The Impact of Digital Transformation on US Business Models

According to CASAGRAS (2011), IoT technologies enable a seamless connectivity between the real and digital worlds. This enables real-time monitoring and interaction with physical things, as well as the extraction of information and knowledge from the huge amount of sensor data created by various IoT devices, all owing to the technology stack. An end-to-end IoT solution is often built on an IoT technology stack that includes layers such as hardware, embedded software, communication and connectivity, a cloud-based platform, security tools, a gateway to external data sources, and other components. Figure 2.1 depicts the fundamental features of the IoT technology stack. The following subsections will cover IoT devices, IoT connectivity, and cloud-based platforms.

 IoT technologies

There are numerous types of IoT devices, ranging from small implantable devices to wearables and gadgets, smart meters, robots, vehicles, and even aircraft. They are usually referred to as "things" that incorporate both hardware and software components. Sensors/actuators, a controlling CPU, a communication transceiver, and a power supply are the core components of an IoT device (Fig. 2.2). There are various commercially available embedded systems that developers can employ to construct new IoT applications. Some popular examples include the ESP8266, Ardurio Yun, Raspberry Pi, CloudBit, LoPy, FiPy, and Samsung Artik.

Sensor technology has advanced to the point that a large range of sensors are now available. These devices can detect a variety of real-time parameters, including physical factors like vibration, pressure, and humidity, chemical elements like CO2 and PH value, optical aspects like radiation and ultraviolet, energy levels like power, voltage, and current, and biometric data like ECG, EEG, and PPG. Similarly, different actuators can convert electrical input into physical actions, enabling for interaction with the real world. The communication interface supports the connectivity of IoT devices to the IoT network architecture. It can be wired or wireless, with wireless communication interfaces preferred. You can choose from a variety of wireless communication methods, each with its own communication capabilities. 

When it comes to IoT applications

it's critical to select the appropriate communication technology based on transmission range, data throughput, energy consumption, dependability, and mobility. IoT devices rely largely on battery power for their major source of energy. During the last decade, Battery capacity growth has lagged behind technical improvements, posing a substantial hurdle to long-term and self-sustaining operation in IoT. As a result, several energy-efficient communication protocols, calculation algorithms, and low-power radio transceivers have been developed expressly for wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things. Furthermore, Adila et al. (2018) found evidence that using energy harvesting technology can extend battery lives. Energy can be captured from a variety of environmental sources, including thermal, solar, and vibration. Wireless radio frequency (WRF) is a modern energy source that is conveniently available via transmitted energy. It has the advantages of being inexpensive and easily applied in compact devices (Kamalinejad et al. 2015). IoT devices rely on software to perform properly. These components include embedded operating systems, on-board software applications, and communication protocols. Onboard software applications provide a range of functions, including data gathering, pre-processing (such as time domain aggregation and outline detection), duty cycle scheduling, and time synchronization. When it comes to applications that require wide coverage, such as smart parking and smart trash management, IoT devices must link to repeaters via a multi-hop mesh network. These repeaters are subsequently connected to gateways, resulting in interconnected networks capable of covering even wider areas (Andreev et al. 2015; Beliatis et al. 2018). It is clear that selecting the appropriate communication technology is critical to meeting the needs of IoT applications and services.

IoT connectivity

IoT connectivity is the critical technology that enables geographically scattered and diversified IoT devices to transmit sensor data to the cloud for sophisticated data analytics, visualization, knowledge extraction, and value generation. It is critical to the IoT infrastructure, which may be implemented utilizing a variety of communication technologies and protocols in the communication protocol stack.

IoT connectivity includes both the linkages between IoT devices and the connections between IoT devices and gateways, cloud platforms, and service providers. The possible framework for machine-to-machine communication (M2M) in the context of IoT includes a wide range of characteristics such as transmission range, data rate, energy consumption, dependability, mobility support, deployment cost, and other considerations. IoT communication technologies can be classed according to their transmission range. diverse communication technologies can be employed for diverse purposes, including proximity communication, short-range wireless personal area networks, wireless local area networks, low-power wide area networks, cellular networks, and satellite communications. They not only compete, but also complement one another, as each communication technology has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. For example, BLE and Zigbee have a communication range of 10-100 meters, making them perfect for IoT applications requiring stationary devices in smaller areas, such as home automation and e-health.