IoT Labs

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a continuously evolving ecosystem that integrates software, hardware, physical objects, and computational devices for communication, control, data collection, and exchange. It provides a framework to facilitate seamless interaction between humans and a variety of physical and virtual “things.” Moreover, the term refers to the vast network of “smart” objects that have emerged as a result of adding connectivity to devices beyond traditional computing devices.

In recent years, IoT has become one of the most significant technologies of the 21st century, encompassing billions of devices and internet-connected sensors. Examples of such devices include biometric-medical devices, wearables, weather stations, city or home lighting systems, traffic lights, cameras, sensors, and automation in industrial or agricultural production lines, among others. These devices are expected to surpass 55 billion and generate more than half of the globally produced data by the year 2025, according to IDC research [1]. Combined with the ever-increasing computing power, this data will fuel artificial intelligence systems, providing foresight and new coordination capabilities among machines that will improve our daily lives, optimize production lines, and accelerate economic development.

Modern IoT applications include smart cities, smart grid energy distribution networks, smart homes, smart healthcare, and many more, as shown in Figure 1.