The Internet of Things (IoT) – what it is and what it might mean…

At the very least, you should have heard about the Internet of Things (IoT) by now. After all – even excluding mainstream press and other media, which has been covering the IoT extensively over recent months – Voltimum have had a section devoted to it since late last year. To date, there are about 60 articles there. So we expect you know at least the basics of what the IoT is.

But if not, here’s a brief introduction: One definition of the IoT is that it is an internet-enabled network of physical objects (or ‘things’), each endowed with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity that together enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices.

Another way of thinking of the IoT is as countless ‘things’ that are fitted with uniquely identifiable embedded devices that are wirelessly connected to the internet. These ‘nodes’, as the things are called, can send or receive information without human intervention. The nodes can even be fitted to animals (to track or find them), and indeed to people and their clothes (for a variety of reasons we may or may not want to contemplate).

To achieve this, everything – which could, for example, be an LED light source or luminaire, a thermostat or an industrial controller – must be uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system, yet it must also be able to interoperate in the existing internet infrastructure. Such devices already exist.

Indeed, the IoT has existed for some years, though it is only now becoming more widely understood. This is principally because the IoT is limited only by the imagination, and most people and organisations are only just starting to realise the potential.

Typically, the IoT covers many protocols, domains and applications, and should offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that go beyond machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The interconnection of such embedded devices will also help enable advanced applications such as smart grids.

Not only that, with a huge increase in connected devices expected in a few years, switched-on electrical contractors and installers should also be able to secure significant extra business from the IoT.

How can the IoT benefit the world at large?

How indeed? Well, for example, IoT-connected devices can monitor your body rhythms, improve sleep, interact with special lighting systems to change brightness, colour, mood or turn it off entirely – and you won’t even have to get out of bed. If that’s the sort of thing you like.

You might well ask, what does this have to do with us in the electrical installation sector?

Although estimates vary, it is likely (indeed virtually certain) that there will be between 50 and 200 billion connected devices by 2020.

Current examples of these smart devices, as reported by Voltimum in recent months, include consumer items such as Google Nest thermostats, Wi-Fi-enabled fridges and washing machines, connected lighting systems, such as Osram’s Lightify and Philips’ Hue. And there are many, many more – such as self-driving cars and vehicles that park for you. Industrial automation and the industrial Ethernet has large numbers of connected sensor and control devices already. 

Devices with embedded communications that can be controlled remotely or respond to changes in conditions (weather and energy prices, for example) are becoming available. For example, Wi-Fi-enabled air conditioners can automatically enter themselves into utility demand-side response programmes, or could make decisions on their output and energy consumption based on a series of pre-set ranges in conjunction with thermostats and energy price data.

As they are already Wi-Fi enabled, smart meters will become part of the IoT, where devices will be able to communicate with each other to drive efficiency, lifestyle and business benefits.

Once connected, devices can report their energy consumption data, energy efficient consumption becomes more transparent, and measures can be adopted and monitored to make consumption more efficient still. Furthermore, the interconnection of such embedded devices will help enable advanced applications such as smart grids.

Typically, IoT covers many protocols, domains and applications, and should offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. Then there’s the equally rapidly growing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with its IoT controllers and suchlike. Training will be needed, yet the possibilities are vast.

Although many of these IoT devices will be – by their nature – ‘plug and play’ items that can be fitted by householders, their sheer numbers and variety will mean there will be huge opportunities for switched-on electrical wholesalers, contractors and installers, not to mention manufacturers.

Many electrical installers, including some Voltimum users, worry that installing IoT devices will be tricky and time-consuming. The essential answer is that as long as devices comply with the appropriate interoperability standards, installing IoT devices – of which many of the domestic ones at least are essentially ‘plug and play’ – is little different from installing other wireless devices. Even so, more IoT training courses for electrical contractors and installers would be highly beneficial.

Concerns about standards, privacy and security

There are, however, some downsides. For example, the UK is already one of the most  extreme surveillance societies in the world, with an unusually large number of CCTV cameras recording our movements. Using the IoT, organisations will be able to intensify personal surveillance.

Moreover, there is the serious issue of security. If everything become digitally interconnected, the likelihood of hacking attempts increases, as do the dangers if such attacks succeed.

For example, the Online Trust Alliance has drawn up a framework that identifies three factors the organisation says are essential to ensure the safety and reliability of any device, app or service on the IoT. The first two are security and privacy, but the third is sustainability, which the alliance says is often overlooked. 

The authors of the framework define sustainability as the ‘life-cycle supportability of a device and the protection of the data after the warranty ends’. Craig Spiezle, executive director and president of the alliance, says:  ‘Important capability gaps in privacy and security design remain. For example, when someone sells a house with a smart thermostat or garage door, how does the new owner ensure former users can no longer access these devices?’

He asks: ‘How do manufacturers protect against intrusions into smart TVs and theft of data collected from device cameras and microphones?’ But there are potentially more serious scenarios. Security experts are continuing to warn that IoT devices will be increasingly targeted by cyber-criminals in 2015, as uptake continues to grow among consumers and enterprises.

Indeed, security concerns are developing faster than even the IoT itself. This is especially true when you considered that IoT devices will be connected to smart grids, smart cities, water and gas utilities, energy organisations, transport etc. And domestic smart meters will connect homes to power utilities. 

Knowing this, the potential for catastrophe is certainly clear, whether by accident, by virus intrusion or by hacking.

So, if we are not careful, massive security issues probably will (not might) one day cause catastrophic damage to our infrastructures unless these issues are seriously addressed quickly.

Looking at standards, it’s clear that this is already a crucially important, though already divisive, IoT topic. After all, how will devices connect to others without interoperability standards? Yet, devices so far conform to a range of often non-interoperable standards.

A cross-industry open source organisation, the AllSeen Alliance, (among others) believes that the IoT cannot meet its full potential without an open platform to ensure interoperability between devices from different manufacturers.

Then there’s new research by ON World, which finds that the wireless standard ZigBee, which is already used by many IoT devices, continues to increase its share of the IEEE 802.15.4 and smart home markets. By 2020, the study claims, ZigBee standards will be used in 8 out of 10 of the 802.15.4 chipset shipments. 

Furthermore, in recent news, the Thread Group has announced that it has completed the specification and documentation for its IP-based wireless networking protocol for low-power connected devices in the home.

And these represent just a few examples of potential interoperability clashes for connected and IoT devices. Therefore, organisations such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), and the European IoT-A (Internet of Things – Architecture) project, among others, are looking to provide architectural frameworks that define relationships between IoT domains and devices, as well as appropriate security schemes.

As these few examples show, it’s clear that there is much work to do where standards are concerned.

In any case, what is the point, some might say, in having a domestic IoT device for (say) monitoring your heartbeat that is interoperable with an IIoT plant controller? These are crucially important issues that must be worked out and agreed upon before the IoT can come near its ultimate take-up.