FUTURE OF IOT
With the focus on the new age technology, there is a lot of expectation from IoT. An overview of the scope of IoT in India
As billions of devices, services and systems get connected, we see consumers getting benefit from the improved lifestyle use cases and companies becoming more efficient as they minimise their operational costs and increase their asset utilisation. IoT will work hand in hand with the real-time AI as edge connected devices shift the paradigm from central clouds to decentralised, ubiquitous intelligence. Kurzweil curve predicts an exponential increase in intelligence and expects the advanced computing platforms to equal
the intelligence of a human brain by the end of the coming decade.
This is primarily being driven by a combination of exponential increase in data being generated by IoT devices, multi-fold increase in computational power, advanced AI algorithms, compact form factors and low power requirements. This increase of intelligence of machines is getting more pervasive across all sectors and devices.
The IoT market is expected to grow steadily as billions of devices, services and systems become
“As machines and products have started communicating with each other without any human intervention, the real value of data is getting generated through better and faster decision-making, predictive analytics and automation.” —Rahul Rishi, Partner, Ernst & Young
connected, mainly driven by increasingly ubiquitous and cheaper sensors that convert the physical data to digital content. The IoT use cases focused on delivering cost savings from fuel, energy and labour often have a significant financial impact and shorter payback time frames. In terms of the market size, IoT spending is expected to register 15.4% y- o-y growth to reach US$1.1t by 2025.
It is predicted that IoT devices worldwide generate 90 zettabytes of data by 2025. This data is sent directly by sensors or via gateways to centralised platforms that aggregate, process, store, analyse and visualise this data to create insights and improve operational efficiencies of processes. The centralised architecture offers large scale computing and storage tasks to be done centrally so as to increase the operational efficiencies. However, centralized architectures increase latency of data exchanged, increase the time to act on actionable intelligence, are less resilient to environmental disasters, more prone to security hacks, are more expensive to scale (e.g., building a new data centre in a new geography) and are designed using commodity hardware which may lack versatility of appliances dedicated for specific tasks. These shortcomings are leading to the evolution of computing platforms from centralised architecture to distributed or decentralised
architecture with a focus on fog computing and AI capabilities closer to sources of data.
This study highlights examples and other such use cases made possible by amalgamation of IoT, fog
computing, Big Data Analytics and cloud technology. The volume of data that new web- connected systems will have available, combined with their ability to selfenhance through increasingly sophisticated AI, could fundamentally change how the world operates.
Global Market to Be US$1.1tr By 2025
IDC predicts the IoT global market revenue to reach approximately US$1.1 trillion by 2025. Global IoT connections are predicted to increase with 17% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 7 billion to 25 billion approximately from 2017 to 2025.
From a regional perspective, Asia-Pacific region is forecasted to be a leader followed by North America and Europe in terms of IoT market size and revenue with US$10.9 billion by 2025. Yet Europe and West Asia are the fastest growing regions at a CAGR of 15.7% through the forecast period.
The industries that are forecasted to spend the most on IoT solutions in 2019 are manufacturing (US$197 billion), consumer IoT (US$108 billion), “Enabled by exponential increase in computing power and availability of large amount of data, machines are fast learning to replace humans in several areas. This “intelligence” is moving away from central server farms into devices and things that will soon become a part of our everyday lives.” —Bimal Patwari, President, Pinnacle Infotech
transportation (US$71 billion), and utilities (US$61 billion). IoT spending among manufacturers will be largely focused on solutions that support manufacturing operations and production asset management. In transportation, more than half of IoT spending may go toward freight monitoring, followed by fleet management. IoT spending in the utilities industry may be dominated by smart grids for electricity, gas and water.
Indian Market to See Huge Growth
As per NASSCOM report on IoT Landscape, India will be a front runner in IoT adoption in Asia Pacific (APAC). The IoT market size in India is expected to grow at rate of 62% CAGR and reach US$9 billion by 2020. The number of IoT connections is expected to grow at a CAGR of 137%, increasing from US$60 million in 2016 to US $1.9 billion in 2020. This increase in IoT market revenue share will be distributed across different industry sectors like utilities, manufacturing, transport and logistics, automotive, healthcare and so on.
Key Digital Trends Shaping the Future The Digital Twin Ecosystem
Digital Twin is a dynamic virtual representation of a physical object or a system across its lifecycle, using real-time data to enable understanding, learning and reasoning. IoT sensors that gather information and data like real-time status, health and performance, live position, etc. are integrated with a physical object. Digital Twin ecosystem comprises of different technologies like IoT, AI, Big Data and cloud platform to enable this twin ecosystem. The diagram below depicts how the complete lifecycle of processes,
products, components or services can be mapped from physical to virtual model by leveraging these technologies. As per M&M report, the global digital twin market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 37.87% during the forecast period, to reach US$15.66 billion by 2023.
Edge computing – cloud computing paradox for IoT – The dialogue is shifting from centralisation to de-centralisation
Transition of IoT data processing to the network edge was expected to happen in the early IoT development lifecycle stage. However, decreasing connectivity costs and rising communication networks throughout led to a slow pace of this trend, which resulted in a shift towards centralised cloud processing. Now falling prices and the increasing processing power of edge devices have kick-started the transition towards network edge. The change to edge computing may have a significant impact on an organisation’s IT and Operational Technology (OT) systems, and have laid the foundation of new-age digital products.
As per Open Fog Consortium, Fog Computing is a system-level horizontal architecture that distributes resources and services of computing, storage, control and networking anywhere along the continuum from cloud to things. By extending the cloud to be closer to the things that produce and act on IoT data, fog enables latency sensitive computing to be performed in proximity to the sensors, resulting in a more efficient network bandwidth and more functional and efficient IoT solutions.
While Fog and Edge Computing terms are used interchangeably, the key differences lie where the computing takes place. Edge Computing pushes the intelligence, processing power and communication capabilities of an edge gateway or appliance directly into devices like programmable automation controllers (PACs) while Fog Computing pushes intelligence down to the local area network level of network architecture, processing the data in a fog node or an IoT gateway. Many IoT software companies have launched products that push the limits by embedding complex event processing, Machine Leaning and Artificial Intelligence in the Edge/Fog Computing nodes catering to this expanding market segment.
International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that by 2025, nearly 45% of the world’s data will move closer to the network edge. Fog Computing architecture is a key to enable this large amount of data to be processed, stored and transported and also enables emerging technologies like IoT, 5G and AI. The overall market opportunity for Fog Computing is pegged to rise to US$18.2b by 2022, up from US$1.03b in 2018 and US$3.7b in 2019.
As an example, turbines are installed with multiple sensors to generate predictive maintenance alerts in the industry. These turbines, deployed in electricity
generation, create terabytes of data in real-time and limited memory buffers present in IoT devices store this locally in IoT sensors. The data stored in the sensors is sampled at a high sampling rate and measures electrical parameters, pressure, flow rate etc., which are later analysed by specially designed algorithms based on turbines’ manufacturers’ performance data to find anomalies that may cause
premature turbine failures. Some other failures may also require tripping the system in short durations to avoid damage.
If algorithms can run on an edge computing node within the same LAN network, the response time to take pre- emptive actions can significantly improve in comparison to algorithms processing this data on a centralized platform on the cloud that may get delayed due to network latency. So, the industry has adopted Fog Computing of data locally at the edge with distributed Artificial Intelligence and performs these real-time operations as well as improves the life of costly equipment.
Trend analysis on key data points of long-term value is still being done on a central infrastructure on a case-by- case basis that can process years of data using Big Data platforms. These hybrid architecture measures have benefited the industry by integrating the platform with the source where the data is generated, effectively improving latency, reducing data transfer costs and yet utilising the benefits of central cloud based data analytics platforms.
5G may unlock immense IoT potential
The dawn of the 5G era is likely to reshape current wireless communication methods used for IoT based applications. According to Aleksander Poniewierski, EY Global IoT Leader, “IoT cannot thrive without effective and affordable wireless connectivity, interoperability and common standards. We believe 5G has the potential to make a ground-breaking impact on the way in which future IoT ecosystems are designed, especially in the areas of scalability, latency, reliability, security and the level of individual control on connectivity parameters.”
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality applications VR provides a computer- generated three- dimensional (3D) environment that surrounds a user and responds to that user’s actions in a natural way, usually through immersive head-mounted displays and head tracking. AR, on the other hand, is a technology that bridges the physical and digital worlds by overlaying information, such as audio, text, images and interactive graphics, onto the physical environment. AR offers context based digital information right where you need it.
Mixed reality (MR) is an overarching technology solution which merges the real and virtual worlds. It goes beyond to extend their capabilities that can best mix the real and virtual worlds. VR, AR and MR
technologies are projected to grow at a fast pace reaching a CAGR of 71.6% reaching market size of US$147.4 billion by 2022.
Virtual objects are recreated using computer aided design (CAD) tools to model the AR experience and scenes that are created. Equipment properties and services are exposed by IoT/Manufacturing Equipment Services (MES)/Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)/Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) software and are merged with virtual objects. This is then superimposed on realtime feed of cameras to present an enriching user experience with contextual data superimposed on the recreated AR scenes on devices such and smartphone screens or AR headsets.
IoT Security Threats
IoT security has become a concern for organisations as without a strong security architecture, massive amount of data flowing and stored across the networks is exposed to vulnerabilities in the infrastructure that can be exploited by hackers.
To reduce cyber threats and hacking, we must maintain data confidentiality, integrity and availability across the IT infrastructure. Mechanism or methods for a secure communication, storage and sharing of data should be implemented including the use of latest cryptographic methods or security algorithms.
New System for Utilities
We are moving towards a new energy system, augmented and interconnected by digital technologies, where power and information flow in both directions. The confluence of smart energy networks and digital solutions allow controlling the energy demand and trade and electrification. Low
cost renewable power has the potential to transform the energy sector in a way that seemed improbable a few years ago.
Retail energy providers are using advanced IT infrastructure and data analytics to reduce costs and improve meter-to- cash process and workforce management as well as optimize operations. The twoway flow of data improves organisations’ business performance, service reliability and customer relationships. Utilities are investing in technologies such as IoT, Robotics Process Automation (RPA), AI to automate maintenance of assets and improve responsiveness towards customer.
Augmenting Transportation and Logistics
The connection of vehicles to internet gives rise to a wealth of new possibilities and applications making transport safer and more convenient for users. Key applications in the transport industry by leveraging IoT are connected cars, fleet management, vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication, vehicle pooling and hiring services and self- driving vehicles.
Connected cars are vehicles equipped with internet connectivity and embedded sensors in different part of vehicles like engine, brakes, gear, tires, etc. that gather data and transmit the gathered data to remote diagnostic applications for predictive maintenance and servicing.
Connected cars also offer increasing levels of multimedia connectivity and automation, such as dashboard interfaces for accessing email, music and video streaming, and social networks, and the promise of self- driving and self-parking modes.
Streamlining Ops in Fleet Management
When it comes to transportation and logistics, fleet management plays a critical role in managing the maintenance schedules, everyday vehicle usage and service routes. To maximise productivity and operational efficiency, the fleet downtime must be minimized. With mobile scanners, computers and RFID systems alone, enterprises can gain visibility into their assets and streamline their operations in a better way to keep their fleet moving.
Agriculture
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations estimates that almost 800 million people in the developing world remain chronically undernourished. Additionally, it estimates that the world will need to produce 70% more food by 2050 in order to feed the growing population. This means that there is a need for the agriculture industry to focus on dramatically increasing their efficiency and productivity while optimising their resource allocation. IoT technologies can thus be the catalyst to push agriculture to the next level.
There are many ways in which IoT is impacting agriculture today. For example, wireless IoT sensors are capable of forecasting weather conditions, measuring hyper-local conditions of fields and monitoring soil quality and moisture.
As a result, farmers are not only able to plan their course of activities in a better way beforehand, but they also know precisely when and where they need to take preventive measures. Consequently, farmers are also able to improve the production output while preserving their resources and minimising costs.
Today, farmers can track the state and behaviour of livestock remotely via IoT sensors and embedded devices. Even further, thanks to advancements in data analytics, they can run statistical predictions and evaluate any necessary interventions for specific animals. For example, IoT sensors have the ability to notify a farmer that an animal is sick, so that the said animal could be separated from the herd and measures could be adopted to prevent the spread of the illness.
IoT devices and software are being deployed throughout a farm to monitor crop health, manage inventory and supply chain and provide similar new and innovative service offerings. They also help in daily farm activities. The diagram below highlights how IoT and other related technologies are impacting agriculture businesses throughout the lifecycle from sourcing to retailing and consumption.