What is the Internet of Things?

IoT, or the Internet of Things, directs a collection of devices that can communicate through the internet without the need for human interaction to initiate the connection. It is quickly becoming a relevant presence in the lives of people from myriad walks of life. To put into perspective the power and influence of IoT, it is predicted to generate more than $14 trillion in revenue over the next ten years.

The network of devices that is encompassed in the Internet of Things includes both mechanical and digital machinery. Almost anything that can connect to the internet via WiFi can utilize the IoT platform for communicating and sharing data. As everything continues to become connected, people can count on real-time answers to their questions.

How is the Internet of Things being used today?

Today, there are loads of applications for IoT. Already, IoT is being applied to various quarters of the internet. Everything from healthcare to home design to manufacturing is experiencing improvements due to IoT.

Why Is Technology Important? Why Do We Need It?

When it comes to IoT for healthcare, IoT is used for a lot of things. One of the most common applications is remote patient monitoring. Patients can communicate their vital information, such as heart rate and blood pressure, without having to be on campus, thus saving time and energy and making the process much more efficient.

Many smartwatches can monitor heart rate and more.

IoT also helps people with glucose monitoring, which is good news for the more than 30 million Americans who struggle with diabetes. IoT helps devices to apply continuous, automatic monitoring so that these folks can focus on the other daily aspects of their lives.

‘Mood Aware’ IoT devices collect information vital to determining a patient’s mental state. This is because mood swings, for instance, are often accompanied by changes in vital signs, like blood pressure. IoT is able to collect, log, and make determinations based on a patient’s history, helping to diagnose notoriously tricky elements.

Some other ways that IoT is helping with details in healthcare include:

• Parkinson’s disease monitoring
• Connectable inhalers
• Ingestible sensors
• Robotic surgery
• Connected contact lenses

The Internet of Things is also being applied to home design. Smart technology is being applied to many home products to create a more efficient dwelling. Experts predict that as more and more people upgrade to smart homes, the next step will be to create smart cities.

Some examples of smart technology being applied to homes include smart lighting, doorbells and heaters. Security systems also employ smart technology and can differentiate between a legitimate break-in and a fire alarm. Further, they can send real-time information to the homeowner via cell phone so that the owner can make his or her determinations on the situation.

The world is going to continue to trend toward internet-based solutions. As technology continues to improve and draw things closer together, more and more devices from disparate quarters of business will become reliant on IoT. This will result in more sophisticated applications that will lead to faster and more efficient internet-based solutions that will affect everybody, from doctors to patients to manufacturers to consumers.