We have a lot of devices at our workplace and homes which are controlled by just applications on our smartphones. We are increasingly using them to connect numerous IoT devices. Even without remote controls of their own, the application is capable of carrying out the operations relating to these devices efficiently.
IoT Environment
Many devices today that we have in our houses and at our offices are embedded with the kind of technology that makes controlling them using a smartphone possible. They have various sensors controllers already built into them. Most of the devices around are built this way.
All of these machines have been programmed to do specific tasks. Washing machine, for example, has been programmed to wash, rinse, and spin depending on how you set their various dials and knobs when you first switch on. If you have a natural-gas-powered central heating system, most likely you also have a thermostat on the wall that switches it on and off according to the room temperature, or an electronic programmer that activates it at certain times of day whether or not you’re in the house.
How Do Phones Control Devices?
Every device today can be connected with a smart environment. IoT is only a huge database. The communication between phones and IoT devices is done by the same principle with which computers talk to each other over the internet, which is via a standard agreed on communication method called the Internet Protocol, or IP.
The IP: Every device has a unique address called an IP address which exchange and the exchange of data takes place in little bits and these bits are called packets. When IoT components use this IP address or a wifi connection to talk to an internet-connected router, they can be controlled through a web browser anywhere from the world. This makes up the controlling of the devices in our houses and workplaces controllable from the phones that are connected to the internet.
The web of things: It has an intelligent control and a sensor network, among which the sensor network helps in monitoring the environment and the intelligent control controls the data around. Sensor network processes information like change in the environment condition, for example, change in temperature, in case of a temperature sensor. It sensor any change in the environment and reports it.
Intelligent Control: This uses this information given by the sensor network to control the environment. In the phone applications that we use to control these devices, the applications use the sensor network data and the intelligent control component then controls the operation, based on this data and our requirement.
WiFi Routers: There are also devices that have been made such that they can communicate with the home or office wifi router. This makes it possible to control the device using a smartphone application. In the same way, security objects can also be controlled using the same method of mobile applications. The devices have sensors and alarms which they use to connect with a web interface in order to control these devices even when the user is at his workplace.
In Conclusion
There have been many different kinds of attempts, apart from the mobile phones, that has made controlling the IoT devices. Apple, for example, has a device called HomeKit that turns iPhones into smart home controllers. It also has something called a HealthKit to let the user monitor his health and fitness and also share the data with a doctor. Google also has a Home and Fit that helps in monitoring and analysing data collected from wearable sensors and trackers. Samsung has SmartThings Hub for the same purpose and Amazon has Alexa.
With increasing IoT devices and the convenience of operations through mobile phones, the technology is definitely making our lives more and more comfortable.
