The Internet of Things (IoT) is arriving now. Essentially it’s where a device has a sensor and a transmitter and it means that many more devices will be connected so they can be more useful to us.
One famous example is that in future car park spaces would have a small unit within them that transmits a signal to say if the space is taken or not. Car drivers can then be directed to the nearest available car park space.
Other examples of how this might evolve include:
Medicine bottles could track whether you’ve taken your meds and send you a text or email if you’ve forgotten.
Monitoring vibrations or movements in large buildings
Intelligent and weather adaptive street lighting
Forest fire detection
The possibilities are endless throughout industry, agriculture, health, domestic, logistics and retail.
The key technological factors which is making this all possible are:
5km range
10 year battery life with a standard battery
Cheap cost ($2 module)
Going back to our carpark example, this means you can install a $2 chip in every carpark space in a multistorey or set of streets, without having to lay communication or power cables which can be extremely expensive. You just change the battery every 10 years!
Realnet are pleased to be involved with one of the technology pioneers of this sector, having recently launched their new website. Weightless are the only open source standard for IoT and with the new SDK launched this month we’re excited to see the technology rolling out.
For more infromation please visit www.weightless.org