Internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. It has three layers. First layer is data acquisition through sensors and actuators, data transferring using different devices and last is data analysis with different analytic techniques. In this chapter, a conceptual overview of internet of things is mentioned. Different sensors and actuators which are responsible for data acquiring are described with their specification. Networking devices which are responsible for transferring data from sensors to server are also described with their applications. Data analytics techniques like descriptive, predictive, and perspective are also explained. Internet of things is now proven as boon for agriculture development. In the last section, different techniques are explained that are used in information and communication technique-enabled agriculture practices.
Top1. Introduction Of Internet Of Things (Iot)
The Internet of Things (Kamal, 2017) can be defined as a network of electronic objects using the Internet to control, coordinate and alter the environment. In other words, Internet of Things is a collection of many electronic gadgets such as appliances, lighting equipment, and other household gadgets, which are connected to each other over the Internet and can communicate with each other, making their control and coordination relatively easier than manually operating them. Internet of Things is a concept still in the development phase or beta phase, but various tech companies now offer IoT enabled appliances, such as Philips and other tech giants. These companies offer simple IoT functionality to the customer in their products, enabling the customer to interact with their environment more proactively than it did before, by giving them the power of customization. Work is progressing in the direction of further improve upon this functionality of the IoT framework, making users capable of controlling their home or any other environment with ease. Examples include Home Automation System which uses Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for exchange data between various devices of home. IoT refers to Things (IoT) Internet. Connecting any device inclusive of mobile phones, vehicles, home appliances and other wearable devices integrated with sensors and actuators to the Internet so that these objects can exchange data on a network is a reflection of IoT. Interestingly, there is a difference between IoT and the Internet, there is no human role. The IoT devices can create, analyze and act on the behavior of individuals. Because of IoT all these things are possible. Technology consulting company Gartner plans to use 6.4 billion connected items worldwide this year, up 30% from last year IoT Conceptual Framework
A conceptual IoT framework can be represented by the following simple equation and shown in Figure 1:
Physical Object added to Controller, Sensor and Actuators plus Internet = Internet of Things
Figure 1. Conceptual overview of IoT
As it can be seen, this environment consists of three major components, a physical object to be controlled, and an array of controllers, sensors and actuators, interacting with each other over the internet. Generally, IoT consists of a network of physical objects and devices in which a number of objects can gather data and communicate to organize, maintain, acquire and analyze data in order to use the same in products and services.
A more intricate IoT networking can be represented by the equation below (Kamal, 2017):
Gather + Enrich + Stream + Manage + Acquire + Organize and Analyze
= Internet of Things with connectivity to the data centre, enterprise or cloud server
Top2. Framework For Iot
The following equation formulates a concept of IoT framework (Kamal, 2017).
The framework manages (Mahalle et al, 2010) the IoT services using the data from all the sensors and the network of devices and objects, cloud services and shows the flow of data from IoT devices and services using the cloud server. This equation shows a complex conceptual framework for using IoT. The steps are as follows:
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Levels 1 and 2 are used to gather and consolidate the raw data. It is made of a sensor network and gateways, which is used to consolidate the data at level 2.
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Level 2 and level 3 communicate with each other via data streams, where a communication management subsystem is in place.
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Levels 3 and 4 are made up of connection, assembly, collection and management subsystems; the services are rendered at level 4.
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Real-time analysis of data, series analysis and intelligence subsystems are also present at levels 4 and 5. A data store, database or cloud infrastructure is in place at level 5.