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IoT Application Domains

Application domains of the Internet of Things solutions are vast. Most prominent applications include (among others) [1]:

  • building and home automation,
  • smart water,
  • internet of food,
  • smart metering,
  • smart city (including logistics, retail, transportation),
  • industrial IoT,
  • precision agriculture and smart farming,
  • security and emergencies,
  • healthcare and wellness (including wearables),
  • smart environment,
  • energy management,
  • robotics,
  • smart grids.

Smart Homes are one of the first examples that come to mind when discussing Internet of Things domain applications. Smart home benefits include reduced energy wastage, the quality and reliability of devices, system security, reduced cost of basic needs, etc. Some home automation examples are environmental control systems that monitor and control heating, ventilation, air conditioning and sunscreens; electrical charging of vehicles; solar panels for electrical power and hot water; ambient lighting control, smart lighting for aquaria; home cooking and food ordering; access control (doors, garage, gate); smart plant irrigation systems (both indoors and outdoors); baby monitoring; timed pet food dispensers; monitoring perishable goods (for example, in the refrigerator); household items remote monitoring (for instance, of washer cycle status); tracking and proactive maintenance scheduling (such as, i.e. electric car charging); event-triggered task execution. Home security also plays a significant role in smart homes. Examples of applications are automatic door locks, sensors for opening doors and windows, pressure, motion and infrared sensors, security cameras, notifications about security (to the owner or the police) and fitness-related applications.

In Smart City, multiple IoT-based services are applied to different areas of urban settings. The aim of the smart city is the best use of public resources, improvement of the quality of resources provided to people and reduction of operating costs of public administration [2]. A smart city can include many solutions like smart buildings, smart grids for improving energy management, smart tourism, monitoring of the state of the roads and occupation of parking lots, public transportation optimisation, public safety, environment monitoring, automatic street lighting, signalling with smart power devices, control of water levels for hydropower or flood warnings, electricity-generating devices like solar panels and wind turbines, weather monitoring stations. Transportation in smart cities may include aviation, monitoring and forecasting of traffic slowdowns, timetables and current status, navigation and route planning, as well as vehicle diagnostics and maintenance reports, remote maintenance services, traffic accident information collection, fleet management using digital tachographs, smart parking, car/bicycle sharing services [3]. IoT in transportation makes cars interconnected, particularly in the approaching autonomous vehicles era.

Smart Grid is a digital power distribution system. This system gathers information using smart meters, sensors and other devices. After these data are processed, power distribution can be adapted accordingly. Smart grids deliver sustainable, economical and secure electricity supplies efficiently.

In Precision Agriculture and Smart Farming IoT solutions can be used to monitor the moisture of the soil and conditions of the plants, control microclimate conditions and monitor the weather conditions to improve farming [4]. The goal of using IoT in agriculture is maximising the harvest, reducing operational costs, being more efficient, and reducing environmental pollution using low-cost automated solutions. An interaction between the farmer and the systems can be done using a human-machine interface. In the future smart precision farming can be a solution for such challenges as increasing worldwide demand for food, a changing climate, and a limited supply of water and fossil fuels [5].

Internet of Food integrates many of the aforementioned techniques and encompasses different stages of the food delivery chain, including smart farming, food processing, transportation, storage, retail, and consumption. It provides more safety and improved efficiency at each food production and consumption stage, including reduced waste and increased transparency.

Similar to precision agriculture, which is part of IoT in industry, Smart Factories also tend to improve manufacturing by monitoring pollutant gas emissions, locating employees and with many other solutions.

Industrial IoT and smart factories are part of the Industry 4.0 revolution. In this model, modern factories can automate complex manufacturing tasks, thanks to the Machine-To-Machine communication model, which provides more flexibility in the manufacturing process to enable personalised, short-volume product manufacturing easily.

In the healthcare and wellness, IoT applications can monitor and diagnose patients and manage people and medical resources. It allows remote and continuous monitor the vital signs of patients to improve medical care and wellness of patients [6]. An essential part of smart welfare is wearables, including wristbands and smartwatches that monitor the activity level, heart rate and other parameters. Smart healthcare includes remote monitoring, care of patients, self-monitoring, smart pills, smart home care, Real-Time Health Systems (RTHS) and many more. Medical robotics can also be part of the healthcare IoT system that includes medical robots in precision surgery or distance surgery; some robots are used in rehabilitation and hospitals (for example, Panasonic HOSPI [7]) for delivering medication, drinks, etc. to patients.

Wearables used in IoT applications should be highly energy efficient, ultra-low power and small-sized. Wearables are installed with sensors and software for data and information collected about the user. Devices used in daily life like Fitbit [8] are used to track people's health and exercise progress in previously impossible ways, and smartwatches allow to access smartphones using this device on the wrist. But wearables are not limited only to wearing them on the wrist. They can also be glasses equipped with a camera, a sports bundle attached to the shoes or a camera attached to the helmet or as a necklace [9].

en/iot-open/introduction/application_domains_and_their_specifics.1693216422.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/08/28 06:53 (external edit)
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