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.
