IoT as we know stands for the Internet of Things. Gartner reports that there are 14.2 billion connected things in use in 2019. The company also indicated that there will be 25 billion connected things by 2021.
Though initially, the growth of IoT was low but with time the growth is picking up. A wide variety of IoT devices are getting introduced every day in the marketplace like smart cameras, smart watches and other smart IoT-enabled devices.
Jobs in this domain are also growing with the growing demand. If you are also looking for a job in IoT, here are the most frequently asked questions with answers.
Ques 1. What are the main components of an IoT Device?
Ans: An IoT device comprises of the following 5 key components:
| S.NO | COMPONENT | USAGE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sensors | Helps in actual data collection |
| 2 | Network | Transfers the collected information into the Database |
| 3 | Storage | Permanently stores the data received for further processing |
| 4 | Processing | Stored data is processed and analysed to create meaningful reports |
| 5 | Mobile/Web Interface | Used to display up-to-date statistics and reports to the end-users |
Ques 2. What are the various types of sensors available?
Ans: Some examples of the various types of sensors available and deployed in IoT devices are:
- Temperature Sensor
- Humidity Sensor
- Motion Sensor
- Lux Sensor
- Smoke Sensor
- Proximity Sensors
- Gas Sensors
- Water Sensors
- Heartbeat Sensor
Ques 3: What are the various sectors where IoT is being used with use case. Give 3 examples.
Ans: While nowadays IoT technology is being deployed in almost every sector, here are 3 common examples.
| S.NO | SECTOR | IoT USE CASE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthcare | Typical use case of smart monitoring devices for measuring and monitoring blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate etc. Further, these devices can also send triggers to the pre-mentioned contacts in case of any emergency situation. |
| 2 | Real Estate and Housing | With the smart home concept gaining popularity, the usage of IoT devices in the real estate sector is showing a steady increase. Products related to smart lighting and smart surveillance are being increasingly deployed in high-end smart homes and offices. The introduction of smart assistants like Alexa is also gaining pace for enhanced ease of life. |
| 3 | Logistics | Another key area where IoT is being widely deployed to monitor the supply chain. From monitoring the storage conditions for raw materials and finished goods to monitoring other environmental factors like light, humidity, temperature etc. |
Ques 4: What is IoT Protocol Stack?
Ans: IoT protocol stack refers to the various protocols involved in the design. Each protocol works at a given layer of the IoT architecture for performing a specific task.
The lowest layer protocol deals with the low-level physical device interaction while the highest layer protocol is used to communicate with the end-users.
| S.NO | TCP/IP LAYER | FUNCTION | PROTOCOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Application | This layer is used for direct end-user interaction. | MQTT HTTPS AMQP CoAP |
| 2 | Transport | Responsible for end-to-end error free data transmission. Also manages the flow control and congestion avoidance. | TCP UDP |
| 3 | Internet Layer | Used in logical addressing of the network packets | IPV6 6LoWPAN |
| 4 | Physical and Data Link | Works at the physical device level for low-level physical device interaction. | LPWAN WiFi LTE BLE ZIGBEE |
Ques 5: What is Arudino?
Ans: Arudino devices are commonly used for IoT development and testing purposes. The following list explains the key attribute of arudino device.
- Arodino is an open-source easy to use electronics platform. Every arudino board comes equipped with an embedded microcontroller.
- Arudino devices are able to read inputs via the installed sensors like if any light is falling on the sensor, any object is near the sensor and so on.
- Basis the input received via the sensors, the arudino device can trigger a predefined action like blinking red light, making a beep sound, or display specific information on the screen.
- Arudino devices are programmable as per requirements and for programming of arudino devices, the preferred way is to use the arudino IDE. This is an open-source integrated development environment primarily written in Java. It works on multiple OS like Windows, Mac and Linux.
If you are interested in learning more about Arduino, here are a few quick resources:
1. Best Arudino Toolkits
2. Best reference books
Ques 6: What is Raspberry Pi?
Raspberry Pi is an alternative to Arudino and commonly used for IoT development and testing purposes. The following list explains the key attribute of Raspberry Pi devices.
- Raspberry Pi is a small-sized micro-computer that can be programmed as per the user’s needs.
- Raspberry Pi works on Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) which is open-source and available to download from their website.
- Raspberri Pi uses Linux based operating system, Light Weight XII Desktop Environment (LXDE) as the desktop environment and Google Chromium as the lightweight web browser.
If you are interested in learning more about Raspberry Pi, here are a few quick resources:
1. Best Raspberry Pi Toolkits
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2. Best reference books
