What can be connected, will be connected.
By 2020, more than 30 billion devices will be connected, forming an interactive internet of things. This statistic from ABI Research, a respected market research firm, underscores how close we are to a future with everything —including people, animals, plants and objects—connected and interacting: the “Internet of Everything” (IoE).
The concept for a world where both living and inanimate things are linked through sensors, chips and wireless networks is fast becoming a reality. Already, two pioneers in sensors and IoT technologies are collecting real-time data from pigs, poultry and other livestock in the UK for early detection of transmitted diseases. The “internet of pigs” has sensors tracking and monitoring monitor livestock health and behavior that will alert owners to signs of diseases such as foot-and-mouth. In-vivo (in-body) RFID and temperature tags planted in pigs are turning these animals into ‘things’ on the Internet of Things, enabling real time data collection on vital factors such as temperature, CO2 concentration and pH readings. Cows too, are part of the IoT via WiFi-connected collars and artificial intelligence software that monitor when individual cows go into heat. This alerts owners to the optimal time for impregnating the cow, and can also boost milk production.
To enable communication between devices and “objects” such as things, people and animals, the object requires an Auto-ID technology, typically an RFID tag. RFID tags make any object easily and uniquely identifiable. The RFID tag also allows the “tagged” object to wirelessly communicate data. We are already experiencing this with RFID embedded bracelets at events, ski lifts and the entrance gates at Disneyland. There’s much more ahead.
Department store Sears is testing new “Connected Solutions” store concepts to display connected home and personal automation products.Three prototype stores have already opened in the Chicago-area.
On June 02, 2014, at the company’s annual developer’s conference, Apple introduced HomeKit, an API feature for iOS that allows users to control smart devices with their iPhone. In my view,the interconnected home where your refrigerator tells you when you are out of milk (or beer), or even “calls” the grocery store to schedule a delivery, is the ultimate application of a hyper-connected world.
As RFID becomes more ubiquitous (see our blog posting RFID: The World’s New Duct Tape) and adoption more widespread, it is pushing innovation that will advance the Internet of Things.
Today, households, offices, schools, hospitals, warehouses and recreation venues all have an IP network. In the retail industry, and other industries, there are mandates regulating technologies, including RFID. This is leading to accepted standards across industries, which will facilitate the interoperability of devices, further driving the IoE
Truecount first embraced RFID for its powerful and accurate counting; a capability proven to save time, money and effort for retailers, while building sales volumes. Over the past years, we’ve experienced the endless possibilities for how that profound counting prowess can be applied. For the retail industry, the IoE means “smart” dressing rooms in addition to perfect sales floors, with greater personalization of the total customer experience across all shopping channels. The future is here, and it’s powered by RFID.
One Comment
Mohamid
Slow introduction. A few years from now they’ll say how wouedrfnl this program has been and they’ll make the jump to elementary. A short while after that it will be packaged and served to the public as a safety feature for middle and high school. Eventually you’ll have an entire generation that sees nothing wrong with being tagged at all times, because It’s always been this way . Or maybe I’m just being a little pesimistic this evening.