, Start
I
The Internet of Things
Section I - The Internet of Things
Chapter 1 - The Third ICT Wave
Chapter 2 - Ubiquitous IoT Applications
Chapter 1
The Third ICT Wave
1.1 Rise of the Machines
Over the past decades, billions of people have hooked themselves up to the Internet via the
computer, and more recently mobile devices such as smartphones. This communication revolution
is now extending to objects as well as people. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has
long been predicted, and now it is rushing into the present. According to Parks Associates, the
number of smartphones (excluding feature phones) worldwide is expected to top 1.1 billion in
2013. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Smart grid devices will reach 244 million; e-
readers and tablets will be 487 million; networked office devices, 2.37 billion; networked medical
devices, 86 million; connected automobiles, 45 million; connected appliances, 547 million;
connected military devices, 105 million; information technology (IT) system devices, 431 million;
connected supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)/industry automation devices, 45
million; and other connected consumer electronic devices minus smartphones, e-readers, and
tablets will reach a whopping 5+ billion and counting.
“Rise of the machines” became a popular catchphrase after Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,
a 2003 science-fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger. The movie demonstrates the power of machines or robots that could potentially
overpower human beings.
During the first decade of the twenty-first century, big U.S. defense budgets financed the
deployment of thousands of service robots, including unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles,
to Iraq and Afghanistan. IEEE Spectrum [1] estimated a million industrial robots toiling around
the world in 2008, and Japan is where they’re the thickest on the ground. In 2011, the world’s
industrial robot population was estimated to be 1.2 million. Also, according to the Frankfurt-based
International Federation of Robotics, the service robot market is expected to double in size by 2013
from 2011 [2].
A robot is a kind of tightly coupled cyber-physical system (CPS) [4,165]. A CPS (Figure 1.1) is
an embedded sensor network and control system featuring a tight combination of, and coordination
,between, the system’s computational and physical elements. Cyber-physical systems or robots can
be found in areas as diverse as aerospace, automotive industry, chemical processes, civil
infrastructure, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation systems, entertainment, and
consumer appliances. A real-world example of such a system is the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) CarTel project where a fleet of taxis collects real-time traffic information in
the Boston area. Together with historical data, this information is then used for calculating the
fastest route for a given time of the day.
Figure 1.1
Cyber-physical system (CPS).
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has identified cyber-physical systems as a key area
of research, proposed by Helen Gill at the High Confidence Software and Systems conference [28]
in 2008. In 2007, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology listed CPS as
one of the top eight key technologies of the future, and a $4 billion budget was allocated for the
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development [29] project. The expectation
is that in the coming years, ongoing advances in science and engineering will improve the link
between computational and physical elements, dramatically increasing the adaptability, autonomy,
efficiency, functionality, reliability, safety, and usability of cyber-physical systems.
, The power of machines has experienced rapid development, first through the steam-engine
technology based industrial revolution and then the second electrical, oil-powered internal
combustion engine industrial revolution. Along with the rise of the power of machines comes the
exponential rise of the number of machines during the ongoing third industrial revolution of the
Internet-based information age. The past three decades have seen extraordinary growth in the
number and choice of electrical and electronic machines or devices (Figure 1.2) [3].
Figure 1.2
Number of intelligent devices.
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), together with cloud computing, is, after the modern
computer (1946) and the Internet (1972), the world’s third wave of the information and
communications technology (ICT) industry. Gordon Bell’s law says that “roughly every decade a
new, lower priced computer class forms based on a new programming platform, network, and
interface resulting in new usage and the establishment of a new industry” [271]. Bell predicted that
home and personal area networks will form starting from 2010.
Also, in 2002, Sun’s chief technology officer Greg Papadopoulos indicated that the first Internet
wave consisted of an “Internet of computers” and the second wave, which we are currently in, is
an “Internet of Things that embed computers.” The third Internet wave, which is an “Internet of
Things,” consists of physical objects like thermostats, switches, packages, and clothes.
I
The Internet of Things
Section I - The Internet of Things
Chapter 1 - The Third ICT Wave
Chapter 2 - Ubiquitous IoT Applications
Chapter 1
The Third ICT Wave
1.1 Rise of the Machines
Over the past decades, billions of people have hooked themselves up to the Internet via the
computer, and more recently mobile devices such as smartphones. This communication revolution
is now extending to objects as well as people. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has
long been predicted, and now it is rushing into the present. According to Parks Associates, the
number of smartphones (excluding feature phones) worldwide is expected to top 1.1 billion in
2013. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Smart grid devices will reach 244 million; e-
readers and tablets will be 487 million; networked office devices, 2.37 billion; networked medical
devices, 86 million; connected automobiles, 45 million; connected appliances, 547 million;
connected military devices, 105 million; information technology (IT) system devices, 431 million;
connected supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)/industry automation devices, 45
million; and other connected consumer electronic devices minus smartphones, e-readers, and
tablets will reach a whopping 5+ billion and counting.
“Rise of the machines” became a popular catchphrase after Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,
a 2003 science-fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger. The movie demonstrates the power of machines or robots that could potentially
overpower human beings.
During the first decade of the twenty-first century, big U.S. defense budgets financed the
deployment of thousands of service robots, including unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles,
to Iraq and Afghanistan. IEEE Spectrum [1] estimated a million industrial robots toiling around
the world in 2008, and Japan is where they’re the thickest on the ground. In 2011, the world’s
industrial robot population was estimated to be 1.2 million. Also, according to the Frankfurt-based
International Federation of Robotics, the service robot market is expected to double in size by 2013
from 2011 [2].
A robot is a kind of tightly coupled cyber-physical system (CPS) [4,165]. A CPS (Figure 1.1) is
an embedded sensor network and control system featuring a tight combination of, and coordination
,between, the system’s computational and physical elements. Cyber-physical systems or robots can
be found in areas as diverse as aerospace, automotive industry, chemical processes, civil
infrastructure, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation systems, entertainment, and
consumer appliances. A real-world example of such a system is the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) CarTel project where a fleet of taxis collects real-time traffic information in
the Boston area. Together with historical data, this information is then used for calculating the
fastest route for a given time of the day.
Figure 1.1
Cyber-physical system (CPS).
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has identified cyber-physical systems as a key area
of research, proposed by Helen Gill at the High Confidence Software and Systems conference [28]
in 2008. In 2007, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology listed CPS as
one of the top eight key technologies of the future, and a $4 billion budget was allocated for the
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development [29] project. The expectation
is that in the coming years, ongoing advances in science and engineering will improve the link
between computational and physical elements, dramatically increasing the adaptability, autonomy,
efficiency, functionality, reliability, safety, and usability of cyber-physical systems.
, The power of machines has experienced rapid development, first through the steam-engine
technology based industrial revolution and then the second electrical, oil-powered internal
combustion engine industrial revolution. Along with the rise of the power of machines comes the
exponential rise of the number of machines during the ongoing third industrial revolution of the
Internet-based information age. The past three decades have seen extraordinary growth in the
number and choice of electrical and electronic machines or devices (Figure 1.2) [3].
Figure 1.2
Number of intelligent devices.
The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), together with cloud computing, is, after the modern
computer (1946) and the Internet (1972), the world’s third wave of the information and
communications technology (ICT) industry. Gordon Bell’s law says that “roughly every decade a
new, lower priced computer class forms based on a new programming platform, network, and
interface resulting in new usage and the establishment of a new industry” [271]. Bell predicted that
home and personal area networks will form starting from 2010.
Also, in 2002, Sun’s chief technology officer Greg Papadopoulos indicated that the first Internet
wave consisted of an “Internet of computers” and the second wave, which we are currently in, is
an “Internet of Things that embed computers.” The third Internet wave, which is an “Internet of
Things,” consists of physical objects like thermostats, switches, packages, and clothes.
