Posted by Nate Vickery

Internet of Things is surrounded with a lot of buzz, which is there for a reason. It is one of the most revolutionary technologies and it is the closest we’ve come to predicting our future. Of course, the IoT is not based on spells and witchcraft (it’s way scarier than that), but on machine-to-machine communication, cloud computing and networks of small sensors, which collect and analyze data. In this article we’ll share some of things and processes that will change in the IoT Era.

Home security systems

Today you can monitor home security cameras from your smartphone screen. More advanced home security systemsgo even further. They come with different types of sensors that control air quality, motion, sound, vibration and temperature. These systems use machine learning to determine the normal activity in your home and they send alerts to your smartphone, when something out of the ordinary occurs. Because of their smart machine learning approach, home security systems that are based on IoT concept drastically reduce the incidence of false alarms.

Bed

Even our beds will become smart. At the moment you can buy several types of sleep trackers from the ones that come in the form of bracelet and measure your heart rate and blood pressure to smart mattresses that can connect to home automation systems, prepare your bed temperature, track your heart and breathing rate and wake you up in the morning. These special mattresses also collect information about your sleep and give you recommendations for improving your bed rest.

Energy use

Recently several companies released Wi-Fi enabled sensors that can connect to the home electrical panel and control and track your energy use. These small sensors recognize all appliances and gadgets by their “power signatures” and can monitor the energy use and brake it down to every single device. They will allow you to have a deep look into your monthly energy use, to recognize and deal with critical points and to save money on utility bills. Same as many other home security and home automation systems, these sensors learn to interpret the activity of your home devices and send warnings when incidents happen.

All home appliances and systems

All-in-one smart home automation systems can control several home appliances at once. People can use them to turn their porch lights on and off when they are on vacation and to preheat their home or their oven before they arrive home from work. These systems also control various conditions in your home and use smart sensors and machine learning to create the perfect comfort. Some home automation systems also come with a Bluetooth speaker and a microphone and they can work as voice assistants.

Self-storage monitoring

Self-storage monitoring protects stored goods from climate changes, theft and other unforeseen incidents. New storage monitoring systems based on the IoT concept control storage lighting, air-conditioning and security. They also use sensors to track variables that are critical for perishable goods like temperature and humidity. You can find these smart storages in many different cities around the world. 

Construction sites

Construction site managers can use IoT solutions to monitor the work of heavy machinery and the movement of construction employees. This basically means that they don’t need to leave their trailer office. Sensors track the movement of supply and dumping trucks through geo-location technology and insure that everything works as scheduled. If there’re any irregularities in the work of heavy machinery, supply trucks or employees, the site manager will be instantly notified by smartphone push-notification.  

Emergency vehicles

In many cities the only connection between emergency vehicles and their headquarters is established through old-fashion radios. This offers a limited control in emergency situations. Advanced telematics already appeared in many emergency vehicles around the world. This technology allows lone drivers to receive updates in real time from the environment they are entering, including: over speeding, harsh events or the incidents of other team members. Employees at the headquarters also receive the information about emergency vehicle’s hours of service, speed, siren state and location. This way, they can easily schedule vehicle’s regular maintenance and minimize its downtime.

Internet of Things is the biggest tech trend that is happening at the moment. It will completely rock our world and bring a lot of positive disruption to every segment of our lives. Soon, we’ll be able to control all of our possessions through one smart app, which will leave us more time to focus on ourselves and our friends and family.