The Internet of Things

Filed in archive Ubiquitous Computing on September 26, 2004

Get ready for the next wave of the Internet.

It's called the "Internet of Things."

A recent Business 2.0 article describes it:

"Imagine an Internet of things, where everyday objects, rooms, and machines are connected to one another and to the larger digital world. Sensors on expensive factory equipment would tell you when the machinery is about to fail. Cargo shipping containers could search their contents for nuclear material or other hazards. Every office in a high-rise could report its temperature and humidity and whether its lights are on or off. Each foot of the nation's streets and highways could monitor traffic flow, and every acre of farmland could keep tabs on the moisture level in its soil."

This vision of the Internet of Things may sound like part of a sci-fi movie script, but scientists and technologists believe it is achievable -- sooner than you think.

Deborah Estrin at UCLA's Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), is leading a team of researchers to make the Internet of Things a reality. CENS received a US$40 Million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to pursue the vision.

As she points out in an article in BusinessWeek, sensor technology has been around for a while. But the Internet of Things relies on using (1) many more sensors, (2) sensors that are "smarter," and (3) sensors that are wireless and networked together:

"You have to put sensors in a highly distributed way -- that means that those devices have to be small and have to be wireless. You can't plug them in somewhere or have them sending out wires. You have to make the systems intelligent and have them tell you when something interesting is occurring, instead of just sending out continuous streams of data."

So, is this RFID? No, not exactly-- you might consider them cousins. Sensors pick up information about physical conditions on or around the items on which the sensors are placed. RFID tags contain data about the things themselves.

Both have important business uses, and you will be hearing more about both.