New-Tech Europe Magazine | July 2017

IoT Special Edition

Simplifying Sub-GHz IoT

Andreas Laute, Melexis

The internet reached a major milestone a little over 10 years ago. Around 2004/5, according to Cisco, we reached the point that there was one device (‘thing’) per person on the planet connected to the internet. In fact, now, this global network has become known as the 'Internet of Things' (IoT). By now, it is estimated that there are between three and four internet-connected devices per person and this will almost double within the next three years, leading to around 26 billion devices on the IoT by 2020 (according to Gartner). Although many organizations are investing a lot of resources, it is difficult to predict the size of the total IoT market. Early assumptions were forecasting more than 50 billion devices. Yet, a more realistic and recent forecast from ABI predicts a total 36 billion connected IoT

devices by 2020. The ABI forecast anticipates 19 billion IoT nodes, 11 billion gateways and 6 billion mobile devices. Future revenue potential for the IoT is even more difficult to estimate, due to the newness and rapid growth of the sector. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates somewhere between $4 trillion and $11 trillion in 2025. Whatever the actual number of devices and associated revenue become, it is clear that the IoT is going to form a major part of the future. When comparing the IoT to the 'regular' internet, it becomes obvious that a far greater proportion of activity on the IoT is machine-to- machine (M2M) communications. The information that travels on this network is mostly generated,

interpreted, stored and acted upon without direct human intervention. Each of these uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices exists within the existing internet infrastructure and, when interconnected, will facilitate automation in nearly all aspects of daily life as well as enabling advanced applications of the future. Very soon, in fact by 2020, it is estimated that home devices such as white goods and HVAC systems will outnumber computers on the internet. The rapid growth in applications is due to a combination of brand new product concepts (such as wearable fitness devices) and smart factories that are able to be controlled and monitored remotely as well as new spins on established technology – such as smart home applications

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