Internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of devices that are connected to one another and to the internet and are able to interact with each other and exchange data.
A recent report by the International Data Corporation forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 13.6 percent from 2017 to 2022 for worldwide spending on IoT, rising to nearly $1.2 trillion in 2022.
Yet another study by Capgemini highlighted the reason for the large-scale enterprise migration to the IoT: it improves business operations significantly. In order to illustrate this point, the study gave the example of the global motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, which was able to achieve an overall profit of 4 percent, up from the previous 3 percent, by migrating operations to a fully enabled IoT plant.
Professionals who are working with emerging technologies can benefit from the soaring popularity of the internet of things by enrolling in IoT training and getting certified in the domain. When the internet of things is integrated with emerging technologies, IoT can become smarter and more productive. Let’s take a brief look into it.
AI Can Unlock IoT Potential
The role of artificial intelligence in the internet of things can be reflected in the increasing number of investments and purchases of startups that have integrated AI and the IoT. There are many IoT vendors today that also give integrated AI services, such as machine learning-based analytics.
AI combined with IoT can help organizations improve risk management, achieve greater organizational efficiency, cut down unplanned downtime, and get insights into new products and services.
Let’s consider the example of industrial manufacturing to understand this further. In this sector, any kind of equipment failure would mean unplanned downtime, which could incur heavy losses for the company. This can be avoided with the help of predictive maintenance, in which analytics predicts the likelihood of equipment failure to help plan orderly maintenance systems.
The IoT with AI can also enhance operational efficiency. It will be possible to predict operating conditions and find out the criterion that should be adjusted. This is needed to make sure that ideal outcomes are achieved with the help of repeated data crunching to discern patterns that are invisible to the human eye.
The combination of the IoT and AI can also help in the creation of new products and services. Advancements in natural language processing (NLP), drones, and AI-controlled robots could translate to better monitoring and examination.
Blockchain in IoT: What Can It Bring?
Blockchain can keep track of all transactions that take place between IoT machines. The IoT data, especially supply chain data, which requires storage in an immutable record, can benefit greatly from blockchain, as the data stored in blockchain cannot be tampered with.
Another way in which blockchain can help the IoT relates to security. As you know, most IoT exchanges happen between machines, with little oversight. When IoT is integrated with blockchain, security can be improved, as encryption keys are used to control access to IoT data. Additionally, copies of the record are also distributed among various locations, which means that no single party can control/alter the data.
My Verdict
In the near future, it will be rare to see any internet of things applications that have not been enhanced with blockchain technology or artificial intelligence.
As per the findings by the International Data Corp, by the end of this year AI will be powering all IoT applications, and in the absence of AI, data from deployments will have very little value. This highlights how the immediate need is to combine IoT with emerging technologies.
Published on Java Code Geeks with permission by Vibhuthi Viswanathan, partner at our JCG program. See the original article here: The Role of Emerging Technologies in IoT Opinions expressed by Java Code Geeks contributors are their own. |
