Internet of Things, which is usually abbreviated as IoT, can be described as internet for everything. Everything here literally means everything, so that to put it simple, IoT is an internet technology that is used for every aspect in this life, especially works that are usually done manually with human labors.
It can also be considered as automation of many works, from insignificant ones, such as turning lights on and off, to significant ones, such as irrigating some areas. So, with IoT, our life will be much simpler and easier.
Security in IoT
Although the results of the utilization of IoT seem to be a bit too good to be true, there must be a drawback from such technology, just like every technology that has been invented before has. In the case of IoT, the most visible drawback in this technology is its security.
It has become known by everyone that internet technology is vulnerable to irresponsible people, especially hackers who hack into a system through the internet to get their personal gains or those who are ordered to do so by the ones who want to break the system.
There are two main aspects that are vulnerable in IoT: communication and data storage. It cannot be denied that most of communications that we do nowadays use internet technology. They are of course far cheaper than using other forms of communication at the cost of having vulnerable security. Not only that, people nowadays rely so much on the internet to store their data (which is usually called cloud storage) due to the huge demands of data storage that increase day by day.
Of course, they know the risk of having a security breach that can cause their communications to be bugged or their stored data to be stolen but it does not stop them from using the internet to save them from many other visible troubles. Until now, the security in IoT remains an issue, although there have been many IT experts who work relentlessly our there to maintain the security in IoT.
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Cloud based smart parking system based on IoT
Another example of the application of IoT is a cloud based smart parking system based on IoT. This idea of a smart parking system appears due to the difficulty that many people face when they try to find a parking space, especially in rush hours in big cities. Many people, especially VIP ones, waste their time looking for parking spaces every day and that can really affect many aspects in their life.
With a cloud based smart parking system, we can get the information we need regarding a parking space, such as the availability of a parking space in a parking lot as well as the ability to book the empty parking space beforehand.
So, with this system, we will rarely see people driving their cars slowly to look for an empty parking space in a parking lot for sure because most people already know and even book the parking spaces they need.
Smart irrigation system using IoT
Just like mentioned earlier, IoT can be implemented in many works, even the significant ones. An example of a significant work that can be automated by utilizing IoT is irrigation system that is called smart irrigation system using IoT. Well, in fact, the term irrigation itself has a broad range of instances. Anything that involves watering an area regardless of whether the area is small or large is called irrigation.
So, watering our front yard can be considered as irrigation and watering a several-acre rice field is also considered as irrigation. However, no matter how large the size of the area that needs to be watered is, irrigation can really take some time.
Based on that, a smart irrigation system was invented by utilizing IoT. This system allows us to set when the irrigation will take place and to control the process remotely. So, with this system, performing irrigation can turn into a fun activity because we can do it while doing other activities. This of course really saves people from the trouble of wasting their time to irrigate their own front and back yards.
Automated street lighting using IoT
It has been mentioned earlier as well that there are insignificant works that can be done using IoT and one of which is turning street lights on and off. Well, although this work seems to be an insignificant work, it can in fact be a significant work if the number of lights is significant or the street is quite long.
Decades or even centuries ago, people lighted off street lights manually, so that a profession for people that requires them to turn on and off street lights was quite common back then. However, after light sensor was invented and street lights started to turn on and off automatically, such profession started to fade.
Moreover, now those street lights can even be monitored and turned on and off remotely using IoT and of course, they still maintain their ability to automatically turn on and off by sensing certain amounts of sunlight. This system is really helpful in big and smart cities that really need to conserve energy.
Smart healthcare system using IoT
Another utilization of IoT in daily life that has become quite popular in recent years in its utilization in a healthcare system called smart healthcare system. As you have known, health has always been one of the most important aspects in our life since the first human stepped on earth.
So, people have always been trying to look for better ways to provide health services and this time, it is IoT that contributes to the world of health. There are many things in healthcare that can be made easier by using IoT, such as patient monitoring and medical equipment monitoring. By using IoT, healthcare professionals can keep in touch with their patients anywhere and anytime. So, if the patients forget about their treatment schedules, the healthcare professionals can remind them, saving them from any unwanted risks.
Another example of utilization of IoT in the smart healthcare system is medical equipment monitoring. Maybe, patients do not notice about the difficulty in finding available equipment needed by the patients, but healthcare professionals know the difficulty very well.
There are many times that they need to spend so much time in order to find the medical equipment needed by the patients entrusted to them, such as wheelchairs, connected inhalers, and many monitoring devices like heart-rate monitoring device, glucose monitoring device, mood monitoring device, and so on. With IoT, healthcare professionals will be able to know the availability and the location of the needed equipment in no time, so that their patients will not have to wait too long to get the equipment.
Those are some examples of utilization of Internet of Things or IoT in our daily life. Although IoT still and will always have security issue, it is still worth to use, especially because the issue tends to rarely happen.
