IT WORLD : INTERNET OF THINGS

INTRODUCTION

The term “Internet of Things” (IoT) was first used in 1999 by British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton to describe a system in which objects in the physical world could be connected to the Internet by sensors.12  Ashton coined the term to illustrate the power of connecting Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags13 used in corporate supply chains to the Internet in order to count and track goods without the need for human intervention. Today, the Internet of Things has become a popular term for describing scenarios in which Internet connectivity and computing capability extend to a variety of objects, devices, sensors, and everyday items.

While the term “Internet of Things” is relatively new, the concept of combining computers and networks to monitor and control devices has been around for decades. By the late 1970s, for example, systems for remotely monitoring meters on the electrical grid via telephone lines were already in commercial use.14 In the 1990s, advances in wireless technology allowed “machine–to–machine” (M2M) enterprise and industrial solutions for equipment monitoring and operation to become widespread. Many of these early M2M solutions, however, were based on closed purpose–built networks and proprietary or industry–specific standards,15 rather than on Internet Protocol (IP)–based networks and Internet standards. 

PROBLEM STATEMENTS

Overview

The basic idea is that IoT will connect objects around us (electronic, electrical, non-electrical) to provide seamless communication and contextual services provided by them. Development of RFID tags, sensors, actuators, mobile phones make it possible to materialize IoT which interact and co-operate each other to make the service better and accessible anytime, from anywhere. 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Internet of Things (IoT) is aimed at enabling the interconnection and integration of the physical world and the cyber space. It represents the trend of future networking, and leads the third wave of the IT industry revolution. In this article, we first introduce some background and related technologies of IoT and discuss the concepts and objectives of IoT. Then, we present the challenges and key scientific problems involved in IoT development. Moreover, we introduce the current research project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program). Finally, we outline future research directions.