The of Internet of
Things
The concept of combining computers, sensors, and networks to monitor and
control devices is not new. It has been around for several decades.
However, the recent confluence of key technologies like
microelectronics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive sciences,
synthetic biology, Information Communication Technologies (ICT), and
market trends is ushering in a new reality for the IoT. IoT promises to
usher in a revolutionary, fully interconnected “smart” world, with
relationships between objects and their environment and objects and
people becoming more tightly intertwined (Rose, Eldridge, & Chapin,
2015). The vista of the IoT as a pervasive array of devices bound to the
Internet will fundamentally change how people think about what it means
to be “online” (Rose et al., 2015). Technically, the IoT is not the
result of a single novel technology; instead, several complementary
technical developments and innovations provide systemic capabilities
that help to bridge the gap between the virtual and physical world
(Mattern & Floerkemeier, 2010).
The Episteme and Taxonomy of the
Internet of
Things
Kevin Ashton is credited with coining the term “Internet-of-Things” in
a presentation in 1999 regarding supply chain management (Ashton, 2009;
Gubbi, Buyya, Marusic, & Palaniswami, 2013). Since then, Internet of
Things (IoT) has emerged as a new paradigm aiming at providing solutions
for integration, communication, data consumption and analysis of smart
devices (Khodadadi, Dastjerdi, & Buyya, 2017). While the term
“Internet of Things” is relatively new, the concept of joining
computers and networks to monitor and control devices has been around
for decades (Rose et al., 2015). The story of the IoT can be traced back
to the 19th century when the electromagnetic telegraph
was created by Baron Schilling in Russia (Borisovai, 2009). Figure 1 is
an illustrative flow diagram depicting the history and evolution of the
IoT. The evolution saw major landmarks including innovations,
significant events, thoughts and predictions from pioneers and thinkers.
In an interview with Colliers Magazine in 1926, Nikola Tesla
stated:
When wireless is perfectly applied, the whole earth will be converted
into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a
real and rhythmic whole, and the instruments through which we shall be
able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present
telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. (Kennedy,
1926, Webpage)
Figure1: The History and Evolution of the Internet of Things