What is the IoT?
The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the Internet, all collecting and sharing data. Thanks to the arrival of super-cheap computer chips and the ubiquity of wireless networks, it is possible to transform anything, from something as small as a pill to something as big as an airplane, into a part of the IoT. Connecting all these different objects and adding sensors to them adds a level of digital intelligence to devices that would otherwise be less intelligent, allowing them to communicate data in real time without involving a human being. The Internet of Things is making the structure of the world around us smarter and more responsive, merging the digital and physical universes.
“The term “Internet of Things” would be a network of tags identifying products that could be monitored at any time (AUTO-ID LABS).”
In a broader view, IoT cannot be limited to tags only identifiers, they are part of something bigger. In addition to RFID, Communications Near Field Communications (Near Field Communications – NFC) and Sensor and Actuator Network (Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks – WSAN) would be atomic components that would link the real world to the digital world (PRESSER; GLUHAK 2009).