Introduction to Emerging Technologies (EmTe 1012)
Objective of the session
To illustrate the architecture of IoT
IoT ecosystem
Has three parts:
A. Web enabled IoT device
B. Sensors
C. Communication protocol
Web-Enabled device is the main and the central part of IoT ecosystem
that use embedded processor to locally analyze data from the sensors or
send sensor data to the cloud through internet.
Sensors has the responsibility to collect data from the environment and
send it back to the end smart IoT deice for analyzation
Communication protocol used by the smart IoT device to send data to
the cloud to be analyze and provide remote access
IoT smart device
Consists of:
A. Hardware,
B. Software,
C. Network connectivity, and
D. Sensors.
A sensor collect analog data from the environment and change it to
electrical signal
The embedded hardware take the analog electrical signal from sensor
and change it to digital signal in real time with the help of software running
on it.
Network connectivity is essential to send data to the gateway for
analyzation, storage, display.
IoT Architecture
IoT architecture refers to the many ways that IoT devices are structured to
meet user needs. Based on complexity, IoT system elements are grouped
into 3 to 7 layers, each with its own role.
IoT system architecture is often described as a four-stage process in which
data flows from sensors attached to “things” through a network and
eventually on to a corporate data center or the cloud for processing,
analysis and storage.
IoT Architecture components
The architecture of IoT comprises:
A. Sensing layer,
B. Network layer,
C. Data processing layer, and
D. Application layers
Sensing layer: it is responsible to obtain data from the real world like
Motion sensors, position sensors which can measure physical quantities
and convert it to the corresponding electrical value ready for processing by
IoT smart device.
Network layer: acts as a communication channel to transfer data, collected
in the sensing layer, to other connected devices. Some network protocols
in IoT are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, LoRa, cellular network, etc.
Data processing layer: It is web-enabled smart device that process data
collected in the sensing layer and analyses the data to make decisions
based on the result. In some IoT devices (e.g., smartwatch, smart home
hub, etc.), the data processing layer also saves the result of the previous
analysis to improve the user experience. This layer may share the result of
data processing with other connected devices via the network layer.
Application layer: which implements and presents the results of the data
processing layer to accomplish disparate applications of IoT devices. The
application layer is a user-centric layer that executes various tasks for the
users.
Sensors in IoT
Major sensor categories in IoT
A. Motion sensor
B. Environnemental sensor
C. Position sensor
Motion sensor measure the change in motion as well as the orientation of
the devices. There are two types of motions one can observe in a device:
linear and angular motions. The linear motion refers to the linear
displacement of an IoT device while the angular motion refers to the
rotational displacement of the device
Environmental sensor such as Light, humidity, temperature, moisture,
gas, sound sensor, and pressure sensors are embedded in IoT devices to
sense the change in environmental parameters in the device’s peripheral.
The primary purpose of using environmental sensors in IoT devices is to
help the devices to take autonomous decisions according to the changes of
a device’s peripheral. For instance, environment sensors are used in many
applications to improve user experience (e.g., home automation systems,
smart locks, smart lights).
Position sensors of IoT devices deal with the physical position and
location of the device. The most common position sensors used in IoT
devices are magnetic sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS)
sensors. Magnetic sensors are usually used as a digital compass and help
to fix the orientation of the device display. On the other hand, GPS is used
for navigation purposes in IoT devices.
Additional resources
Introduction to emerging technologies module
[Link]