IoT Prediction 1 :Growth in Data and Devices with More Human-Device Interaction
IoT Prediction 2 :AI a Big Player in IoT (Again)
IoT Prediction 3 :VUI: Voice User Interface will be a Reality
IoT Prediction 4: More Investments in IoT
IoT Prediction 5: Finally, a Real Expansion of Smart IoT
IoT Prediction 6: The Rise of Industrial IoT & Digital Twin Technology
IoT Prediction 7: More Movement to the Edge
IoT Prediction 8: IoT Focus on Security Using Blockchain
IoT Prediction 9: More Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues
IoT Prediction 10: Standardization Still a Problem
The Internet of Things (IoT) is actively shaping both the industrial
and consumer worlds. Smart tech finds its way to every business and consumer
domain there is — from retail to healthcare, from finances to logistics — and a
missed opportunity strategically employed by a competitor can easily qualify as
a long-term failure for companies who don’t innovate [3]. The year 2020 will
hit all 4 components of IoT Model: Sensors, Networks (Communications),
Analytics (Cloud), and Applications, with different degrees of impact.
By 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted to generate an
additional $344B in revenues, as well as to drive $177B in cost reductions. IoT
and smart devices are already increasing the performance metrics of major
US-based factories. They are in the hands of employees, covering routine
management issues and boosting their productivity by 40–60% [1]. The following
10 trends explore the impact of many technologies on IoT and predict what is
next for IoT.
IoT Prediction 1: Growth in Data and Devices with More Human-Device
Interaction
By the end of 2019, there
will be are around 3.6 billion devices that are actively connected to the
Internet and used for daily tasks. With the introduction of 5G that will open
the door for more devices, and data traffic. You can add to this trend the
increased adoption of edge computing which will make it easier for businesses to
process data faster and close to the points of action.
IoT Prediction 2: AI a Big Player in IoT (Again)
Making the most of data, and
even understanding on a basic level how modern infrastructure functions,
requires computer assistance through artificial intelligence. The major cloud
vendors, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, are increasingly looking to
compete based on their AI capabilities. Various startups hope to increase their
market share through AI algorithms able to leverage machine learning and deep
learning, allowing businesses to extract more value out of their ever-growing
volumes of data. [2].
Artificial intelligence is
the fundamental ingredient needed to make sense of the vast amount of data
collected these days, and increase its value for the business. AI will help IoT
data analysis in the following areas: data preparation, data discovery,
visualization of streaming data, time series accuracy of data, predictive and
advance analytics, and real-time geospatial and location
(logistical data).
IoT Prediction 3: VUI: Voice User Interface will be a Reality
It’s a battle among industry
leaders who would like to dominate the market of IoT at an early stage. Digital
assistant devices, including HomePod, Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, are
the future hubs for the next phase of smart devices, and companies are trying
to establish “their hubs” with consumers, to make it easier for them to keep
adding devices with less struggle and no frustrations [1].
Voice represents 80% of our
daily communications, taking a chapter from Sci-Fi movies, talking to robots is
the common way of communications, R2D2, C-3PO, and Jarvis to name a few. The
use of voice in setting up the devices, change that setups, giving commands and
receiving results will be the norm not only in smart houses, factories but in
between like cars, wearables for example.
IoT Prediction 4: More Investments in IoT
IoT’s indisputable impact has
and will continue to lure more startup venture capitalists towards highly
innovative projects in hardware, software, and services. Spending on IoT will
hit 1.4 trillion dollars by 2021.
IoT is one of the few markets
that have the interest of the emerging as well as the
traditional venture capitalists. The spread of smart devices and the
increasing dependency of customers to do many of their daily tasks using them
will add to the excitement of investing in IoT startups. Customers will be
waiting for the next big innovation in IoT — such as smart mirrors that will
analysis your face and call your doctor if you look sick, smart ATM machine
that will incorporate smart security cameras, smart forks that will tell you
how to eat and what to eat, and smart beds that will turn off the lights when
everyone is sleeping.
IoT Prediction 5: Finally, a Real Expansion of Smart IoT
IoT is all about connectivity
and processing, nothing will be a better example than smart cities, but smart
cities have been in a bit of a holding pattern recently. Smart sensors around
the neighborhood will record everything from walking routes, shared car use,
building occupancy, sewage flow, and temperature choice 24/7 with the goal of
creating a place that’s comfortable, convenient, safe, and clean for those who
live there. Once the model is perfected, it could be the model for other smart
neighborhoods and eventually smart cities.
The potential benefits for
cities, however, make IoT technology especially compelling. Cities of all sizes
are exploring how IoT can lead to better efficiency and safety, and this
infrastructure is increasingly being rolled around the world. Transportation
will likely lead this change, as bringing connectivity, intelligence and
automation to roads and public transportation has proven to significantly
improve efficiency and experience. One factor expected to play a role in smart
city development will be 5G, making the lightning-fast transfer of streaming
analytics more realistic. 5G rollouts will spur a race to build applications
that tap into the numerous market opportunities it creates [2].
Another area of spreading
smart IoT is the auto industry with self-driving cars become a normal
occurrence in the next few years, today tons of vehicles have a connected app
that shows up to date diagnostic information about the car. This is done with
IoT technology, which is the heart of the connected vehicle. Diagnostic
information is not the only IoT advancement that we will see in the next year
or so. Connected apps, voice search, and current traffic information are a few
other things that will change the way we drive.
IoT Prediction 6: The Rise of Industrial IoT & Digital Twin
Technology
An amalgamation of
technologies are pushing this new techno-industrial revolution, and IoT plays a big part in making manufacturing more efficient, less risky, and more
profitable. Industrial IoT brings enhanced efficiency and productivity through
data integration and analysis in a way that isn’t possible without an
interconnected manufacturing process.
Another notion that is gaining popularity is “digital twin” technology. Through
its use, organizations can create a clear picture of how their IoT devices are
interacting with the manufacturing process. This gives keen businesses insight
into how the life cycle of their machines operates and allows them to predict
changes that may be needed ahead of time. According to a Gartner survey, 48% of
smart manufacturing adopters have made plans to make use of the digital twin
concept.
IoT Prediction 7: More Movement to the Edge
Edge computing is a
technology that distributes the load of processing and moved it closer to the
edge of the network (sensors in case of IoT). The benefits of using fog
computing are very attractive to IoT solution providers. Some of these benefits
allow users to minimize latency, conserve network bandwidth, operate reliably
with quick decisions, collect and secure a wide range of data, and move data to
the best place for processing with better analysis and insights of local
data[1]. Edge computing has been on the rise in recent years, but the growing
scope of IoT technology will make this move even more pronounced. Two factors
are leading this change:
Powerful edge
devices in various form factors are becoming more affordable.
Centralized
infrastructure is becoming more stressed.
Edge computing also makes
on-device AI a realistic proposition, as it allows companies to leverage
real-time data sets instead of having to sift through terabytes of data in a
centralized cloud in real-time. Over the coming years and even decades, it’s likely
that tech will shift to a balance between the cloud and more distributed,
edge-powered devices.
Hardware manufacturers are
building specific infrastructure for the edge deigned to be more physically
rugged and secure, and security vendors will start to offer endpoint security
solutions to their existing services to prevent data loss, give insights into
network health and threat protection, include privileged user control and
application white listing and control, that will help in the fast adoption and
spread of edge computing implementations by businesses [1].
IoT Prediction 8: IoT Focus on Security Using Blockchain
The IoT tech market will see
a renewed focus on security as complex safety challenges crop up. These
complexities stem from the diverse and distributed nature of the technology.
The number of Internet-connected devices has breached the 26 billion mark.
Device and IoT network hacking will become commonplace in 2020. It is up to
network operators to stop intruders from doing their business [4].
The current centralized
architecture of IoT is one of the main reasons for the vulnerability of IoT
networks. With billions of devices connected and more to be added, IoT is a big
target for cyber-attacks, which makes security extremely important.
Blockchain offers new hope
for IoT security for several reasons. First, blockchain is public, everyone
participating in the network of nodes of the blockchain network can see the
blocks and the transactions stored and approves them, although users can still have
private keys to control transactions. Second, blockchain is decentralized, so
there is no single authority that can approve the transactions eliminating
Single Point of Failure (SPOF) weakness. Third and most importantly, it’s
secure — the database can only be extended and previous records cannot be
changed.
In the coming years,
manufacturers will recognize the benefits of having blockchain technology
embedded in all devices and compete for labels like “Blockchain Certified”.
IoT Prediction 9: More Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues
IoT devices represent a
largely unregulated new technology. IoT will inevitably find itself facing
social and legal questions in the near future. This is particularly relevant
for data collected by these devices, which may soon find itself falling under
the umbrella of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This regulation
regarding the handling of personal data and privacy in the European Union, the
GDPR extends its reach beyond the European region. Any business that wants to
successfully operate within the EU will need to comply with the guidelines laid
out in its 88-page document. Security issues are essential when it comes to the
legal regulation of personal data. Development teams can ensure the required
level of security and compliance on various levels, including data encryption,
active consent, various means of verification, and other mechanisms. Their goal
is to collect data legitimately and keep its accessibility, processing, and
storage to a minimum that is dictated by the software product.
IoT Prediction 10: Standardization Still a Problem
Standardization is one of the
biggest challenges facing the growth of IoT — it’s a battle among industry
leaders who would like to dominate the market of IoT at an early stage. But
what we have now is a case of fragmentation. One possible solution is to have a limited number of vendors dominating the market, allowing customers to select
one and stick to it for any additional connected devices, similar to the case
of operating systems, we have now have with Windows, Mac, and Linux for example,
where there are no cross-platform standards.
To understand the difficulty of standardization, we
need to deal with all three categories in the standardization process: Platform,
Connectivity, and Applications. In the case of the platform, we deal with
UX/UI and analytic tools, while connectivity deals with customer’s contact
points with devices, and last, applications are the home of the applications
which control, collect, and analyze data. All three categories are inter-related
and we need them all, missing one will break that model and stall the
standardization process. There is no way to solve the problem of fragmentation
without a strong push by organizations like IEEE or government regulations to
have common standards for IoT devices.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and finally, you came
to know about Ten Trends of IoT in 2020.
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