Tag: technology

EXASCALE COMPUTING

What is Exascale computing?

The speed of a computer is typically measured by the number of arithmetic operations per second it can perform (floating point operations per second or FLOPS). As of summer 2017, the fastest computers have reached a speed of 93 PetaFLOPS (on a standard benchmark), which is 93×1015 (or 93,000,000,000,000,000) operations per second. A system delivering one ExaFLOPS would be more than 10x faster (with at least 1018 operations per second). In comparison, a standard desktop computer reaches a computing performance in the GigaFLOPS range (one Gigaflop is 109 operations per second). Such an Exascale computer would be roughly more powerful by a factor of one billion.

If (by way of analogy) we let the speed of an Exascale computer correspond to the speed of a moon rocket (which was around 40,000 km/h for Apollo 10), then the computing performance of a typical desktop computer would correspond to about 1/10 of the speed of a snail (which crawls around 3 metres per hour).

History

The first petascale computer that came into operation was in 2008. At a supercomputing conference in 2009, Computerworld projected exascale implementation by 2018. Although the exascale wall for FLOPS was not broken in 2019, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a 1.8×1018 operation calculation per second (which is not the same as 1.8×1018 FLOPS) on the Summit OLCF-4 Supercomputer while analyzing genomic information in 2018. They were Gordon Bell Award winners at Supercomputing 2018.

The exaFLOPS barrier was first broken in March of 2020 by the Folding Home project, used to fold proteins for medical research.

Exascale computing would be a significant achievement in computer engineering, as an exascale computer would have processing power on the order of the estimated processing power of the human brain at the neural level (although the functional power required to simulate a human brain might be lower). The Human Brain Project targets exascale computing capability.

Why building a fast computer is hard?

One could naively think that just connecting enough standard computers and memory would result in a fast enough system. However, this is not true. Just putting 1,000 cars or car engines together will neither produce a car 1,000 x as fast nor lead to a usable system 1,000 x as powerful, not to speak of noise, pollution and fuel consumption. Instead, different approaches would be necessary to reach those goals.

Similar barriers exist for computers. At the most basic level, a computer works by moving data from memory to a computer unit, calculating the results and moving the results back to memory. If using standard PC technology for the connection between memory and compute units, the sole movement of data for an Exascale computer would roughly need the same level of power as the whole of the UK. Thus, a promising approach to build Exascale machines is to store data very close to the compute unit where they are needed. One technique to put data closer to the processing unit is to extend the traditional two-dimensional layout of electric circuits by stacking integrated circuits also in the third dimension.  This will not only consume much less energy, but will also be much faster: Nowadays, the transport of data has become a major constraint on processing speed (much more than the computing itself), similar to the speed difference between slow airport security checks and fast flights. An Exascale computer would need hundreds of thousands if not millions of units comprising processing and memory, and fast connections between them, for data that is needed in more than one place. However, designing and producing such novel compute units is very expensive, so it is of paramount importance to find ways to use components which can be mass produced, and used outside the HPC world, to reduce cost.

Road to Exascale

Because of both the importance of increasing the speed to the Exascale FLOPS level and the difficulties encountered in building such computers, the EU, like other big economies, has launched a research program for the development of Exascale technology.  Member states have launched cooperation for the deployment of Exascale computers until 2022. The ETP4HPC think tank & advisory group has defined a research agenda to overcome the multiple difficulties of building and operating Exascale class systems.

Technological Challenges

It has been recognized that enabling applications to fully exploit capabilities of Exascale computing systems is not straightforward. In June 2014, the stagnation of the Top500 supercomputer list had observers question the possibility of exascale systems by 2020. Developing data-intensive applications over exascale platforms requires the availability of new and effective programming paradigms and runtimes systems.  The Folding Home project, the first to break this barrier, relied on a network of servers sending pieces of work to hundreds of thousands of clients using Client–server model network architecture.

Conclusion

Semiconductor engineering has never been easy, but one can argue that the industry had the wind at its back for roughly 60 years. During that time, manufacturing process improvements have complemented architecture and software advances to produce seeming clockwork gains, often doubling the performance every 18 to 24 months. Those process improvements have helped to drive the industry to exascale computing, but now appear to be slowing. As this article highlights, there will be no shortage of innovative approaches and creative concepts that could be perfected over the next decade to continue the exceptional growth of computing capabilities.  This is the beauty of computer engineering – demand driving innovation, and the exascale era is just the next milestone on the never-ending HPC journey.

Analysis Tools And software’s – Providing platform for Innovations

Humans have been working in science and technology for a number of decades and have brought advancement in the basic life’s so as to make it more comfortable and easier than it used to be. The advancement with industrial revolution and much more investment in new ideas and innovation helped us to make thoughts of the ideal things to turn into reality. Earlier humans used to pen down their ideas on paper and just gathered every part of the entity required to manufacture it. This really resulted in failure most of the time including, time, resource and money. Most of the people stopped working in this field of innovations as they cannot handle much of their losses.a

But soon came the softwares which made this job of innovation and ideas to be much easier through varied features in them. 

  1. Software of 3-d modelling and analysis not only helped most of the people to pen down their ideas, but also visualize them as complete models in those software with much less investment.
  2. These software helped scientists and researchers to modify any part of the object which they find doesn’t suit it or may create problems in the final operation.
  3.  Also these software helped humans to analyse various forces and stress acting on it while in motion. For example if we consider manufacturing a car or an aeroplane, to test it physically after creating would take time, loss of resources and money. This was a resource through proper analysis of 3-d models in software. 
  4. These Tools helped to analyze various forces ,stress and strain, at different highest and temperature and hence helped humans to understand the feasibility of their model and the required changes which must be done so as to assure proper working. Various other features of these 3-d softwares not only helped humans to build them, but also to test them, through various simulations. This truly transformed the ways in which things were made especially cars and airplanes and has saved much of resources and money. 

These days many other techniques have been discovered which not only makes these 3-d models in them but also print them out. 3-d printing provides us with the prototype of the actual model. It scales down the actual size if the object be it a car or any aeroplane  we could get a rough idea of how it would look like when it certainly lands as an actual one. These scientific tools and innovation in them have helped humans to create whatever they want, irrespective of their shape. The advantages of 3-d printing and these tools are that they can help us make complex shapes and of different sizes. These not only prove to be cost effective but also provide better efficiency in their work along with the best of accuracy. Accuracy is an important factor which we want especially while working on sensitive objects such as planes and small ignorance can lead to a big mishappening. Thus simulation and 3-d tools and analysis have transformed our life with better modes of production and manufacturing technologies. But the main issue with these software is that we do require skilled person to operate, and also takes time for new person to learn them. A single mistake can lead to mishappening, so companies do invest to get better use of the prison to operate these software and thus provide better and safe results. 

Humans have made a major shifted to 3-d printing and their analysis and almost all companies in today’s world working in the field of new idea and innovation, do use these software which not only save their time but also much of money and material. This we acknowledge  a future with much better ways to manufacture and produce and thus empower humanity with their dream to turn reality and ease their life. 

“Ensuring Safety with Automotives”

Automotives have been an important part of our lives and have helped make life much easier and travel more comfortable. The development in science and technology and with the industrial revolution gave manufacturing and production a new standard to work and provide better and new products but also work to unemployed people. Cars, trucks, bikes have  helped humans to reach their favourite places without any thought and within some minutes or hours of travel. Aircraft and airships have not only enabled people to travel to different parts of the world but also to different planets. Thus, advancement in technology and new ideas have helped humans to turn their dreams Into reality. 

These automotives have been a part of our life since ages and we have seen advancment in their structure, in their material and their engines. Every new model of these automobiles has better average and efficiency along with better aerodynamics and looks. 

But the problem with these automotives is the risk factor, which hasn’t seen any decline, rather for most cases has seen a great hike. People lose their life in manor accidents happening all over the world. But no significant changes or policies have come up as such. These automotives are very expensive but still lack to provide surety of life in case of any mishappening. These automotives must be impact resistant and should be able to stay rigid in case of accidents so as to make the life of the person sitting in it safe. 

The bitter truth is that, in spite of development in materials and manufacturing techniques, most of the automotive companies are bound to their older ones, which not only enable them to make much if profits but also are easy to manufacturers. Also the main issue is with the knowledge and skills of people. Most of the people do not know the better and best alternatives to most of the material used in these automotives which not only provide strength to the structure but also absorb most of the impact. The main reason is also the loss of profit share, as most of thee. Material cost more and they can’t afford much of these investment to be done, as they still had to keep the proves same, as if they will increase, people might not even buy them, which thus significant leads to lack of selling of these automotives or if it happened, the company profit share would reduce. 

People should also understand the importance of their life and must ask for the Return on investment which is their right as they are spending high amounts of money in buying these automobiles. Maybe in future better alternatives must be seen in the marketplace, assuring safety of the individual travelling in it. New materials are being into researched which  would effectively used for making these automotives which not only will maintain the profit share but also will stay strong, rigid, impact resistance and thus will assure life of individual and safe travel possible. The only need is for the companies to understand and care for their customers, provide them the value for the product and thus making traveling much safer. 

“The Future With Flying Automotives”

Science and technology have changed the world it earlier used to be. Lot more comforts, facilities , commodities and thus ease in life. The inventions of cars brought a wider benefit to humans in various aspects. Be it travelling, or shifting of goods and material or sometimes even for relaxing. These automotives have changed the world completely and brighter a better and comfortable phase to life of humans. These went in great demands  as soon as they are brought on ground. People became very fond of these and used these as a source to travel to even nearby distance. But as the decades passed, the population saw a great hike,leading to more requirements for resources, more food, more water, more facilities and this increased the number of cars in the roads. Automotive sector saw a great profit in this and many companies came into the business of manufacturing cars and its products so as to earn profit. 

But sooner there were many problems faced by the people which do exist even today, the tension of traffic, high petrol and diesel cost and global warming. As the number of vehicles increased, the consumption of fuel and thus emissions from them increased significantly , leading to increase in the amount of carbon content in the air and thus global warming and climate change were born. But also there are some other factors which do have a greater impact on the resources. In today’s era, where we see increasing population, this is leading the resources to scarce. We do not have enough land for making houses and other necessities like hospitals and schools and various others, so we do not have much land left to make roads, also cutting of trees for building roads is not acceptable. So what would be the scenario in the future?

We know that we do require vehicles for travelling as they not only save our time but also helps us provide ease while travelling. So ,What could be the possible solution? Various new  companies are coming with an idea of flying cars and Eco friendly fuel. This could surely be a better way out distributing  the load between land and air. These vehicles would help us to fight the  problem of traffic and fuel emissions. Also no more trees would be cut down and enough land would be available to fully fill the needs of humans. 

But is this the better alternative? Is there no danger shifting to the idea of flying automotives and is it possible? We cannot assume the safety of these vehicles until we bring a few of them in the market, test them and then analyse them. But it is 100%  possible. Companies are investing most of their money in these engines to provide enough thrust to maintain a vehicle in air with an Eco friendly fuel. Research work is in the run to find better fuel which could be effective and Eco-friendly to use and also budget friendly. 

We surely need to understand the fact that there are various environmental issues prevailing at current times. We cannot stop our operations suddenly in a way to stop these but we can surely find out the ways to reduce them by shifting towards better and cleaner resources, clean fuel and safe technologies so as to provide the easy to humanity as it is and save our earth from the increasing damage. 

“Manual Landing Mission on Moon and Factors Affecting Their Sudden Drop”

Humans have been challenging their boundaries and bringing every aspect of their dreams to be a realty. With the development in science and technology, men has been able to bring all sorts of comforts, facilities and knowledge to their lives. World war 2 led an important role in development of aerospace and related field. More aircrafts be it passenger or fighter were manufactured and this leads to a whole new phase of possibilities for humans. So humans were able to launch their first satellite in space, followed by the first person in space and then soon after a few years we were even able to land on the moon. Space became a fight between the top countries like the USA and Soviet Union. But initially Soviet Union were way long heading in this fight till the USA didn’t land their mission or manned mission on the moon. 

But the main thing to notice is that humans last landed on the moon in early 70’s.One after another space mission, Helped humans to discover a lot more about space, and each time they land, created history. But what led to the stopping of these missions suddenly. Why did the US stop their successful series of aircraft in outer space? Initially these were very successful missions to space until Apollo-13 which got to space and orbited the moon, but couldn’t land due to lack of oxygen . It was a tough journey back to planet safe, but it really helped NASA especially to look after loophole and prepare best for the next mission. After that, successful 4 missions held. But soon it stopped. The study shows the effect of “Budget for these space agencies as by the government”. In late 50’s as soon as Soviet Union started their missions to space, it put pressure on USA. Soon after they sent their first Cosmonaut to space and ended more pressure on the USA. The US seemed to lose this race to space. So they invested most of their money in developing space technology, research and new ideas to overcome this defeat. This truly resulted  as an advancement for humans and their reach beyond limits which they thought were impossible not. The moon landing and consecutive space flights lead them way long to head to Soviet Union and any other countries, making it the only country to land on the moon. 

But significantly the USA has limited its investment in most space projects and this has significantly called off most of their space missions. After 1973 , investment got less and decreased with time and is still very less as compared to what it used to be. The  reason for this is that they seem themselves as superpowers and no other country has achieved such accomplishment in space. So space travel and especially landing on the moon decreased . 

NASA is planning their next space manned program to land on the moon by 2024 and this might be a beginning of another phase of moon landing with back to back space flights and landing missions on moons. The dream to have a human base may get another lifeline to be fulfilled soon  and we may see other better possibilities, research and hidden secrets on the moon which could help us to better understand it, and we can make a permanent human base on our natural satellites.

Worst Technical failures ever

All of us are much aware of the technology that succeed but some technologies are their that doesn’t able to make history and miserably fails .Let’s look over them.

Apple Newton

Apple Newton was a Apple’s handheld Personal digital assistant.Main idea behind this was to create a portable and easy to use computer that “it had to fit the Apple’s CEO john Sculley’s pocket”,eventually Newton’s team jokingly said that they have to break into the house and sew larger pockets in all of his pants.The PDA could take notes, store contacts, and manage calendars and could use it to send a fax.It also include the feature that could translate handwriting into text but ultimately this feature led to the sudden death of the PDA. Due to poor architecture they barely make it working.However,it’s development accidentally lead to ipad,thus proving that one can learn from their failures and get along a way to success.

Google+

Google+ was a social network owned by Google and launched on 28 June,2018.But Google+ was a massive failure .Google+ was launched without having a proper plan ,just to compete with Google+.In its last time it was having a huge bug which led to exporture of data of millions of users ,ultimately led to death of Google+.Google+ is not only a social network that has shut down ,GoogleBuzz was lauched in 2010 and retired the next year and there are many more.

Tata Nano

Tata Nano was car manufactured and marketed by Indian automaker Tata Motors ,primarily in India at the price of 1 lakh .Due to cost cutting car was lacking qualities .To lower the price airbags were removed without even thinking about the safety measure and instead they use only one wiper and there were many techniques to keep the price low as possible.Due to its poor build quality it failed miserably and eventually the sales keep on declining.In 2016-2017 Sales reached 7,591 for model .Due to low sales , Tata motors eventually announced the end of production in May, 2018.

iSmell

iSmell Technology was among the all crazy gadgets developed by DigiScents Inc.It was designed to emit smell that corresponded to a user visiting a site or opening an E-mail.There was no flaw in the design but in the idea .There was no need of this type of product , and ultimately it didn’t get attention and fails miserably .It’s deadly defect was that it was consider ridiculous by many and ultimately company get bankrupt.

Windows Phone

Windows Phone was too late to enter in the market.In the business to lead one have to come first with idea ,or come with best quality or ,the cheapest and Windows failed in both quality and the price.The one thing which are people more decline to is number of apps.Though apps were available on the both the platform but Android were more polished.Phone has a poorly designed mobile Operating system which is one of the reason of it’s failure .They failed to support the mobile OS as needed .Neither they have a good interface to build high market.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comment below and have a wonderful day.

“Proxima B – Planet supporting life?”

Humans have been developing technologies and doing research in the field of space since the last 5-6 decades. We have been successful in launching various space missions which include launching satellites, landing on moon in late 60’s, satellite and rover to Mars and many others. With  the help of these missions and discoveries made by them, we are able to understand space and various other phenomena in it with a close view. The Hubble telescope, launched in 1990 has helped us to view space very closely and helped us to know about the existence of other planets at distance as well as centauries. Since these observations do facinate humans and the desire to explore it more, we are developing new technologies which would help us to reach out to these planets. The closest planet which we are in the run to land on is Mars. As per the plans of Spacex, they are planning a manual spaceflight to Mars by 2024. 

But there have been other observations also, and we have achieved results which do show the presence of planets like earth. We are still finding the question of existence of life on other planet and thus brings up the curiosity of humans to find them and reach them out. We have been able to find out many planets which have possibilities of life on them, but we do not have the desired technology to reach these due to the distance barrier as they are situated at various light years. But still there does exist a chance to reach one of them named “Proxima-B”.

  1.  This planet is supposed to be the same size as Earth and lie at a distance of 4.24 light years . It was found in the nearest Alpha centauri. 
  2. Proxima B revolves around a star named Proxima Centauri and is supposed to be at a distance suitable for supporting life on it. It lies at a distance of 75 lakhs kilometre and has an expected time to complete its orbit around it’s stars is 11.2 Earth days. But Due to the smaller size of its star, Proxima B lies in the habitable zone as per the experts.
  3.  It is supposed to have water reserves if it has an atmosphere around it. As per the computer model and analysis, it does give the possibility of atmosphere and water. 
  4. Some scientists also believe that as this lies close to its star, it could be tidally locked, like the moon. This means that one side if this planet remain s towards the star and the other remains in dark . This suggests the possibility of keeping the area hot which faces the star, while others remain cold. This suggests the life to be supported at the border area. But it’s just a belief and scientists do have a conflicting thought on this. 

But the main question which comes to mind is “Can we reach there with the same technology we use for other planets and how long will it take”. It’s believed that with the current technology it would take thousands of years to reach Proxima -B thus making it a difficult task with the current technology. But scientists are working on unmanned vehicles which can be light weight and thus able to reach it. Breakthrough starshot technique is being tested for the same and it’s believed we can reach Proxima -B through this. It is believed it would just take 15-20 year to reach this planet as they would be travelling at very high speed. These would be working on lightsail instead of rockets to work and go beyond the distance. Once they are made, they would be left in the earth orbit and laser light would be travelling to them which would power them and would thus move towards the destination. At an expected speed of 1/20th speed of light. 

It seems that some of these technologies and work experiment could help us reach out to the nearest of planets which could support life but there are some of problems with these, which are:

  1. These would be really expensive experiments. 
  2. We still do not know how to stop these vehicles once they reach out there. Which surely means we would have less time analyze the planet and soon it will pass it 
  3. Surety of life isn’t confirmed. 

“So these experiments bring out the hope of life and our possibilities to reach them out. Scientists and their teams are working on research work and ideas which could make this dream a reality and could help us to reach out other life forms of dynasties if possible and thus opening new life possibilities , adventures, risk but with learning being the better probability”. 

SMART RING

Smart Rings are the only possible tech solution, to discover something smaller than the smart watch. After a lot of attempts ,smart rings were actually created with useful technology. Smart Rings are not a totally new concept, but it’s been revolutionalized over the years.

History has been evidence how so many Startup companies despite repeated attempts ,failed either due to lack of funding, legal disputes, issues related to packaging sensor, health tracker ,everything in a small space, which kept on popping up from time to  time. We can easily sync them  to our mobile phones, via Bluetooth. Smart Ring is endowed with different functions. Some may track sleep, pulse rate, heart rate, whilst others may not. The smart ring would be a relief from the mobile phones, as we’ll get to know whenever there is a message or e-mail.

5 BEST SMART RINGS

Motiv Ring($99.99) –this one is the best smart ring available , in terms of it’s price ,features. This  was announced way back in the year 2017,and comes in mainly three colour variations-slate grey, titanium and Rose gold. It can not only monitor our heat rate ,but also is a fitness tracker. It keeps record of all our activities and moves, and since it’s data is stored in our phones, it can be viewed later. It’s has a battery life of upto 5 days, and is water resistant. It’s highlight is its sleek design ,8 mm width and comes in 7 sizes fit for both men and women. It even helps us to log in to our facebook, google accounts. It’s very easy to wear , and stylish.

Oura($275)-this smart ring provides us readiness score for the day by using our data from phone. It comes in two models, the recent  one being sleeker, and slimmer. It comes in sizes  from US 6-US 13.it comes packed in four sensors-gyroscope,3D accelerometer, infrared pulse measurement and body temperature sensors. It’s highlight is the focus on mainly three areas –activity, sleeping and readiness.

The recent innovation of Oura is a initiative by the NBA , against the pandemic. Players would get a notification, when something infected in in their 6 feet radius, and it gives signals on detecting early signs of Covid-19.According to the survey conducted on 2000 workers ,it can observe body associations between fever, cough and heart rate ,temperature.

NBC Open($85)-this smart ring comes with two Intags .The private one is used for sensitive stuff, like smart door lock and for payment purposes. The other one is for public information like email address. It is waterproof resistant.

Amazon Echo Loop($129.99-$179.99)-Amazon is amongst the more popular ones, it’s packed in microphones and speakers. It interacts with Alexa smart assistant, and comes with all day battery life, with water resistant feature.

ORII Smart Ring($199)-This smart rings allows us to take a call by holding our fingers  to our ears, by using the bone conduction technology. Available in different colour variation like red, silver, grey , and is available in different size forms fit for both men and women.

“Time Crystals – New Form Of Matter”

Space theories and phenomena have challenged human’s understanding about it every time with new observations and experiments. We have been trying to understand different kinds of constituents present around us irrespective of their presence on our surface or outside our planet. New findings with the increasing research and ideas have led to solving a number of theories which earlier were just meant to be theoretical until practically proved. Just long as our knowledge about space is increasing through our frequent visits to space, it is increasing our complexities with new discoveries . One of these experiments which was earlier believed to be just a theory with little physical significance was the discovery of “Time Crystals”. The idea of the time crystal came a few years ago in 2012 came by the scientists, discovering a new state of matter which truly exists. The interesting fact about these particles is their properties which differentiated in their atomic structure repeats themselves in space and time. 

But the initial question is “What are these time crystals?” To understand this we would start by understanding actually these crystals are. Crystals are solid particles having constituents like atoms, molecules and other charged molecules are present in well defined order, which thus forms chain and forms the base for the next later. The layering up of these small molecules continues and thus follow up a specified pattern which reflects back the light and we do see it. These patterns of molecules follow a specified pattern in space and do not get affected by time. This means that if we see a normal crystal particle, it would remain the same as it is for years, until we or any other forces destroy it. Time crystals have some different properties. This means that the particles do follow the same pattern in space but also follow up with time and that these particles do not have fixed shape and size. These are most commonly known as now equilibrium matter because of their inability to come to rest once they come in motion. 

The basic difference between a normal crystal or any other matter particle and time crystal can be understood with an example. Consider crystal particles to be big enough to see, so if we apply force on one particle of the crystals, it would get transferred to the next particle and so on in the pattern they are arranged, until it get finally absorbed, since energy is lost in this process in transferring from one molecule or particle to other. But time crystal or non equilibrium matter are attached in repeated pattern. These present quantum entangled patterns, and as soon as energy reaches the entangled atom,, the next pair gets information before it’s gonna be transferred to , which means it starts moving before the energy reaches it, thus leading to cause motion in all the atoms or particles. This could be considered as an infinite motion or movement since no energy is getting lost.l and are not able to achieve equilibrium. It could be related to a perpetual motion machine which could work without an energy source forever, but which is impossible. So there were various doubts in this theory and thus it was just considered to be theoretically only. 

“But it has been found that time crystals do exist through different experiments done by scientists. And could be beneficial for future use.Right and better use of time crystals haven’t been found yet, but it’s sure that these particles are surely changing our research and opening new phases to space research and understanding about universe”. 

 

INTERNET OF THINGS

What is Internet of Things (IoT)?

The Internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

The definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation), and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things. In the consumer market, IoT technology is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the “smart home”, covering devices and appliances (such as lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers.

History of IoT

The idea of adding sensors and intelligence to basic objects was discussed throughout the 1980s and 1990s (and there are arguably some much earlier ancestors), but apart from some early projects – including an internet-connected vending machine – progress was slow simply because the technology wasn’t ready. Chips were too big and bulky and there was no way for objects to communicate effectively.

Processors that were cheap and power-frugal enough to be all but disposable were needed before it finally became cost-effective to connect up billions of devices. The adoption of RFID tags – low-power chips that can communicate wirelessly – solved some of this issue, along with the increasing availability of broadband internet and cellular and wireless networking. The adoption of IPv6 – which, among other things, should provide enough IP addresses for every device the world is ever likely to need – was also a necessary step for the IoT to scale.

Kevin Ashton coined the phrase ‘Internet of Things’ in 1999, although it took at least another decade for the technology to catch up with the vision.

Adding RFID tags to expensive pieces of equipment to help track their location was one of the first IoT applications. But since then, the cost of adding sensors and an internet connection to objects has continued to fall, and experts predict that this basic functionality could one day cost as little as 10 cents, making it possible to connect nearly everything to the internet.

The IoT was initially most interesting to business and manufacturing, where its application is sometimes known as machine-to-machine (M2M), but the emphasis is now on filling our homes and offices with smart devices, transforming it into something that’s relevant to almost everyone. Early suggestions for internet-connected devices included ‘blogjects’ (objects that blog and record data about themselves to the internet), ubiquitous computing (or ‘ubicomp’), invisible computing, and pervasive computing. However, it was Internet of Things and IoT that stuck.

Intelligence

Ambient intelligence and autonomous control are not part of the original concept of the Internet of things. Ambient intelligence and autonomous control do not necessarily require Internet structures, either. However, there is a shift in research (by companies such as Intel) to integrate the concepts of the IoT and autonomous control, with initial outcomes towards this direction considering objects as the driving force for autonomous IoT. A promising approach in this context is deep reinforcement learning where most of IoT systems provide a dynamic and interactive environment. Training an agent (i.e., IoT device) to behave smartly in such an environment cannot be addressed by conventional machine learning algorithms such as supervised learning. By reinforcement learning approach, a learning agent can sense the environment’s state (e.g., sensing home temperature), perform actions (e.g., turn HVAC on or off) and learn through the maximizing accumulated rewards it receives in long term.

IoT intelligence can be offered at three levels: IoT devices, Edge/Fog nodes, and Cloud computing. The need for intelligent control and decision at each level depends on the time sensitiveness of the IoT application. For example, an autonomous vehicle’s camera needs to make real-time obstacle detection to avoid an accident. This fast decision making would not be possible through transferring data from the vehicle to cloud instances and return the predictions back to the vehicle. Instead, all the operation should be performed locally in the vehicle. Integrating advanced machine learning algorithms including deep learning into IoT devices is an active research area to make smart objects closer to reality. Moreover, it is possible to get the most value out of IoT deployments through analyzing IoT data, extracting hidden information, and predicting control decisions. A wide variety of machine learning techniques have been used in IoT domain ranging from traditional methods such as regression, support vector machine, and random forest to advanced ones such as convolutional neural networks, LSTM, and variational autoencoder.

In the future, the Internet of Things may be a non-deterministic and open network in which auto-organized or intelligent entities (web services, SOA components) and virtual objects (avatars) will be interoperable and able to act independently (pursuing their own objectives or shared ones) depending on the context, circumstances or environments. Autonomous behavior through the collection and reasoning of context information as well as the object’s ability to detect changes in the environment (faults affecting sensors) and introduce suitable mitigation measures constitutes a major research trend, clearly needed to provide credibility to the IoT technology. Modern IoT products and solutions in the marketplace use a variety of different technologies to support such context-aware automation, but more sophisticated forms of intelligence are requested to permit sensor units and intelligent cyber-physical systems to be deployed in real environments