The Internet of Things, an infinite Eldorado
Like Big Data or the cloud, the Internet of Things is one of those generic concepts onto which many things are projected. But this notion did not spring from the mind of a brilliant innovator who one fine morning decided "I am going to create the IoT". It aims above all to characterise the way in which electronic objects are now designed. One of the very first characteristics is interoperability — the ability of objects not only to interact with one another but also to have multiple functionalities.
Infinite functionalities. Take the example of a sensor placed in a wine cellar. This single electronic module can be multifunctional: analysing temperature and humidity, controlling the air conditioning to adjust to the right temperature, storing information about the bottles, exchanging data with a server… The sensor will thus exchange information with other modules that will store the data and generate commands in return. That same sensor could equally well function within a home. One can imagine an infinite number of functionalities based on the same electronics — and this is the first defining feature of the Internet of Things.
For companies wishing to develop solutions in this sector, the challenges are multiple. Beyond the obvious need to find a market, they must succeed in setting up an autonomous system capable of communicating with the outside world and, in some cases, at ultra-low power consumption. This last parameter represents a fundamental challenge, since having to recharge an object such as a watch every day is an irritating factor. Another fundamental challenge is standardisation: returning to our wine cellar humidity sensor, one would want to be able to make it communicate with other peripherals. One can imagine it communicating with the refrigerator to indicate when we need to bring the bottle up from the cellar and put it in to cool so that it reaches the right temperature. Data transfer is therefore a third IoT imperative. This is how Bluetooth, which managed to establish itself as a universal protocol, is now on its fifth version — low consumption — while the Zigbee protocol has since fallen into oblivion.
The treasure of data. Finally, electronic objects today are all vectors of information. Each module must be capable of retrieving and transferring quantities of data that can be stored on a server. The benefit is obviously being able to cross-reference a considerable number of data points (hence the proximity between IoT and Smart Data). Consequently, module designers must imperatively integrate data backup and security parameters, and must therefore reflect carefully on questions of confidentiality management.
