IoE are endless. The capacity to automate, deploy and secure devices can change the face of industrial processes. The potential is not just in connecting devices and hence in simplifying the life processes but to leverage data that can diversify the business processes and to overcome these challenges, new service providers come up in the markets opening new streams of revenue. High stakes have been put by scientists and academicians into IoE believing it will meet the high-end requirements of the market in the coming future.
A human-machine interacting ecosystem is going to provide new experiences to the technology-driven world, new opportunities within remote learning. Developments in wireless networking like Li-Fi, 5G provide further impetus to IoE.
Difference between Wi-Fi and Li-Fi?
Both are used to transfer data securely. Where Wi-Fi uses radio frequencies and routers to transmit the data, Li-Fi, which stands for light fidelity, uses LED bulbs and other light signals to transmit data and lead a pathway to wireless transmission into 5G core.
Conclusion:
Even though it may feel like IoE has covered as much ground as it can, IoE has been mapping new territories enhancing its implementations and expanding unexpectedly. Signaling more connectivity from cars, electronic gadgets, and toys to traffic lights and home security systems IoE facilitates connectivity between a range of internet-supported physical devices and non-internet supportive devices. With this emerging involvement of IoE in almost every field, many other technologies can be expected to naturally wane out of the process.
Beyond just pure technological concepts for academicians, IoE is capable of transforming the socio-cultural fabric of the world by connecting people and processes. This time is not yet ripe to predict if IoE is the next big bloom but the statistics, according to Market Research Engine predictions IoE market is expected to reach $39 trillion by 2024 and grow at 15% CAGR, as well as the dependence on technology life suggests so.
