Ten trends of the Internet of Things in 2020
The Internet of Things (IoT, Internet of Things) is shaping the industrial and consumer world. Smart technologies continue to permeate every layer of the business and consumer sectors, from retail to healthcare, to finance to logistics, and every missed opportunity strategically seized by a competitor becomes virtually a long-term mistake for those companies that do not innovate [3]. 2020 is going to be a key year for the 4 components of the IoT model: Sensors, Networks (Communications), Analytics (the cloud) and Applications.
Some studies put the impact of advances in IoT technologies at an additional $ 344 billion in revenue and about $ 177 billion in cost savings. The IoT and smart devices are already helping to improve the performance metrics of major factories located on US soil. They are in the hands of the employees, facilitating routine management tasks and shooting productivity rates around 40 and 60% [1].
The following 10 trends explore the impact of many technologies on the IoT and shed light on the future of the IoT.
TREND 1: GROWTH IN DATA AND DEVICES WITH MORE HUMAN-DEVICE INTERACTION.
By the end of 2019 there will be about 3.6 billion devices actively connected to the internet and used in everyday tasks. The arrival of 5G will help open the door to many more devices and to an infinitely greater volume of data traffic. In addition, the growing pace of adoption of peripheral computing devices (edge computing) will allow companies to process data in a much faster way and closer to the points of action [1].
TREND 2: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, KEY IN IOT (AGAIN)
To get the most out of data, or even to understand at a basic level how modern infrastructures work, the assistance of computer systems with artificial intelligence capabilities is essential. The large providers of cloud services, such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, will increasingly bet on the development of their artificial intelligence capabilities as a competitive tool. More and more startups are trying to expand their market share through artificial intelligence algorithms capable of taking advantage of the possibilities offered by machine learning and deep learning technologies to better take advantage of the growing volume of data to which they have access [2].
BBVA-OpenMind-Ahmed Banafa-Ten Trends of IoT in 2020-Data-AI will help IoT data analysis in the following areas: Artificial intelligence will contribute to the analysis of IoT data.
Artificial intelligence is the fundamental ingredient to digest this vast amount of data available today and allow companies to extract all the value they treasure. Artificial intelligence will contribute to the analysis of IoT data in the following areas: data preparation, data discovery, data visualization, precision of data time series, predictive and advanced analytics, real-time geospatial location (logistics data) [1 ].
TREND 3: VUI: VOICE USER INTERFACE WILL BE A REALITY
Industry giants compete to secure a dominant position in the nascent IoT market. Digital assistants, such as HomePod, Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, are the technological platforms on which the next batch of smart devices will be developed and these companies are struggling to gain a foothold in the day-to-day lives of consumers, which will allow them to continue incorporating devices into their lives in a comfortable and simple way.
BBVA-OpenMind-Ahmed Banafa-Ten Trends of IoT in 2020-Alexa The use of voice to configure devices, modify our preferences, execute commands and receive results will become the norm.
Voice represents 80% of our daily communications. Like in science fiction movies, talking to robots is the most normal way to communicate with them. The use of voice to configure devices, modify our preferences, execute commands and receive results will become the norm, not only in smart homes and factories, but in the applications that incorporate our cars and wearables.
TREND 4: MORE INVESTMENTS IN IOT
Lured by the undeniable impact of the IoT, venture capitalists continue to be seduced by innovative hardware, software and service projects. Spending on IoT is projected to reach $ 1.4 trillion in 2021.
The IoT is one of the few markets that is equally attractive to both traditional and newer venture capital funds. As smart devices find their way into our
lives and delegate more and more tasks to them, it will continue to increase the attractiveness of IoT startups as an investment destination. Customers will continue to place high expectations on the following innovations in IoT – such as smart mirrors capable of analyzing our face, detecting if we are sick and calling the doctor, a smart cashier with smart security cameras, smart forks that can tell you what to eat and how to eat it smart beds that turn off the lights when it detects that its occupants have fallen asleep [1].
TREND 5: FINALLY, THE REAL EXPANSION OF THE SMALL IOT
Connectivity and processing capacity are key in the Internet of Things. His masterpiece will be smart cities, despite the fact that their development seems to be going through a stage of stagnation. Smart sensors will record all the activity that occurs at street level in a certain neighborhood: from routes traveled by pedestrians, to the use of shared cars, and the selection of temperatures 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to create a comfortable, safe and clean environment for those who live in them. Once the model is refined, it could be used as a template to develop other smart neighborhoods, and ultimately smart cities [1].
5G technology will allow all the electrical appliances of a smart home to work automatically. Credit: Maxpixel – Internet of Things trends in 2020 5G technology will allow all the appliances in a smart home to work automatically. Credit: Maxpixel
The potential benefits for cities, however, make the Internet of Things a really interesting technology. Cities of all sizes are investigating how to increase efficiency and safety levels by taking advantage of these new technologies as they deploy the necessary infrastructures to support them. One of the drivers of this change will be transportation: incorporating connectivity, intelligence and automation capabilities to roads has been shown to significantly increase their efficiency and the experience of their users. A factor called to be key in the development of smart cities will be 5G, which will allow the almost instantaneous transmission of analytical data flows. The deployment of 5G will mark the starting gun for the development of applications capable of taking advantage of the multitude of market opportunities that it will open [2].
In the automotive sector, the arrival of the Internet of Things is also going to be a true revolution, which will result in the progressive incorporation of autonomous vehicles into the urban landscape. Today many models already have connected applications capable of diagnosing the condition of cars. And this is possible thanks to the IoT technologies implanted in connected vehicles.
But this diagnostic capacity will not be the only IoT advance that will become general throughout the coming year. Connected applications, voice searches and up-to-date traffic information will be other advances that will change the way we drive [1].
TREND 6: THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL IOT AND DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGIES
Of all the amalgam of technologies that are driving the new techno-industrial revolution, the IoT is helping to make a qualitative leap in the levels of efficiency, safety and profitability of manufacturing processes. Industrial IoT offers superior levels of efficiency and productivity through data integration and analytics in a way that is impossible without interconnected manufacturing processes.
Another technology that is booming is that of “digital twins”, which allows organizations to reliably simulate how their IoT devices interact in production processes. and access information on the life cycle operation of your machines. This way they can anticipate changes before they are imminent. According to a Gartner survey, 48% of manufacturers that have adopted smart technologies have planned to use the concept of the digital twin [3].
TREND 7: ADVANCES IN EDGE COMPUTING
Peripheral computing, or edge computing, is a technology that distributes the processing load to the last nodes of a digital network (sensors in the case of ioT). The use of compute type poses very attractive advantages for IoT solution providers. For example, they allow you to minimize latency and preserve network bandwidth, operate reliably, speeding up decision-making, capture and protect a large number and types of data, and transfer the data to the most appropriate place for processing. , with better analysis of local data [1]. Edge computing technologies carry
several years on the rise, but the scope of IoT technology is accelerating its take-off process. As for the factors that are driving this change, two stand out:
Falling prices for peripheral devices with increasing processing power.
The increasing workload supported by centralized infrastructures.
Edge computing technology also makes the arrival of artificial intelligence much more feasible on devices, allowing companies to leverage their data series in real time rather than having to work with terabytes of data in central repositories in the world. cloud in real time. In the next few years, or even decades, the technology may evolve to find a balance point between the cloud and more powerful distributed edge devices [2].
Software vendors are developing dedicated, more robust and secure infrastructures, and security solution providers will begin to incorporate security solutions for peripheral components into their current service offering to prevent data loss, provide network health diagnostics, and protection against threats, including control of users with privileges and application permissions to help in the adoption of this type of technologies in companies [1].
TREND 8: INCREASING SECURITY THROUGH BLOCKCHAIN
As new threats begin to emerge, security will become an absolute priority in the IoT technology market. The complexity of threats stems from the heterogeneous and distributed nature of technology. There are already more than 26,000 million devices connected to the internet. Unauthorized access to Internet of Things devices and networks will be much more frequent in 2020 and it will be network operators who will have to start stopping intruders [4].
The current centralized architecture of the Internet of Things is one of the main causes of the vulnerability of IoT networks. With billions of devices connected, and millions more to come, the IoT is a perfect target for cybercrime. And that is why security is going to become an increasingly relevant factor.
Internet of Things trends in 2020 Through the use of Blockchain, it is possible to maintain the transparency and security of the data of a transaction. Image: pixabay
Blockchain offers new hope for IoT security, for a number of reasons. First of all, it is a public technology. Everyone who participates in the blockchain network node network can see and validate all the blocks and transactions stored in it. In addition, it also allows users to control their transactions using keys. Second, the blockchain network is decentralized, so that there is no single authority that can approve transactions by eliminating the Single Point of Failure (SPOF, or Single Point of Failure) weakness. Third, perhaps the most important aspect: it is a secure technology, the database can only be expanded, previous records cannot be changed.
In the coming years, manufacturers will recognize the benefits of incorporating distributed ledger technology into their devices, and certifying their devices as “Blockchain Certified” [1].
TREND 9: MORE SOCIAL, LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
IoT devices are the product of a new technology that is not subject to any type of regulation. The IoT of things is going to have to face the new social and legal dilemmas that are going to arise in the near future. One aspect that will require special attention is related to the data that these devices record, which could soon be covered under the umbrella of the General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD). Regarding the management of personal data and privacy, the GDPR extends its scope beyond the confines of the European Union. Any company that aspires to operate in the European market is obliged to observe the guidelines established in the 88 pages of the document. Security considerations are key from a personal data legal standpoint. Development teams can ensure the required level of security and compliance at different levels, including data encryption, active consent, and various verification physicians as well as other mechanisms. Its objective will be to ensure that the data recording is carried out in a legal manner, guaranteeing that it is only processed and stored for as long as it is necessary for the operation of the software product [3].
TREND 10: STANDARDIZATION, A PERSISTENT PROBLEM
Standardization is one of the main obstacles to which
it is going to face the Internet of Things – Especially now that the giants of the sector are immersed in a battle to secure a dominant position in this fledgling market. This competition is causing their fragmentation. One possible solution is to limit the number of dominant providers in the market, so that customers can choose one and ensure that all connected devices they purchase later are compatible with it, in a similar way to what happens in the case of operating systems, with Windows, Mac and Linux and without transversal standards between platforms.
BBVA-OpenMind-Ahmed Banafa-Ten Trends of IoT in 2020-Standardizewe need to deal with all three categories in the standardization process: Platform, Connectivity, and Applications We need to address all three categories in the standardization process: Platform, Connectivity, and Applications.
To understand the problems posed by standardization, we must take into account the three categories of the standardization process: Platform, connectivity and applications. In the case of the platform, it is about the experience and user interface and analytical tools, while connectivity refers to the customer’s points of contact with the devices. Lastly, applications are the software that controls, collects, and analyzes data. These three categories are interrelated and are all essential. If one fails, the model as a whole fails, slowing down the standardization process. There is no way to solve the fragmentation problem without a determined push from organizations like the IEEE or government regulations to develop common standards for connected devices [1].
