The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is easy to describe, but hard to execute. According to Wikipedia, IoT is a collection of technologies that make it possible to connect things like sensors and actuators to the Internet, thereby allowing the physical world to be accessed through software. Physical objects are increasingly becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate.

From a more practical perspective, in “the Internet of Things” you may have sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects – from roadways to pacemakers – linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet. These networks churn out huge volumes of data that flow to computers for analysis (see my blog on Big Data).

By 2020 it is estimated that 20–50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Many of these devices will be collecting health data or will be connected to health and medical devices in the home, the hospital or the wider environment.

The IoT will have many applications in the healthcare sector. Pill-shaped micro-cameras already traverse the human digestive tract and send back thousands of images to pinpoint sources of illness. The combination of sensors, RFID, NFC (near field communication), bluetooth, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, WirelessHART, ISA100, WiFi will allow significantly improved measurement and monitoring methods of vital functions (temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol levels, blood glucose etc). In addition, the sensor technology is steadily becoming available and at a lower cost and with built-in support for network connectivity and remote monitoring. Implantable wireless identifiable devices could be used to store health records, or used in emergency situations for people with physical or cognitive impairments. The IoT could potentially support the aging population by detecting the activities of daily living or monitoring social interactions using wearable and ambient sensors, monitoring chronic disease using wearable vital signs sensors, and in-body sensors. With the emergence of pattern detection and machine learning algorithms, the “things” in a client’s environment would be able to watch out and care for the client. Things can learn regular routines and raise alerts or send out notifications in anomaly situations

RFID tags will become increasingly able to ‘sense’ their environment and transmit data to many types of readers. Located in buildings, machines and commodities, they can be used for the monitoring and tracking of objects and even for issuing warnings in cases of urgency or danger

Overall, the growth and uptake of IoT will depend on advances in miniaturisation and energy-efficient electronics, advances in software acting on behalf of people, the size and nature of demand in the private sector (commerce, logistics, etc.) and the public sector (defence, health care, etc.), the effectiveness of initial waves of IoT in reducing costs/improving efficiencies, the ability of devices located indoors to receive geo-location signals, and the efficient use of spectrum.