Internet of Things: Challenges and Opportunities

The term Internet of things (IoT) is used to describe embedded devices (things) with Internet connectivitsy, allowing them to interact with each other, services, and people on a global scale. This level of connectivity can increase reliability, sustainability, and efficiency by improved access to information. Environmental monitoring, home and building automation and smart grids could be interconnected, allowing information to be shared between systems that affect each other. Giving these systems better awareness can improve their efficiency, reliability and sustainability. Due to the large number of applications the IoT has the potential to replace people as the largest consumer and producer of information on the Internet. Low powered wireless embedded devices are cost effective and require little infrastructure, however the Internet and its protocols are unsuitable for such devices due to a lack of resources. IPv6 over low-power wireless area networks (6LoWPAN) was created for this purpose by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF created the standards the Internet operates on. 6LowPAN allows low powered wireless devices to behave like any other Internet connected device with some restrictions. This chapter will give an introduction of the status of IoT along with the challenges and opportunities of making the IoT.