The wisdom of The Internet of Things strategy has, perhaps, been best demonstrated in my personal life by the fact that I now accept being tracked via my smartphone.
For me, the benefits greatly outweigh any nebulous privacy concerns. The smartphone that is now my constant companion serves also as my personal radio-frequency identification chip, guiding me along the most efficient route between Points A and B and alerting me to critical location-based data along the way.
How does this apply to the Industrial Arena?
With almost everything in Industrial Computing internet-enabled, the mobile phone is positioned to become the command center for all things M2M. This comes at a time when communication has expanded from one-to-one; to a system of networks that have the feasibility to transfer a plethora of data to personal devices.
It’s pretty amazing to think about it but there is the potential for your smartphone to dictate and carry out manufacturing and production processes, provide real-time access to mission-critical information and carry out product ordering/re-ordering. In a nutshell, the IP network expansion across the world has made it easier for M2M communication to occur and the power and time required has l decreased to allow for information to be communicated between machines.
There are still a few issues that must be resolved before the next step is taken:
- Do mobile phones possess the processing speed, radio types and data collection abilities to get the job done?
- What is the solution to increased data traffic and how can one be assured that the device being utilized for M2M will support a “live and 24/7” M2M process?
Once these questions have been answered and the user can be assured that their device will support an M2M application that runs 24/7/365, mobile phones will move from the future to the reality of M2M.
However from a personal perspective I continue to enjoy the benefits of my personal interaction with The Internet of Things and look forward to the future of IOT as it continues to unfold in the machine to machine arena!