Domain specific IOT
1. Home Automation
Smart Lighting
Smart lighting for home helps in saving the energy by adapting the lighting to the ambient
conditions. Energy can be saved by sensing human movements and their environment. Wireless
and Internet connected lights can be operated remotely using mobile or web application.
Smart Appliances
Smart appliances make the management easier and also provide status information to the users
remotely. For example, a smart refrigerator can keep track of items and notify the user when a
item is low on stock. Examples of smart appliances are TVs, refrigerators, music systems,
washing machines, etc.
OpenRemote is an open source automation platform for homes buildings. OpenRemote
comprises of three components –
i. a controller that manages scheduling and runtime integrations between devices
ii. a designer that allows you to create both configuration for the controller and create user
interface design
iii. a control panel that allow you to interact with the devices and control them.
Intrusion Detection
Home intrusion detection systems use cameras and sensors to detect intrusions and for raising
alerts. Alerts can be sound, SMS or email sent to the user. An advanced system can even send an
image or a short video clip related to the intrusion event.
Smoke/Gas Detection
Smoke detectors installed at home can detect smoke and alert the users. Smoke detectors use
optical detection, ionization, or air sampling techniques to detect smoke. Gas detectors can detect
harmful gases like CO or LPG. These detectors can send alerts in the form of email, SMS, or
voice.
2. Smart Cities
Smart Parking
Smart parking makes the search for parking space easier and convenient for drivers. In
smart parking, sensors are used for each parking slot, to detect whether the slot is occupied or
not. This information is aggregated by local controllers and sent over the Internet to the database.
Drivers can use an application to know about empty parking slots.
Smart Lighting
Smart lighting systems for roads, parks, and buildings can help in saving energy. Smart lighting
allows lighting to be dynamically controlled and also adaptive to the ambient conditions. Smart
lights connected to the Internet can be controlled remotely to configure lighting intensity and
lighting schedule.
Smart Roads
Smart roads equipped with sensors can alert the users about poor driving conditions, traffic
congestion, and accidents. Information sensed from the roads can be sent via Internet to
applications or social media. This helps in reducing traffic jams.
Structural Health Monitoring
A network of sensors is used to monitor the vibration levels in the structures. Data from the
sensors is analyzed to assess the health of the structures. By analyzing the data it is possible to
detect cracks, locate damages to the structures and also calculate the remaining life of the
structure.
Surveillance
Surveillance of infrastructure, public transport and events in cities is required to ensure
safety and security. City wide surveillance requires a large network of connected cameras. The
video feeds from the cameras can be aggregated in cloud-based storage. Video analytics
applications can be used to search for specific patterns in the collected feeds.
Emergency Response
IoT systems can be used to monitor buildings, gas and water pipelines, public transport and
power substations. These systems provides alerts and helps in mitigating disasters. Along with
cloud-based applications IoT systems helps to provide near real-time detection of adverse events.
3. Environment
Weather Monitoring
IoT-based weather monitoring systems use different sensors to gather data. That data is sent to
the cloud-based storage. The collected can be analyzed and visualized with applications. Weather
alerts can be subscribed by users from such applications.
Air Pollution Monitoring
IoT-based air pollution monitoring systems can monitor harmful gas emissions by factories and
vehicles using gaseous and meteorological sensors. The collected data can be analyzed to take
decisions on pollution control approaches.
Noise Pollution Monitoring
IoT-based noise pollution monitoring systems use a number of noise pollution monitoring
systems that are deployed at different places in the city. The data on noise levels from the
stations is collected on servers or in the cloud. The collected data can be analyzed to generate
noise maps.
Forest Fire Detection
IoT-based forest fire detection systems use number of nodes deployed at various locations in the
forest. Each monitoring node collects data about ambient conditions. This data will be collected
and analyzed for the presence of fire and corresponding people will be alerted.
River Floods Detection
IoT-based flood monitor systems use number of sensor nodes to monitor the water level. Data
from the sensors is aggregated on the server or in the cloud. Monitoring applications raise alerts
in case of rapid increase in water level or when rapid flow rate is detected.
Watch this video to learn about IoT applications in energy, retail, logistics, agriculture, industry,
health and lifestyle domains:
4. Energy
Smart Grids
Smart grid is a data communications network integrated with the electrical grid. Smart grid
technology provides predictive information and recommendations to utilities, their suppliers and
consumers, and how best to manage power. Smart meters can capture real-time power
consumption and allows to manage power distribution remotely.
Renewable Energy Systems
Renewable energy sources (like solar and wind) produce variable output. Variable output
produces local voltage swings that can impact power quality. IoT-based systems integrated with
the transformers measures how much power is fed into the grid.
Prognostics
Energy systems have a large number of critical components whose health is essential for working
correctly. IoT-based monitoring systems allows for the data to be gathered about these critical
components. Analysis of massive amounts of data gathered by sensors can provide predictions
for the impending failures.
5. Agriculture
Smart Irrigation
Irrigation refers to the watering of plants. By using different sensors like temperature sensor,
humidity sensor, soil moisture sensor, etc., data can be collected about the soil and the
environment and let the framer know when to turn on the water sprinklers to provide water to the
plants. This process is illustrated in the figure given below.
Green House Control
A green house is an artificial field that can be grown inside buildings or on the roof tops. It is a
controlled environment in which several types of sensors are fixed to gather data about the soil,
environment and other parameters.
The data from the green house is aggregated at a local gateway and sent to the server via
Internet. The data at the server is analyzed and appropriate alerts are sent to the owner of the
green house. This process is illustrated in the figure below.
6. Industry
Machine Diagnosis & Prognosis
The machines used in the industry can be fixed with sensors. The data from the sensors can be
used to diagnose the machines. We can know if the machine is working up to the expected
performance or not. The data analysis will also let the owner of the machine know when the life
of machine will be over.
Indoor Air Quality Monitoring
The quality of air for the working personnel inside the industry is also important. Often times
leakage of dangerous gases leads to the death of industry personnel. Sensors can be fixed at
different location to monitor the working environment for any leakage of hazardous gases and
notify the appropriate personnel to deal with it.