Internet of Things

Internet of Things

This article deals with ‘Internet of Things- UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Science and Technology which is an important pillar of the GS-3 syllabus. For more articles on S, you can click here.


What is Internet of Things?

The internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles and other items embedded with network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data with each other. 

Earlier Internet of People i.e. (only) people used the internet to communicate with each other.
Present  Internet of Things i.e. things will (also) use the internet to communicate with each other.

Economic Survey (2019) mentioned that the Government is considering the rollout of a 13-digit Machine to Machine (M2M) Numbering Plan for M2M communication.

Internet of Things

Example of IoT in our  life

Internet of Things - UPSC

How is IoT achieved ?

This is achieved by

  • Finely fabricated micro-controllers which are small computers themselves. They are used internally by various single-board computers.
  • Sensors to collect information. 

Applications of Internet of Things

  • Healthcare Sector: IoT based devices can be used in combination with the cardiac monitor to raise an alarm to the doctor in case of abnormality. 
  • Agriculture Sector: IoT can be used to gather live pedological data that can be used by scientists to improve the yield of the land. It can also help in implementing precision agriculture.
  • Transportation Sector: IoT can help in the early detection of wear and tear to prevent accidents. Apart from that, Self Driving Cars will use it for taking real-time decision. 
  • Energy Management: IoT will help in managing temperatures in Nuclear Power Plants using sensors.
  • IoT will help in providing virtual personal assistant to every person on the earth.


Issues related to Internet of Things

  • Privacy Intrusion: There is a danger that these smart devices can be used to intrude into the privacy of common people. An example of this came in Amazon Echo / Victor Collin case (2017 in the US) . Hence, IoT devices can be used by State Agencies opening up avenues for Orwellian levels of surveillance. 
  • The high initial cost of setup and technology will not be equitable thus increasing the gap between the haves and have nots.


India and IoT

  • Smart City Project and Digital India Program are going to lead to a rapid growth of IoT industry in India.
  • Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has also drafted India’s Internet of Things Policy with provisions like (1) funding of various IoT projects, (2) promote Venture Funds that support IoT related projects, (3) 100% duty waiver on import of raw material for manufacturing of IoT devices, (4) develop workforce with required skillset to work in IoT industry etc.
  • Indian IoT company Smartron has developed ‘tronX‘ – an artificially intelligent IoT platform.

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