iot technology

Smart and Sustainable Livestock Management supported by IoT

IoT-Enabled Livestock Management: A Smart and Sustainable Approach

Food is a basic need for every living being, and the importance of the agriculture industry and livestock farming cannot be underrated. The demand for food, rabbit and poultry meat, has been increasing day by day, and the reason behind this increase is population growth, changing diets, and affordability. This has led to an increase in the number of poultry and rabbit farms worldwide and improved the sensitivity toward animal welfare issues.

Many farm owners have adopted standardized farming management practices to meet the growing meat demands. Many others have added new technologies and innovations like smart farming methods using the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine solutions in their livestock management process.

Adopting the latest farming technology, smart sensors, and livestock monitoring solutions can assist farmers in efficiently managing their resources and enhancing productivity. This adoption also guarantees minimum wastage and less energy consumption.

Value Proposition

Traditional methods of livestock management include inspecting each animal for signs of injury and diseases. Farm owners with large livestock farms often fail to detect ill cattle and face loss. This monitoring method is time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and highly erratic.

As per research conducted by Oklahoma University, lung lesions and scarring are found in 37 percent of cattle that had never been diagnosed as sick, and in a trial at the Meat Animal Research Center found that 68% of steers tested showed signs of past respiratory infection.

Although the animals can recover independently, studies show that once cattle have been ill, they cannot catch up to the rest of the healthy herd in health or value.

IoT Data for Livestock Houses and Management

Farmers can optimize their processes, improve animal welfare, enhance traceability, and increase overall productivity by adopting IoT technology offering real-time data on environmental aspects like temperature, gas levels, and humidity.

Such IoT solutions are constructive for monitoring ammonia levels, which causes severe eye irritations and respiratory problems in animals and humans as well. By keeping these aspects under control, farmers can improve their cattle’s health and well-being and enhance the final product’s quality.

Enhanced Farming Practices

Using low-cost and durable smart sensors in an IoT solution for farming is an efficient and cost-effective way to gather and analyze data. The IoT sensors can be implanted in different locations around the livestock houses to gather data on different aspects like temperature, humidity, water quality, gas levels, and many other things.

The sensors can also be installed to gather data in real-time, guaranteeing that the farmer has access to real-time information about their farm’s current status, environment, and operations.

The consolidated and easy-to-install feature of the sensors makes them a feasible option for farmers who wishes to speed up their farming practices without disrupting their procedures. The advanced battery-backed system guarantees that sensors are durable, skipping the frequent battery replacement and maintenance requirements.

IoT Platforms for Livestock Houses

The gathered data is then processed and analyzed using an IoT platform, which can provide insights and actionable suggestions to the farmer. The information can be accessed using mobile devices, authorizing the farmer to monitor their farm from any location at any time. The data provided is in an easy-to-understand format means farmers do not need specialized technical knowledge to understand and utilize the information.

What are the Benefits of IoT-Enabled Livestock Management?

  • Monitor the health and vitality of livestock in real-time, allowing farmers to immediately treat animals and prevent the spread of illness or disease.
  • Track grazing animals to know their grazing patterns and activities and prevent loss. 
  • Collect and analyze past data to identify and understand trends in cattle health or track the spread of illness.
  • Monitor the heat period or birth time, avoiding the loss of new calves and optimizing breeding practices.

Revolutionizing the Farming Industry to Boost Productivity

The success of IoT in reducing disease and mortality rates in livestock houses, increasing output, and optimizing overall operations shows its potential for enhancing farming practices.

The data gathered using the sensors can be utilized to determine the pattern and make informed decisions to enhance productivity, lower costs, and guarantee animal welfare.

Overall, employing IoT technology in farming is the most futuristic approach to overcome the food crisis and counter the increasing demands of a growing population. It has the potential to revolutionize the industry and address some of the challenges encountered by farmers, like limited resources, growing demand, climate change, etc.

We all are very well aware of the significant issue of this era: climate change. The changing climate is hammering productivity and leading to the food crisis. On the other hand, the uncontrollably growing population is amplifying the issue. The only possible way to control both major issues is to adopt the most potent solution that can resolve both issues hand in hand. The adoption of IoT in farming is the most extensive way to overcome both challenges. Not only in farming, but IoT can also be used to control carbon emissions and contribute to slowing down the rapidly changing climate. IoT also helps provide a better lifestyle by offering smart houses, cities, buildings, hospitals, and the list goes so on.

IoT Digital Transformation is on the Way to Change the Business Outlook

IoT Digital Transformation is on the Way to Change the Business Outlook

The Internet of Things, also known as IoT, is the interconnectivity of physical devices, vehicles, people, and objects with sensors, software, and network interconnectivity, allowing them to collect and exchange data.

Today, it’s not hard to access or collect data; it’s readily available. However, many processes, machines, and other technologies still need to be fully connected and become something the industry deems smart. This digital transformation is all set to begin.

As per Grand View Research, the global IoT devices management market size was estimated at 1.88 billion in 2022 and is assumed to increase at a compound annual growth rate of around 34.9 percent from 2023 to 2030. The growing importance of enterprises on controlling linked devices and enhancing operational efficiencies across industry sections would lead to an increase in the demand for IoT device management.

The continuous growth of IoT gives a clear signal that it will stay for a long time and will highly help and impact shaping the future. Though some processes, machines, and other devices are yet needed to be connected, it’s just a matter of time before they will need to be integrated into this technology-driven world. This indicates that the future is strongly linked to IoT, and its increasing demand and day-by-day expansion prove this fact.

A Faster and More Un(predictable) World

The continuous advancement of technology is forcing businesses to adopt the Internet of Things. It promises to fulfill the desire for efficiency and has become a necessity. In today’s rapidly changing and advancing world, it has become mandatory to maintain efficiency, and if one fails, it will lead to a huge failure. ChatGPT‘s technology is best to quote as an example to support this. Surprisingly, for the first time, Google has stepped into difficulty as they ignored that technology must continuously update to keep a sync with the dynamic environment.

The Internet of Things has become a game-changing technology that offers more predictability in an unpredictable world. IoT allows the device to collect and analyze real-time data from connected devices, which can be utilized to predict and prevent potential problems before they happen.

IoT Driving Transformation on its Way…..

Digital transformation means integrating digital technologies into all sections and processes of a business, causing fundamental changes to how the business operates and delivering results to customers. The current status of IoT, with its swiftly evolving technology and the increasing adoption of interconnected devices, is all set to bring pace to digital transformation across various industries.

By authorizing businesses to gather and analyze immense amounts of data in real time, IoT provides:

  • The optimization of business processes
  • The generation of new revenue ways
  • The development of innovative business models

Integrating IoT devices into business operations allows businesses to gain insights into customer behavior, enhance operational efficiency and improve overall customer experience. Hence, the Internet of Things continuous advancement and expansion is expected to drive digital transformation across industries forcefully.

IoT is Adding More Meaning to Technology Advancements

The features offered by IoT have eased the prediction process and made it less intimidating. The very influential Internet of Things has positively covered the digital and physical world gap, offering a futuristic environment that can sync with the changing technologies instead of being left behind. It can gather and analyze flooding data from interconnected devices to provide meaningful insights into various aspects of lives and businesses.

Various challenges have appeared with the growth of the Internet of Things, yet it has persisted and achieved its current state. Starting from compatibility challenges to data security and scalability. These are some initial installation issues while implementing IoT technology in businesses.

Businesses that embraced IoT as a newcomer played a significant role in resolving issues via testing and establishing the technology. As a result, businesses can now leverage the faster and more dependable implementation of IoT solutions, enabling smoother integration into their operations.

Effortless Interoperability: The Way to Leverage Seamless Technology

The complexity of IoT can be overwhelming for many, creating confusion and uncertainty. When many devices are added to an IoT network, managing and scaling the infrastructure tends to be a big challenge. The increasing number of devices and the immense amount of data generated by them can crash the existing systems, creating a challenge to manage and analyze data properly.

Business owners usually need clarification about upgrading their equipment and the different technology stacks involved in IoT. Now, it’s high time to shift the focus from a complex technology stack to a simple solution.

Old technology and processes should not limit your ability to make informed business decisions. The solution is not to remove them but to connect and boost them by linking them with advanced technology.

We hope to see even more innovative applications in various sectors as IoT evolves. The growth prospect is high, and businesses adopting this technology will be in a better place and reap its benefits.

As per Mckinsey, The Internet of Things has now become part of more than 200 applications in enterprise environments and is not just limited to large corporations alone. Early adopters have done trials and testing and are scaling IoT solutions throughout their businesses. The features and versatility of IoT technologies have resulted in several remarkable applications in various sectors like smart cities, connected cars, smart buildings, smart homes, e-health, and many others.

The latest IoT technology advancement has enabled all sectors to access non-existent features. For example, Business-to-Business (B2B) companies are now using Industry 4.0 technologies to create direct connections with their products in the field.

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The Internet of Things has come a long way and has become essential to our lives and businesses. The continuous growth and development of IoT and the increasing number of connected devices, combined with the need for efficiency and relevance, make the technology imperative to be adopted. By adding IoT, businesses can churn the maximum benefits and make the existing processes more efficient and cost-effective.

How will Smart Farming decide the Future of Agriculture

How will Smart Farming decide the Future of Agriculture?

Today, farmers are facing more pressure than ever before. Demand for food is growing as the population increases, whereas agricultural land is used for urbanization. Not just this, the challenges caused by climate change are also decreasing the yield. Sometimes drought, sometimes flood, and unseasonal rain impact the total yearly yield, ultimately causing a shortage of food. 

In the coming years, agricultural enterprises must operate in new and adapted ways to achieve sustainability and the capability to survive. The latest and most advanced technologies, falling under the roof of  Smart Farming, provide opportunities for farmers to overcome unprecedented challenges while passing the agricultural way of life to future generations. This has led to a boost in the yield along with the profit. 

Unfortunately, local farms, including some in the world’s most fertile lands, are also declining today. Therefore, creating a viable business is becoming challenging, and farmers must find ways to work more smartly instead of shedding sweat in the field. 

Historically, agricultural structures demand immense amounts of time, money, and effort to order, unload, store, plant, monitor, cultivate, and harvest crops. 

Advanced smart farming technologies provide new methods to simplify the workflow and enhance operations, leading to robust businesses.

IoT’s Shining Agricultural Future

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the soul of this transformation process. Intelligent sensors are implanted throughout a farm that behaves like the eyes and ears of the farmers. It collects information about crops, the equipment’s condition, and performance. One of IoT technology’s most crucial characteristics is its ability to expand visibility to new endpoints. IoT empowers farmers with real-time monitoring and analytics systems through which they gain more insights into their operations and the capability to handle them more efficiently.

Let’s know some of the ways through which smart farming improves agricultural enterprises and will continue to do so in coming years:

1: Monitoring Crop Growth

IoT in the agriculture industry acts like a superhero; it assists farmers in improving the crop’s quality and the land’s fertility. Sensors integrated with IoT systems collect nutrient density information, allowing farmers to adjust the amount of fertilizer to be used. If any symptoms of infestation are observed, using pesticides can eliminate the invasion. In actuality, data-driven agriculture always empowers farmers because the information received permits adjusting activities imaging the current conditions, handling the crop cycle more effectively, achieving efficiency, and enhancing crop growth.

2: Improving Greenhouse Operations

Greenhouse IoT sensors improve visibility and automate traditional manual functions, making the entire process more efficient and automated. They gather and transfer real-time data, like air pressure, humidity, temperature, soil conditions, and light levels. In fact, water consumption can be managed with SMS or email alerts if any defects occur. In modified systems, adjustments are made automatically. The processes turn out to be more cost-effective and accurate, and operational performance improves.

3: Tracking Water consumption

Agricultural IoT supports farmers in monitoring water tank levels in real time by tracking the amount of water being used and the amount of water left in the tank. Smartphones provide intuitive reports that analyze trends and make recommendations in many cases. Farmers can alter water usage as needed, making irrigation more efficient and economical.

Predictive Equipment Maintenance

Farmers can monitor their land, vehicles, and other assets through IoT. Farmers wish to reduce downtime as the equipment is essential to daily operations. It offers a clear view of the device’s performance, which updates as the equipment operates. Advanced data analytics provides them with the required management insights. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning measure an asset’s typical efficiency and wear and tear based on metrics like vibration analysis, oil analysis, and thermal imaging.  

Predictive maintenance models depend on complicated algorithms to determine when an asset must be serviced, fixed, or retired. These insights come before the device stops performing. This assures that operations and processes at farms are continuous and seamless. The other advantages include lengthened machinery lifecycles, reduced downtime, and productive outcomes.

Smart Livestock Management

We all know that livestock management and monitoring demand good quality of time, effort, and money. Traditionally, employees are hired on farms to look after the health or injury of the cattle. The process is undoubtedly costly, highly unreliable, and inefficient.

IoT solutions terminate speculation when diagnosing an animal’s health by monitoring temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. The information is sent through the wireless network to an application in real time.

Farmers can then access the mentioned information using mobile devices:

  • Each animal’s health condition and location in its herds can be checked from anywhere at any time.
  • Farmers can also check the peak mating time and season of the cattle.
  • Farmers receive alerts if a metric falls outside of the normal range.
  • Most suitable gazing spots can be easily determined.

Benefits to Agriculture and Personalized Services

By embracing smart farming technology, farmers can develop more suitable approaches, and this proficiency changes the relationship between customers and retailers. The farmers can emphasize consumers’ interest in sustainability and eco-friendly food while focusing on creating new strands of their products. They can then charge a premium for their products, enhance revenue and create a more substantial business.

Smart sensors automatically observe every facet of everyday agricultural work. This advanced technology allows farmers to automate real-time data collection, boost production volumes, cut down costs, reduce waste, and much more things that increase productivity. These many advantages are compelling farmers to spend on technology.

According to the worldwide smart farming review, investment in this field will increase from $3.715 billion in 2022 to $7.040 billion in 2026, a CAGR of 13.65 percent. It means farmers will have added hundreds of millions of IoT sensors to improve their everyday operations.

Steering Efficiency

Smart farming technology provides businesses with new ways to increase agricultural efficiency, reducing costs and boosting revenue. In other words, smart farming technology is most significant for the growth of modern farming, increasing the yield to meet growing demand and will keep agricultural industries viable in the future.

What is the Impact of IoT on Global Logistics Development

We all know that today, the logistics market is dynamic and has become competitive. In the last few decades, logistics has been redesigned not just because of rising competition and circumstances in the world but also because the Internet of Things (IoT) has dived deeper into the logistics niche.

As per KPMG reports, market challenges are compelling participants to find new development points for the business and recreate existing supply chains, like rail transit in the Asia-Europe direction. A high empty mileage decreases the efficiency of cargo transportation and causes congestion on the decided routes. Let’s look at modern IoT logistics solutions; and how they impact international logistics and transport.

What is IoT in logistics?

We can simply understand this technology through examples such as IoT, a modern smart refrigerator door that orders the delivery of your favorite pizza and drinks, or a smart kettle that brews your coffee in one click from a smartphone. There are smart sensors in agricultural fields and drones with high-pixel cameras that allows farmers to monitor the condition of the soil. The world will become an entire Internet of Things complex in a few more years. 

However, when we mention the word Internet of Things, the first relation of this smart and emerging technology links with smart devices and tools that are physically available. Yet, IoT goes far beyond this and especially in global logistics.

IoT Logistics Examples

With the reduced cost of technology, the size of IoT devices also decreases. It is now quite apparent that devices and instruments are getting smaller with the growing market. Smaller sensors gather a more significant amount of data through creative and non-destructive placement.

Let’s assess what modern developments have been designed for us besides the sensors.

Warehouse & Inventory Management using IoT

IoT sensors track inventory and furnish data that can be utilized in trend analysis to presage inventory needs. Goods are automatically repositioned with stacker cranes’ assistance, production time and labor costs are cut down, and the human factor is balanced because the robot does not need leisure hours. This will bypass under-stock and over-stock situations.

Tracking Goods From Purchase To Delivery

Traditional monitoring depends on scanning an order between points of delivery. Special tags like RFID or Radio Frequency Identification simplify the search operation by connecting to the cloud and sending location data more frequently than scanning. This might get you back to the QR codes or Data Matrix times. Yes, they can also be used by analogy, but unlike FID, optical codes have to be scanned individually for each item, which takes time.

RFID tags reduce unnecessary expenditure. On average, the precision of inventory levels is approximately 65 percent. Employing RFID raises it to 95 percent. BigData monitoring under RFID will identify the most persuasive couriers and truckers, choose the most efficient delivery routes, and more. If delivery staff show unexpected results, they are sent for further revisions.

Drone Delivery

Drones are remotely controlled and unmanned aerial vehicles and droids that can improve the speed and efficiency of various logistics infrastructures. It is no more a trend or novelty as today’s developments are improving the accuracy and speed of their movement. As per the CompTIA poll, drones are employed by companies of different sectors and sizes. They enable the automation of business processes and allow smart inventory tracking, fast product transportation, and prompt delivery from stores.

Future Insights of IoT in Logistics

The proliferation of the Internet of Things in the international logistics market generated $34,504.8 million in 2019. Prescient Strategic intelligence shows a steady CAGR of 13.2 percent by the end of 2030. Nowadays, crucial assignments of logistics companies are the following:

  • Assure just-in-time delivery.
  • Offer transparency in the supply chain.
  • Ensure the transparency of the transport cycle and grade of services.

The success of any logistics company depends on effective stock and warehousing management, automation of internal business processes, prompt delivery, and assuring the safe storage of goods. Data becomes helpful when it passes through this cycle. Wireless networks like Bluetooth, GSM, Wi-Fi, etc., offer information exchange in logistics processes.

IoT has now become part of all the sectors where transport is involved. That is, its impact and usage are just not limited to logistics and transport. Instead, it is used in manufacturing and retail trade, including e-commerce, hospitals, construction, and many other sectors. This enables transparency of processes in the supply chain, better and more stable work of transport and employees, and saves company resources.

The logistics business is attaining a new height after embracing IoT, as it provides efficacious solutions aimed at working with Big Data, speeding logistics supply chains, and many other things. This is supported by other advanced trends like the proliferation of the 5G Internet, the fast growth of mobile applications, and cloud services.

How will IoT Build a Bright World with Connected Devices

How will IoT Build a Bright World with Connected Devices?

Internet of Things is now no new word for the tech world. Studies show that the number of connected devices will reach more than 75 billion by 2025, implying that there will be possibly nine connected devices for every human on earth.

The pace at which IoT technology is striking every area of our lives is impressive, but how it has transformed our day-to-day work is beyond imagination.

But what is IoT?

In simple words, it is the practice of connecting different physical assets through the internet, providing control and measurement access from the remote area while saving users money and time. Today one can set the temperature of the air conditioner while on the way home, brew coffee and efficiently manage the use of lights in the home. Products like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri can interact and provide information as required.

Let us know how various industries are embracing the presence of the Internet of Things and the impact of this latest technology.

IoT in the manufacturing sector:

The impact of Industrial IoT technology is already visible in the output of the manufacturing industry, especially in measuring energy and asset efficiency throughout the production line.

IoT technology has provided an effective way to connect and modernize legacy assets. Using connective sensors, businesses can accumulate critical production data and use cloud software to turn this data into useful insights to know about the efficiency of their manufacturing process. But what kind of assets? It can be anything used within the manufacturing process, from its HVAC or CNC machines to products like refrigerators or lighting rings, etc.

IoT can assist by providing a clearer picture of the working of assets individually and collectively, chartering better ways for monitoring, automation, and predictive maintenance. For instance, Industrial IoT in action has enabled us to gain insight into energy consumption and the health condition of the asset. This technology even allows us to schedule maintenance by informing us about the future condition of the asset.

Employing and integrating IoT in the existing process reduces costly downtime, improves assets, and reduces energy costs.

IoT in the retail sector:

Retail sectors are already using IoT in different innovative ways. One of the key areas is tracking energy consumption not at one store but all the stores present in the entire region or at the national level.

The IoT system can also be used to know which stores are using high energy in lighting or heating; in-store sensors allow us to track energy usage at a more granular level.

Other than this, IoT is also used to optimize store experiences. It is now possible to know the interest area of the shoppers, where they are spending most of the time. This helps retailers improve their stores’ layout to reduce congestion, increase stay time and boost sales. We can say that IoT technology and its different uses are building the ‘high streets of the future.

IoT in the construction sector:

Internet of Things is also contributing to making the construction sector smarter. Smart buildings are one of the most loved concepts possible by IoT. Using IoT and integrated sensors to know the air quality of the site or the surrounding area, such as parks and schools, is one of the key usages.

IoT in construction areas allows construction managers to accurately assess the real-time effect of their work on air quality. IoT in construction also ensures the safety of construction workers and nearby people.

IoT in the agriculture Sector:

The increasing population shows that we will need more food production in the coming year. UN has also estimated that we will need to produce 70% more food to meet the global demand by 2050. Internet of Things will help this sector overcome the looming food shortage challenge by reducing food wastage and increasing yield.

Supervising and tracking workers, machine efficiency, crop and livestock health, and predicting weather are some of the ways through which IoT promises to boost productivity with minimum wastage. Employment of agriculture drones and smart agriculture sensors are already helping agriculture workers by providing real-time production data. Besides this, sensors to track important atmospheric aspects like light, humidity, temperature, air quality, and soil aspects like soil moisture, nutrition, etc., contribute to better yield. This has automated the tasks which involved manual and human interference. Thus, saving labor costs and time as well.

Another way through which IoT is helping agriculture farmers is by providing predictive analytics through better quality data. Using data, farmers can estimate the yield and make better storage plans to keep the produce after harvesting.

IoT in smart cities:

Well, IoT in urban areas has been very influential. People are enjoying the leverages provided by IoT like smart houses, smart street lights, or smart bottles. IoT has occupied an important place in the planning and management of cities. Many countries are using IoT for waste management, traffic control, and public transport systems.

Using IoT, it is now possible to know the number of people in transit at a particular time and opt for a better route to avoid congestion. In cities where flooding is a serious concern, IoT can be used to track the real-time water level in the river. The flood defense system starts when the water level increases and helps mitigate the risk.

We’re on the way to a smart connected world:

IoT has successfully infiltered in major sectors contributing to the economy’s growth. Today, if we look around, we’ll observe that everything is getting smart and automated. All thanks go to IoT for making life more hassle-free and productive. However, some areas are still untouched by the magic of IoT, but it is predicted that it will be covered soon in the coming years. It is estimated that global expenditure on IoT will be around $1,100 billion (€1060.02 billion) in 2023, almost double 2018 $646 billion (€622.52 billion).

This shows that IoT will continue to reform the industries making them more profit-oriented without compromising quality. Hence, we can conclude that high-quality data can help make anything prompt, cheap, and more efficient with less waste.

How will IoT Make Building Smart and Greener

How will IoT Make Building Smart and Greener?

Smart building technology is becoming a new fashion, fuelled by a global need for better sustainability, reduced waste, and optimal use of resources.

Smart buildings are accessorized with technological advancements of the latest technology, i.e., the Internet of Things, to manage resources, assets, and services effectively, boosting building operations, energy consumption and resource management, and overall resident experience.

Today, buildings are responsible for around 38 percent of global CO2 emissions and 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption; therefore, remodeling buildings’ energy consumption and sustainability are vital to meeting global climate goals.

To adapt this remodeling has already been made clear by U.S. President Biden’s administration, who informed the Buildings Performance Standards Coalition in January. It will be a first-of-its-kind partnership between 33 states and local governments working hard to deliver cleaner, healthier, and more energy-efficient buildings.

The process of optimizing energy consumption in the building sector is a gigantic undertaking; it can begin at the smallest level, i.e., from the tiny chips that power the IoT.

Smart buildings integrate IoT technology into many areas- from digitizing people’s flow and space usage to reconstructing water supply networks. One of the biggest prospects for smart buildings is revolutionizing energy consumption, beginning with smart energy distribution systems and smart HVAC equipment.

Smart Energy Distribution Systems:

Traditional energy distribution systems are positioned in a unidirectional fashion in which energy is expected to flow from generators into loads. 

Usually, power plants generate energy and collect it in the urban centers of these systems.

The introduction and utilization of renewable energy sources like solar and wind have changed the picture of the energy distribution as the energy distribution system has to permit omnidirectional energy flow. A building that consumed energy could now integrate rooftop solar panels to produce and return excess energy into the grid.

Smart energy allocation systems authorize this omnidirectional energy flow and facilitate the integration of renewable distributed energies to collect energy back into the power grid. This whole system reduces energy consumption by enhancing the system’s efficiency and even uncloses a distributed energy generation model. Buildings are becoming energy producers and giving up their earlier character that is consuming energy, ultimately shifting towards green energy.

Advanced sensors and wireless IoT technologies are laying the foundation for smart energy grid transformation, where smart buildings play a pivotal role in fostering a greener, more connected power grid to shape a more sustainable future.

Smart HVAC Systems:

Smart HVAC systems are exciting evolution in smart buildings, which provides energy efficiency, air quality, and resident comfort. With the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, vendors are looking at a shortened HVAC upgrade cycle. Dealers and distributors are integrating their HVAC systems with new and smart technologies. Today, when everything is shaping into a smart version, building residents are now expecting granular control of HVAC settings in each room and area of their building. In this situation, IoT is a savior as it adds a new level to the comfort experience inside the buildings.

Motorized vents and dampers integrated with wireless connectivity to phones and tablets allow residents to set the temperature and the CO2, humidity, and air quality. Building managers can also benefit from IoT connectivity to know the room occupancy, reduce energy usage, and optimize energy use throughout the premises.

Monitoring Building Health:

Monitoring building health is another important aspect of smart building growth areas. More environmental sensors are being added to buildings beyond traditional temperature and humidity. These sensors control smart dampers for better airflow and outdoor air exchange, manage connected equipment for predictive maintenance to avoid equipment failure, flow meters for real-time leak detection, gas sensors to detect air particles, and many other things.

We are already familiar with connected fire and smoke detection sensors, but with the addition of the latest technology, we can witness more wireless connectivity with long-range wireless and Bluetooth to develop an installer interface.

All three major applications, i.e., energy management, fire safety, and building health monitoring add more connectivity and digital capability.

The Importance of Reliability and Cybersecurity:

Well, aside from the great benefits offered by smart building, there are some challenges faced by smart building to be dealt with with skilled engineering.

The first challenge is technological: wireless networks of such complex systems should be reliable and stable. Though wireless mesh network technology is highly adept, vendors and manufacturers are required to ensure the reliability of their products to estimate the true potential of wireless networks in building environments.

Integrating wireless networks makes buildings vulnerable to cyber attacks. Silicon vendors and product manufacturers have stepped up their cybersecurity game to combat such threats. Uncompromised efforts and constant focus on security while developing and distributing smart solutions will be highly helpful in transforming the building sector.

A Smarter, Greener Future:

The best part about smart buildings is that they are not limited to just brand new structures; these buildings can be retrofitted with smart technology as well. Implementing wireless connectivity in existing systems allows for smooth adoption and speeds up the adoption of wireless communications in buildings.

The initiation of both public and private sectors to improve energy use in the building sector signifies that the coming years will be the era of smart building adoption. Today, when it has become important to reduce CO2 emissions in all sectors and maximize energy efficiency and consumption, the employment of the latest technology and the use of IoT in buildings can charter the way to sustainability and improve the quality of life for individuals and group level.

How to Improve Your IoT Device Security

How to Improve Your IoT Device Security?

The Internet of Things has turned out to be the most life-changing invention of the era. The concept of connected devices has simplified day to day life and has upgraded the word ‘comfort’.

Internet of things has penetrated in every section, and with time it will become the spine of all the ruling industries. From smart mobile to smartwatch, from smart energy grids to IoT enabled industry machines, smart houses to smart towns, smart bicycles, smart hospitals, smart buildings, smart fitness trackers, smart refrigerators, smart medical sensors, smart security systems etc. If you see around, you will find out how things are becoming smart day by day, promising more comfort and less ambiguity.

We can simply celebrate the idea of establishing a network of things or physical objects embedded with software, sensors and technologies to connect and exchange data with other connected systems or devices over the internet that has become an idea of the century.

But, to protect this virtual network of physical objects or devices, we have to ensure robust IoT security because it helps shield connected networks and IoT devices. IoT security guarantees that any connected device, smart TV, smart refrigerators or smart locks, etc., is safe and free from hacking.

If IoT security work is executed precisely, it will be challenging for hackers to control IoT devices and steal the user’s digital data.

Let’s know how IoT security could be strengthened to establish a more secure and protected connected future.

Risk-Based Strategy:

A risk-based strategy is a mindset that empowers you to enhance the certainty of achieving outcomes by using techniques or methods that recognize threats and opportunities. This approach can be used during operations while designing the product or at product improvement stages.

Besides this, a risk-based approach also enables you to seize opportunities and skips from losses and enhances the entire working system throughout the organization.

Thus, we can easily conclude that considering a risk-based approach should be the main element of quality management systems, performance excellence processes, including ISO 9001:2015. The risk-based approach also helps you know the risk model of devices, and you can implement relevant security controls in an IoT system.

Updation of Firmware & Software:

IoT security requires timely updating of firmware and software, improving safety and offering plenty of other benefits.

For instance, timely updating software and firmware help repair security loopholes that might happen due to computer bugs. The updated process is meant to revise all the features present in IoT devices and allow you to add or update features to IoT devices and remove the older ones. Updating also allows your operating system to run on the latest version. Suppose, if you don’t opt for updating or renewing your IoT connected devices, then things might turn opposite, and you might not enjoy many benefits in your business.

Well, updating process requires some IoT security testing services to eliminate any kind of security issues within the IoT ecosystem. 

Nevertheless, several IoT testing techniques like threat modelling, firmware analysis, protocol testing, incident response testing, etc., offer more stable and robust solutions.

IoT Device Security Features:

If you own a small connected device or having a complex IoT device network, then try to match the specific security criteria with IoT security testing.

IoT has seven fundamental characteristics; based on your need, you can perform testing to ensure that all device features are working correctly, bug-free, and free from all hacking risks.

  • Connectivity:  In IoT devices, everything is connected, from hardware, sensors, electronics to systems; this means one has to ensure that connected hardware and control systems are able of making connections between various levels or not.
  • Things: Your IoT enabled device may comprise different sensors or sensing materials that need to be attached to appliances and items properly.
  • Data: We all are familiar that Data is the adhesive of IoT, and it is determined as the primary step towards action and intellect.
  • Communication: IoT enabled devices are connected with one or more systems; thus, this allows data to communicate while transferring or sharing through devices. In fact, communication is not limited by distance; it can take place over short or long distances. Let’s take the example of Wi-Fi. We all know that Wi-Fi is simple to connect with software for audio or video calls. Thus, in IoT, the data transferred from one place to another need to be analyzed and tested.
  • Intelligence: IoT devices hold sensing capabilities, or we can call Intelligence, and this capability is gained from Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Action: It can be defined as a consequence of Intelligence, and it can be based on manual interpretation or debates. For instance, in a smart factory, automation assists in taking important decisions to create more profits and reduce errors.
  • Ecosystem: It can be described as a place of the Internet of Things that connects to other communities, technologies, the picture, or goals the IoT can fit. The characteristics mentioned earlier of IoT should be considered while evaluating the security of IoT devices. Besides, following these characteristics enables you to check the security abilities to assure that IoT product is good to use.

    Furthermore, monitoring for factors allows you to establish specific answerability and responsibility lines for the IoT ecosystem.

Automate Security Whenever Possible:

We all know that there is a considerable demand for connected devices and endpoints. Therefore IoT deployment raises the need to identify the threat, monitor data and other related security levels.

However, the main goal of automation within the development stage will remain the same: to check the security.

Thus, it becomes necessary to check every feature of IoT devices to provide maximum protection to the user.

Data Encryption is important:

Sometimes, it is observed that many companies face a challenge in storing their data in an encrypted format. However, data encryption is the best option to improve IoT security as data will never be transferred in plain text. One can even go for an alternative option like VPN to protect confidential data if unable to encrypt data.

Conclusion

Internet of Things is serving more than expected; most enterprises leverage it to improve staff productivity and reduce human labour. IoT is a futuristic gateway to assure the potential use of resources and assets, the effectiveness of operations management, cut off operational costs, enhance customer services etc.

So, if you are planning to embrace IoT to achieve your business goals, then focus on improving the security of your devices first.

How is IoT Renovating Hotel and Hospitality Industry into Smart Ones?

IoT is already making so many industries and sectors smart and successful. No doubt, organizations are also embracing this new technology. Hospitality is another industry that devours the benefits of IoT by integrating it with internal management, and the output is more than expected.

We all know that housekeeping and maintenance have been the most critical components of smart hotel management. It is essential to keep a place running smoothly while maintaining quality, as it can affect the guests’ experience. When everything is done accurately, guests may not even notice that maintenance or housekeeping is being performed. In fact, issues are resolved before any guest sees it, or if someone notices it, requests are addresses immediately and seamlessly.

When things are not done as expected, it might go downhill much promptly- guests might complain, ask for recourse or write a negative review which ultimately causes business drop and no repeat business as well.

Thus, it is clear that the housekeeping and maintenance model matching guests’ needs and hotel management is challenging. Compromising quality and thoroughness by spending too little on housekeeping and maintenance may lead to guest dissatisfaction. Or spending too much on maintenance and housekeeping may result in appreciation, but you may feel that you’re spending more than the requirements.

So now, the most significant challenge is to know how to strike the proper perspective smart hotel?

Present Systems for Core Hospitality Functions and its disabilities:

Well, before switching to Smart Hotel, it is necessary to understand the state of current operations. To understand this, you need to ask few questions about housekeeping services like “How many rooms are cleaned every day or weekly? How much time is consumed in cleaning, and how many staff are engaged in it? How many rooms are allotted to a single staff and how assignments are made?

You even need to question on maintenance front, too, like “how often maintenance requests are made? What are the things which need frequent repair? How much is spent on maintenance?” It would be best to determine how often preventative maintenance is performed and how much it stops more significant issues from emerging down the line?
These small but essential questions are challenging to answer as these issues can be resolved only by employing the right system or process.

Many organizations discovered that their systems are:

Manual and Variable:

Apart from housekeeping and maintenance being hands-on and physical work, recordkeeping has also been manual. Every input must be made manually from room allotment to service requests, thus dragging the possibility of errors and sometimes ambiguity.

Disintegrated:

Even if the software is part of hotel management, there are separate systems for each function that troubles to find out who’s doing what or what happened at what time. The process for housekeeping can be different from the maintenance procedure. Sometimes, a system for maintenance requests is varied depending on the type of service or vendor.

Responsive:

We all know that most maintenance systems are dependent on submitting service orders to acknowledge or resolve things that are already broken. This results in a system that reacts to the emerging problems rather than one that actively works to fix them before it happens.

These different and manual systems have been part of the industry for a long time despite having limitations. Now, there are many firms and companies that offer software to digitize and collect housekeeping and maintenance operations. Yet, these solutions are still dependent on some level of human interference. Whether recording time spent completing a particular task or determining if something needs servicing indicates the degree of unpredictability and difference in the data as long as you do not have a smart hotel.

Monitor Smart Hotel Functions in Real-Time and Get Actionable Insights

The Internet of Things empowers hospitality industry professionals to view the current status of essential services like maintenance and housekeeping in entirely new dimensions, analyze past data in a centralized form and utilize data to extract actionable insights to improve the business.

Let us know the benefits of employing IoT based housekeeping and maintenance solutions.

Set Alerts for Dynamic Maintenance

Leak sensors on water lines and bathroom fixtures, vibration sensors on HVAC appliances and airflow sensors in ducts can be helpful. These sensors provide alert when things are damaged or broken, and it can even identify problems before it turns into a big issue. These sensors can be installed on an individual room basis or in common utility areas to get alerts. One can set a limit for moisture, airflow or vibration to get alerts to perform preventive maintenance or promptly address the arising situation accordingly. With sufficient available data, some IoT solutions use machine learning or artificial intelligence to execute complex models for predictive maintenance.

Better Staffing and Resource Planning

Attaching proximity sensors and indoor positioning beacons to either housekeeping staff uniforms or carts can provide data on rooms cleaned at any given time. As staff move from one room to another, these sensors capture the data of time spent by the staff in cleaning a room without manual reporting. By getting zone and room level data, hotel management can know the current state of rooms- cleaned or have to be cleaned. Occupancy sensors installed in rooms can inform staff with a real-time indication of which room to skip to avoid the requirement for repeated manual follow-ups. Collecting and analyzing past housekeeping data can help pinpoint operational bottlenecks to notify total staff headcount and cut housekeeping costs.

Enhanced Guest Experience

Interactive tablets are added in rooms for the comfort of guests to place room service orders like request extra towels or mark their room as ‘Do Not Disturb.’ When these sensors are integrated with housekeeping and maintenance data in a centralized system, front desk employees get access to the real-time dashboard of every room’s status, enabling them to respond to requests and send the required personnel. This ultimately results in an improved service experience where services are prompt and seamless to visitors.

Analytics and Administration Monitoring

Data collected from housekeeping, maintenance and guest service requests can be utilized to bring about reports and metrics like average cleaning time consumed per room, maintenance requests made per week, or average request fulfilment time. Sensors attached to HVAC appliances can be utilized to monitor energy usage and optimize it in response.

Thus organizations are aware of metrics that can be deployed for suitable operational changes.

Different Sensors, Networks, and Software to Meet Your Needs

Sensors used in an IoT solution will depend on the particular demands of the Smart Hospitality use case. For example, to track housekeeping activities through indoor positioning, current hardware technology consists of WiFi tracking tags, BLE beacons, or RFID tags. For maintenance purpose, leak sensors, there is ultrasonic-based and mechanical impeller leak sensors. Vibration sensor technologies comprise piezoelectric and MEMS-based accelerometers.

In Smart Hotel network connectivity, sensors can cooperate with the cloud through a variety of wired and wireless protocols, like

  • WiFi or Ethernet
  • LoRa and other LPWAN protocols
  • Cellular (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

In the end, you’ll need an IoT software platform to ingest, convert, and envision the data. This may also comprise the skill to connect or remove sensors to various appliances and assets, set alerts and create customized reports.

Thus we can conclude that IoT supports hospitality organizations to stay ahead of the curve in the guest experience and streamline operations.

How is IoT Making Buildings Smart and Efficient

How is IoT Making Buildings Smart and Efficient?

Internet of Things is making space for its growth in almost every sector. We can say that the day is not far when the Internet of things will become a primordial need of every industry. It has just not changed the outlook of the manufacturing or retail or logistic industry or dairy but is contributing in enhancing the profits as well as helping in providing better service to customers. 

So, today most of the sectors are willing to adopt the most innovative technology, i.e. IoT, because of the favours and benefits provided by it. As per surveys, the global IoT market would grow by $421.28 billion during 2021-2025 — a CAGR of 33% and $8 billion in 2019 to $19 billion by 2027 in the construction industry. 

Well, if we talk about managing facilities and buildings, you might take some time to calculate the work and task and feel burdensome. Maintaining facilities in a building requires effort and cautiousness because a bit of delay may end up in an unhealthy environment along with disappointment. 

So, let us see how IoT applications are helping in managing facilities and buildings

Today, facility managers have to work proactively to stay competitive and ahead of the curve. They should have knowledge of technology and innovations. They should offer new digital services and ensure that their buildings are adapted for the future while ensuring the most reliable environment for everyone who will be using it. 

Let us check some of the ways through which IoT is improving buildings and facilities. 

How is IoT improving facility management?

Internet of Things-enabled devices can improve facility management and make premises a better place for employees and everyone else working with the organization.

The advantages of including IoT in building management are:

  • IoT reduces operational costs by creating cost-effective, energy-efficient buildings that operate efficiently and handle resources in the most optimal way.
  • IoT keeps employees safe and healthy by encouraging clean, tidy, and hygienic environments that are regulated and cleaned as per the need caused by the constant movement of humans.
  • IoT promises to maximize productivity, ensuring all team members have everything they require to complete their tasks and stay relaxed and concentrated all the time.
  • IoT devices ensure safety and risk mitigation; they detect risk areas, automate relevant action, and keep physical and digital assets safe and secure as long as possible.

Facility Management Examples:

Managing Desk and Workplace Occupancy using IoT:

As the COVID-19 pandemic has hit globally, one of the biggest challenges was running a business to sustain the economy. Most of the organizations and companies adopted the startling trend and provided remote employment. There is a massive rise in remote working, i.e. from early COVID-19 to March 2021; remote employment increased from 15% to 70%. 

It is supposed that this work from home facility won’t be a temporary change- about half of the employees expect this work from home culture would continue for them into the near future, and 31% believe it will be permanent.

Internet of Things can support businesses in managing their premises effectively and efficiently during this challenging time. In coming years occupancy can fluctuate between days as we move towards a model where employees will join the office a few days each week. 

IoT enabled devices such as sensors attached to desks can trace, predict and inform office occupancy. It creates digital plans that would allow employees to find space promptly. It offers the tools to optimize the existing space by grouping desks as per the need of the office. IoT even saves energy and helps in freeing up space for new uses.

Air Quality Monitoring using IoT:

Air quality issues have been a significant concern, but pandemics brought this issue into the spotlight. Air quality and proper ventilation have always been a priority concern in offices. Before COVID-19, poor ventilation has caused:

  • Easily disease developed
  • High possibility of respiratory diseases such as asthma
  • Allergies
  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Dry eyes

Improper ventilation also impacts productivity- one study saw that poor ventilation at the workplace decreased employees’ cognitive ability, making them perform worse at their jobs and decreasing their productivity. 

One of the best solutions to this issue is adopting IoT devices to measure air quality conditions such as humidity, temperature, CO2 levels, etc. This feature enables pinpointing the areas for concern and taking relevant actions to create a safe and healthy environment for employees which ultimately improves productivity for the entire team.

Washroom Monitoring using IoT:

A clean washroom is a priority and no doubt, keeping a restroom clean in a busy office with limited cleaning staff and resources is challenging. Keeping the washroom tidy is an essential part of managing a pleasant, healthy and safe environment.

Thankfully, IoT is a saviour in this situation also. IoT devices can track the washroom business, enabling the prediction of when rooms will require cleaning and how many times in a day.

Thus, one can allocate a building’s cleaning resources more efficiently and help cleaning staff spend time more effectively. Therefore, this helps develop a cleaner and more enjoyable environment for employees in the organization and reduces extra expenditure and saves resources.

Conclusion:

Smart buildings hold a great scope in future. IoT is becoming part of every sector. It is widely used, more affordable and can manage a wide variety of jobs. No doubt it will soon become part of the furniture in offices and other commercial building globally.

We can doubtlessly say that IoT technology is ideal for facility management and brings the smart building revolution. It just not benefits the organization but also take care of employees. It smoothens the working process of the organization without compromising on quality.

If you become a part of this expanding trend now, you’ll be capable of managing your facilities in the most effective, productive and cost-efficient way. But if you are still in a dilemma and choose to work using the old-tradition method, you might face failure and loss.

So, don’t waste your time and become a part of this trend.

How is IoT Transforming the Retail Business?

How is IoT (Internet Of Things) Transforming the Retail Business?

Today, almost all industries are utilizing the benefits offered by the Internet of Things. One of the biggest markets affecting the industry, i.e. retail industry, is also encountering an exciting transformation with innovative IoT applications.

Retailers and marketers are enjoying unlimited opportunities with IoT applications to collect and produce more intense insights into customer response and purchasing patterns.

IoT applications aids retailers in increasing productivity, sales and enhances the overall customer experience. Such benefits have improved the image of IoT and made it a centre of attraction among retailers across the globe.

Marketers and businesses expect the revenue of IoT in retail to stretch around 35.5 billion USD by the end of 2025. Today retailers can use IoT technology in their business in different ways to get the most optimal result.

How IoT helps retailers in improving business?

Nowadays, retailers are adopting IoT to enhance customer experience, reduce costs, drive growth and enhance overall performance. Let’s see how IoT supports retailers in improving business.

Smart Shelves:

In a retail business, it has been observed that a considerable amount of time and energy is spent in keeping track of items, i.e. to confirm the availability of a product and know the condition of the product. Using smart shelves is a better solution to end the hassle. IoT technology in retail helps automate monitoring products and reduces the possibility of any possible vandalism.

Retailers attach sensors and RFID tags on the shelves to monitor the products and gather the data. The readers have to scan products on both display shelves and stock shelves.

IoT enabled smart shelve informs the retailer about when items are incorrectly placed on the shelf or running low. It helps to control the management of inventory in a precise and cost-effective way. The RFID tags are attached to a reader that gives the smart shelves the capability to identify in-store thefts. Hence, it cuts off the extra expenditure spend on security personnel.

Automated Checkouts:

Most of the time, store’s checkout counters are the busiest place holding lines of customers for their turn to pay the bills. IoT technology has solutions for this issue as well. It resolves the issue effectively by establishing a system that can read tags on each item when customers leave the store.

The checkout system matches the items with RFID tags and automatically deduct the cost from the customer’s mobile payment application. The automated checkout system improves the customer experience and increases the probability of their revisit to the store for next shopping.

Personalized Discounts:

Loyal customers expect some privileges like personal discounts or rewards for their loyalty. One of the best ways to meet their expectation is setting up sensors that send loyalty discounts to loyal customers when they reach the specific products with their smartphones.

Another way is to adopt IoT to monitor those items that the customer has been searching online and send a personalized discount when the item is available in-store. Through engaging offers Internet of Things can surprise the customers and sustain their loyalty.

Thus adding IoT into a daily business needs foresightedness and creativity. The innovative and smart approach attracts more valuable and long-term customers.

In-Store Layout Optimization:

By Implementing analytics on the data collected using infrared sensors, the store’s layout can be optimized by placing the products at their appropriate place. Also, placing the popular products at the front and least liked at the back can offer a comfortable way to customers to reach the desired item.

Suppose a customer is searching for a popular Smart TV in-store, but it is placed behind an old DVD player’s stock; thus, it is blocking the way to the TV. This inconvenience might result in losing a potential customer. Therefore, in-store layout optimization plays a vital role in a retail business.

The use of IoT applications helps a customer find and locate their desired products in-store, help find the best route to reach their selected items, and check the details of the product provided by the smart shelves.

Optimized Supply Chain Management:

The RFID tags and GPS sensors attached to each product provides precise data about the products’ condition like temperature, humidity, time spent in transportation, and other product-related factors. When the collected data is processed and analyzed to gain insights, it can improve transport and the overall supply chain. In addition, IoT sensors alert the person in charge in case of any emergency and enable them to take necessary actions immediately to avoid substantial loss.

Conclusion:

Internet of Things is transforming the outlook of the retail industry by implementing smart solutions. The adoption of IoT solutions in the retail business can help in improving customer experience, reduce operational costs, improves inventory management and high-quality services.

By extracting valuable insights through IoT and Data analytics, retailers can manage and schedule their operations, including inventory management, supply chain, boost marketing conversions, and ROIs. Thus these features will attract retailers to adopt IoT into their businesses in the upcoming year to enhance their benefits.