Internet of Things: what it means
The Internet of Things therefore has a general meaning: devices or products that can be connected to the internet and that can transmit data online. But why would we want specific objects, devices and other things to be connected to the internet? We explain this current trend.
Internet of Things: some examples
It is now impossible to imagine various devices without the Internet of Things. Many companies incorporate various internet-connected displays into their products. They do this to make life easier, more comfortable and safer. For example, you can use your phone to see who is ringing your doorbell at home. Or you might receive a notification that the washing machine has finished. But consider service purposes too; if a device breaks down, the supplier can easily connect to it to see what the problem is. Furthermore, an internet connection also conveys a certain status. These days, a device with an internet-connected control panel that is quick and easy to use is associated with the more luxurious models of appliances and products.
Convenience and safety
The Internet of Things was created to make everyday life easier, safer and more comfortable. So-called ‘smart’ working offers convenience. With sensors, our environment can be used as a vast online data factory for smart applications.
The Internet of Things at Confed
At Confed, too, we take the trend towards smart working and the Internet of Things seriously. The various technologies at Confed support the Internet of Things and enable our products to function optimally, exactly as you wish.
The various supporting IoT systems at Confed:
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LoRa, or Long Range Low Power, is an LP-WAN technology capable of exchanging small data packets between objects and systems. As the name suggests, it has low power consumption and a long range.
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LTE-M is a type of low-power wide-area network radio technology designed to enable a wide range of mobile devices and services.
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NB-IoT (NarrowBand-Internet of Things) is a standard low-power wide-area (LPWA) technology. It too has been developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services.
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Global Positioning System (GPS) is a tool that provides users with timing, navigation and positioning services (PNT).
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Wi-Fi is a wireless technology that connects computers, tablets, smartphones and other devices to the internet.
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Bluetooth is a short-range wireless connection between devices.
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VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution) is an LTE standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals, including Internet of Things devices and wearables.
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MQTT is a lightweight network protocol that transmits messages between devices.
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InfluxDB is an open-source time-series database. It is written in the Go programming language for storing and retrieving time-series data, such as operational monitoring, application statistics, Internet of Things sensor data and real-time analytics.
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Grafana is a multi-platform, open-source web application for analytics and interactive visualisation. It provides web-based charts and alerts when connected to supported data sources.
