Internet of Things Applications

Raymond Hightower remembers exactly the moment he has learned the meaning of the word “Internet.” But when it comes to the phrase “Internet of Things,” the universe of IoT, he is clueless as to when and where he heard the phrase for the first time.



“The Internet of Things has just flooded into computer science,” said Hightower, a 52-years-old native of Chicago and software development entrepreneur. “Nowadays, everybody is experimenting with it, with the same excitement we were experimenting with the Web in 1993.” Hightower himself is currently exploring how to integrate the IoT with the apps for business his company WisdomGroup produces and sells. And he’s not the only one who sees potential to generate revenue by using IoT applications in the Chicago area.

The Midwest – and the Windy City in particular – is positioned to be a leader in the emerging IoT sector, according to a report released in April by the Illinois Technology Association. The inventory of the number IoT companies includes 75 headquartered in Illinois, some of them well-established or even public (such as Gogo Wireless or Motorola Solutions). But the majority are new-born.

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A product connected to the Web is the idea that most people have about IoT. “For example, if I left the garage door open, a sensor would send me a notification,” said Don DeLoach, 55, member of the executive committee of the Illinois Technology Association for the past five years. However, the IoT is far more than that. To explain what the IoT is, DeLoach describes a 5-step process involving an everyday object – a dishwasher.

Step One is simply a machine that washes dishes.

Step Two is a dishwasher with some programmable functions – a smart product.

Step Three is a dishwasher that the owner can control remotely, by using a smartphone – a smart connected product.

Step Four is a dishwasher that is part of a home network – a system.

Step Five is a dishwasher that can use information by accessing another system. For example, a dishwasher that is aware of its own energy utilization by tapping the energy system for a residence – a system of systems.

“The IoT is the technology from Step Three to Step Five,” says DeLoach.

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“IoT requires a lot of hardware support,” said Scasny. “Do we really need to spend money in sensors? Most sensors have also batteries that needs to be replaced from time to time. How should batteries be replaced in a network that consists of, say, 10,000 sensors?”

Lakeview resident Brent Uzelac, a 32-years-old project manager for a major IoT corporation, is not concerned at all about the downsides of the IoT.

“As long as I use Internet of Things for my purposes, I don’t have any privacy concern,” said Uzelac. “Internet of Things is a sort of child of the telegraph: a tool to make lives better.”

See more at: northwestern.edu