Content uploaded by Antima Shendge
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Antima Shendge on Sep 02, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
66
INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT): AN
OVERVIEW ON RESEARCH CHALLENGES
AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS
Antima Bhimrao Shendge
Assistant Professor Department Of Computer Science,
Sinhgad Technical Education Society’s,
Sinhgad College Of Science,(SPPU)Ambegaon (BK.),Pune.
Abstract—
This paper focus on future applications of
Internet of Things. The Internet of things (IoT) describes
the network of physical objects—“things”—that are
embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies
for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with
other devices and systems over the Internet. With the
Internet of Things (IoT) gradually evolving as the
subsequent phase of the evolution of the Internet, it
becomes crucial to recognize the various potential
domains for application of IoT, and the research
challenges that are associated with these applications.
Ranging from smart cities, to health care, smart
agriculture, logistics and retail, to even smart living and
smart environments IoT is expected to infiltrate into
virtually all aspects of daily life. Even though the current
IoT enabling technologies have greatly improved in the
recent years, there are still numerous problems that
require attention. Since the IoT concept ensues from
heterogeneous technologies, many research challenges
are bound to arise. The fact that IoT is so expansive and
affects practically all areas of our lives, makes it a
significant research topic for studies in various related
fields such as information technology and computer
science. Thus, IoT is paving the way for new dimensions
of research to be carried out. This paper presents the
recent development of IoT technologies and discusses
future applications and research challenges.
Keywords—Internet of Things; IoT applications; IoT
challenges; future technologies; smart cities; smart
environment; smart agriculture; smart living
I. INTRODUCTION
The Internet can be described as the communication
network that connects individuals to information while The
Internet of Things (IoT) is an interconnected system of
distinctively address able physical items with various degrees
of processing, sensing, and actuation capabilities that share
the capability to interoperate and communicate through the
Internet as their joint platform [1]. Thus, the main objective of
the Internet of Things is to make it possible for objects to be
connected with other objects, individuals, at any time or
anywhere using any network, path or service. The Internet of
Things (IoT) is gradually being regarded as the subsequent
phase in the Internet evolution. IoT will make it possible for
ordinary devices to be linked to the internet in order to
achieve countless disparate goals. Currently, an estimated
number of only 0.6% of devices that can be part of IoT has
been connected so far [2]. However, by the year 2020, it is
likely that over 50 billion devices will have an internet
connection.
As the internet continues to evolve, it has become more
than a simple network of computers, but rather a network of
various devices, while IoT serves as a network of various
“connected” devices a network of networks [3], as shown in
Fig. 1. Nowadays, devices like smartphones, vehicles,
industrial systems, cameras, toys, buildings, home
appliances, industrial systems and countless others can all
share information over the Internet. Regardless of their sizes
and functions, these devices can accomplish smart
reorganizations, tracing, positioning, control, real-time
monitoring and process control. In the past years, there has
been an important propagation of Internet capable devices.
Even though its most significant commercial effect has been
observed in the consumer electronics field; i.e. particularly
the revolution of smartphones and the interest in wearable
devices (watches, headsets, etc.), connecting people has
become merely a fragment of a bigger movement towards
the association of the digital and physical worlds.
With all this in mind, the Internet of Things (IoT) is
expected to continue expanding its reach as pertains the
number of devices and functions, which it can run. This is
evident from the ambiguity in the expression of “Things”
which makes it difficult to outline the ever-growing limits of
the IoT [4]. While commercial success continues to
materialize, the IoT constantly offers a virtually limitless
supply of opportunities, not just in businesses but also in
research. Accordingly, the understudy addresses the various
potential areas for application of IoT domains and the
research challenges that are associated with these
applications.
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
67
Fig. 1. IoT can be viewed as a Network of Networks
[3].
II. POTENTIAL APPLICATION DOMAINS
OF IOT
Potential applications of the internet of Things are not
onlynumerous but also quite diverse as they permeate into
virtually all aspects of daily life of individuals, institutions,
and society. According to [5], the applications of IoT cover
broad areas including manufacturing or the industrial sector,
health sector, agriculture, smart cities, security and
emergencies among many others.
A. Smart Cities
According to [6], the IoT plays a crucial role in improving
the smartness of cities and enhancing general infrastructure.
Some of IoT application areas in creating smart cities include;
intelligent transportation systems [7], smart building, traffic
congestion [7, 8] waste management [9], smart lighting, smart
parking, and urban maps. This may include different
functionalities such as; monitoring available parking spaces
within the city, monitoring vibrations as well as material
conditions of bridges and buildings, putting in place sound
monitoring devices in sensitive parts of cities, as well as
monitoring the levels of pedestrians and vehicles. Artificial
Intelligence (AI) enabled IoT can be utilized to monitor,
control and reduce traffic congestions in Smart Cities [6].
Moreover, IoT allows installation of intelligent and weather
adaptive street lighting and detection waste and waste
containers by keeping tabs of trash collection schedules.
Intelligent highways can provide warning messages and
important information, such as access to diversions depending
on the climatic conditions or unexpected occurrences like
traffic jams and accidents.
Application of IoT to achieve smart cities would require
using radio frequency identification and sensors. Some of the
already developed applications in this area are the Aware
home and the Smart Santander functionalities. In the United
States, some major cities like Boston have plans on how to
implement the Internet of Things in most of their systems
ranging from their parking meters, streetlights, sprinkler
systems, and sewage grates are all scheduled to be interlinked
and connected to the internet. Such applications will offer
significant break throughs in terms of saving money and
energy.
B. Healthcare
Most healthcare systems in many countries are inefficient,
slow and inevitably prone to error. This can easily be changed
since the healthcare sector relies on numerous activities and
devices that can be automated and enhanced through
technology. Additional technology that can facilitate various
operations like report sharing to multiple individuals and
locations, record keeping and dispensing medications would
go a long way in changing the healthcare sector [10].
A lot of benefits that IoT application offers in the health-
care sector is most categorized into tracking of patients, staff,
and objects, identifying, as well as authenticating, individuals,
and the automatic gathering of data and sensing. Hospital
workflow can be significantly improved once patients flow is
tracked. Additionally, authentication and identification reduce
incidents that may be harmful to patients, record maintenance
and fewer cases of mismatching infants. In addition,
automatic data collection and transmission is vital in process
automation, reduction of form processing timelines,
automated procedure auditing as well as medical inventory
management. Sensor devices allow functions centered on
patients, particularly, in diagnosing conditions and availing
real-time information about patients’ health indicators [6].
Application domains in this sector include; being able to
monitor a patient’s compliance with prescriptions,
telemedicine solutions, and alerts for patients’ well-being.
Thereby, sensors can be applied to outpatient and inpatient
patients, dental Bluetooth devices and toothbrushes that can
give information after they are used and patient’s
surveillance. Other elements of IoT in this capacity include;
RFID, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi among others. These will
greatly enhance measurement and monitoring techniques of
critical functions like blood pressure, temperature, heart rate,
blood glucose, cholesterol levels, and many others.
The applications of Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet
of Everything (IoE) are further being extended through the
materialization of the Internet of Nano-things (IoNT) [3].
The notion of IoNT, as the name implies, is being
engineered by integrating Nano-sensors in diverse objects
(things) using Nano networks. Medical application, as shown
in Fig. 2, is one of the major focuses of IoNT
implementations. Application of IoNT in human body, for
treatment purposes, facilitates access to data from in situ
parts of the body which were hitherto in accessible to sense
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
68
from or by using those medical instruments incorporated
with bulky sensor size. Thus, IoNT will enable new medical
data to be collected, leading to new discoveries and better
diagnostics.
C. Smart Agriculture and Water Management
According to [11], the IoT has the capacity to strengthen
and enhance the agriculture sector through examining soil
moisture and in the case of vineyards, monitoring the trunk
diameter. IoT would allow to control and preserve the
quantity of vitamins found in agricultural products, and
regulate microclimate conditions in order to make the most
of the production of vegetables and fruits and their quality.
Furthermore, studying weather conditions allows forecasting
of ice information, drought, wind changes, rain or snow,
thus controlling temperature and humidity levels to prevent
fungus as well as other microbial contaminants.
When it comes to cattle, IoT can assist in identifying
animals that graze in open locations, detecting detrimental
gases from animal excrements in farms, as well as
controlling growth conditions in offspring to enhance
chances of health and survival and so on. Moreover, through
IoT application in agriculture, a lot of wastage and spoilage
can be avoided through proper monitoring techniques and
management of the entire agriculture field. It also leads to
better electricity and water control.
Fig. 2. The Internet of Nano-Things [3].
D. Retail and Logistics
Executing the IoT in Supply Chain or retail Management
has many benefits. Some include; observing storage
conditions throughout the supply chain, product tracking to
enable trace ability purposes, payment processing depending
on the location or activity period in public transport, theme
parks, gyms, and others. Inside the retail premises, IoT can be
applied to various applications such as direction in the shop
based on a preselected list, fast payment processes like
automatically checking out with the aid of biometrics,
detecting potential allergen products and controlling the
rotation of products on shelves and warehouses in order to
automate restocking procedures [12].
E. Smart Living
In this domain, IoT can be applied in remote control
devices whereby one can remotely switch appliances on and
off hence preventing accidents as well as saving energy [1, 3].
Other smart home appliances include refrigerators fitted with
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens, enabling one to know
what is available inside, what has over stayed and is almost
expiring as well as what needs to be restocked. This
information can also be linked to a smartphone application
enabling one to access it when outside the house and therefore
buy what is needed. Furthermore, washing machines can
allow one to remotely monitor laundry. In addition, a wide
range of kitchen devices can be interfaced through a
smartphone, hence making it possible to adjust temperature,
like in the case of an oven. Some ovens which have a self-
cleaning feature can be easily monitored as well. In terms of
safety in the home, IoT can be applied through alarm systems
and cameras can be installed to monitor and detect window or
door openings hence preventing intruders [3].
F. Smart Environment
The environment has a vital role within all aspects of life,
from people, to animals, birds and also plants, are all affected
by an unhealthy environment in one way or another. There
have been numerous efforts to create a healthy environment in
terms of eliminating pollution and reducing wastage of
resources, but the existence of industries, as well as
transportations wastes coupled with reckless and harmful
human actions are common place elements which consistently
damage the environment. Consequently, the environment
requires smart and innovative ways to help in monitoring and
managing waste, which provide a significant amount of data
that forces governments to put in place systems that will
protect the environment[4].
III. RESEARCH CHALLENGES
For all the above potential applications of IoT, there has to
be proper feasibility into the different domains to ascertain the
success of some applications and their functionality. As with
any other form of technology or innovation, IoT has its
challenges and implications that must be sorted out to enable
mass adoption. Even though the current IoT enabling
technologies have greatly improved in the recent years, there
are still numerous problems that require attention, hence
paving the way for new dimensions of research to be carried
out. Since the IoT concept ensues from heterogeneous
technologies that are used in sensing, collecting, action,
processing, inferring, transmitting, notifying, managing, and
storing of data, a lot of research challenges are bound to arise.
These research challenges that require attention have
consequently spanned different research areas [14].
A. Privacy and Security
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
69
Owing to the fact that IoT has become a vital element as
regards the future of the internet with its increased usage, it
necessitates a need to adequately address security and trust
functions. Researchers are aware of the weaknesses which
presently exist in many IoT devices. Furthermore, the
foundation of IoT is laid on the existing wireless sensor
networks (WSN), IoT thus architecturally inherits the same
privacy and security issues WSN possesses [3, 15]. Various
attacks and weaknesses on IoT systems prove that there is
indeed a need for wide ranging security designs which will
protect data and systems from end to end. Many attacks
generally exploit weaknesses in specific devices thereby
gaining access into their systems and consequently making
secure devices vulnerable [16, 17] .
B. Processing, Analysis and Management of Data
The procedure for processing, analysis and data
management is tremendously challenging because of the
heterogeneous nature of IoT, and the large scale of data
collected, particularly in this era of Big Data [18]. Currently,
most systems utilize centralized systems in offloading data
and carrying out computationally intensive tasks on an
international cloud platform. Nevertheless, there is a
constant concern about conventional cloud architectures not
being effective in terms of transferring the massive volumes
of data that are produced and consumed by IoT enabled
devices and to be able further support the accompanying
computational load and simultaneously meet timing
constraints [19].
C. Monitoring and Sensing
Even if technologies concerned with monitoring and
sensing have made tremendous progress, they are constantly
evolving particularly focusing on the energy efficiency and
form aspect. Sensors and tags are normally expected to be
active constantly in order to obtain instantaneous data, this
aspect makes it essential for energy efficiency especially in
lifetime extension. Simultaneously, new advances in
nanotechnology/biotechnology and miniaturization have
allowed the development of actuators and sensors at the
Nano- scale.
D. M2M (Machine to Machine)
Communication and Communication
Protocols
While there are already existing IoT oriented
communication protocols like Constrained Application
Protocol (CoAP) and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport
(MQTT), there is still no standard for an open IoT. Although
all objects require connectivity, it is not necessary for every
object to be made internet capable since they only need to
have a certain capability to place their data on a particular
gateway. Additionally, there are a lot of options in terms of
suitable wireless technologies such as LoRa, IEEE 802.15.4,
and Bluetooth even though it is not clear whether these
available wireless technologies have the needed capacity to
continue covering the extensive range of IoT connectivity
henceforth.
E. Blockchain of Things (BCoT): Fusion of
Blockchainand Internet of Things
Similar to IoT, blockchain technologies have also gained
tremendous popularity since its introduction in 2018. Even
though blockchain was first implemented as an underlying
technology of Bitcoin cryptocurrency, it is now being used
in multifaceted nonmonetary applications [21]. Miraz argues
that both IoT and Blockchain can strengthen each other, in a
reciprocal manner, by eliminating their respective inherent
architectural limitations [22].
F. Interoperability
Traditionally as regards the internet, interoperability has
always been and continues to be a basic fundamental value
because the initial prerequisite in Internet connectivity
necessitates that “connected” systems have the ability to
“speak a similar language” in terms of encodings and
protocols. Currently, various industries use a variety of
standards in supporting their applications. Due to the large
quantities and types of data, as well as heterogeneous devices,
using standard interfaces in such diverse entities is very
important and even more significant for applications which
support cross organizational, in addition to a wide range of
system limitations. Therefore, the IoT systems are meant
towards being designed to handle even higher degrees of
interoperability [24].
IV. CONCLUSION
The IoT can best be described as a CAS (Complex
Adaptive System) that will continue to evolve hence
requiring new and innovative forms of software engineering,
systems engineering, project management, as well as
numerous other disciplines to develop it further and manage
it the coming years. The application areas of IoT are quite
diverse to enable it to serve different users, who in turn have
different needs. The technology serves three categories of
users, individuals, the society or communities and
institutions. As discussed in the application section of this
research paper, the IoT has without a doubt a massive
capability to be a tremendously transformative force, which
will, and to some extent does already, positively impact
millions of lives worldwide. According to [25], this has
become even more evident, as different governments around
the world have shown an interest in the IoT concept by
providing more funding in the field that is meant to facilitate
further research. A good example is the Chinese
Government. Countless research groups have been, and
continue to be, initiated from different parts of the world,
and their main objective is to follow through IoT related
researches. As more and more research studies are
conducted, new dimensions to the IoT processes,
technologies involved and the objects that can be connected,
continue to emerge, further paving way for much more
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
70
application functionalities of IoT. The fact that IoT is so
expansive and affects practically all areas of our lives, makes
it a significant research topic for studies in various related
fields such as information technology and computer science.
The paper highlights various potential application domains
of the internet of things and the related research challenges.
V. REFERENCES
[1]
M. H. Miraz, M. Ali, P. S. Excell, and R. Picking, “A
Review on Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of
Everything (IoE) and Internet of Nano Things
(IoNT)”, in 2015 Internet Technologies and
Applications (ITA), pp. 219– 224, Sep. 2015, DOI:
10.1109/ITechA.2015.7317398.
[2]
P. J. Ryan and R. B. Watson, “Research Challenges for
the Internet of Things: What Role Can OR Play?,”
Systems, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1–34, 2017.
[3]
M. Miraz, M. Ali, P. Excell, and R. Picking, “Internet
of Nano-Things, Things and Everything: Future
Growth Trends”, Future Internet, vol. 10, no. 8, p. 68,
2018, DOI: 10.3390/fi10080068.
[4]
E. Borgia, D. G. Gomes, B. Lagesse, R. Lea, and D.
Puccinelli, “Special issue on" Internet of Things:
Research challenges and Solutions".,” Computer
Communications, vol. 89, no. 90, pp. 1–4, 2016.
[5]
K. K. Patel, S. M. Patel, et al., “Internet of things IOT:
definition, characteristics, architecture, enabling
technologies, application future challenges,”
International journal of engineering science and
computing, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 6122–6131, 2016.
[6]
S. V. Zanjal and G. R. Talmale, “Medicine reminder
and monitoring system for secure health using IOT,”
Procedia Computer Science, vol. 78, pp. 471–476,
2016.
[7]
R. Jain, “A Congestion Control System Based on
VANET for Small Length Roads”, Annals of
Emerging Technologies in Computing (AETiC), vol.
2, no. 1, pp. 17–21, 2018, DOI:
10.33166/AETiC.2018.01.003.
[8]
S. Soomro, M. H. Miraz, A. Prasanth, M. Abdullah,
“Artificial Intelligence Enabled IoT: Traffic
Congestion Reduction in Smart Cities,” IET 2018
Smart Cities Symposium, pp. 81–86, 2018, DOI:
10.1049/cp.2018.1381.
[9]
Mahmud, S. H., Assan, L. and Islam, R. 2018.
“Potentials of Internet of Things (IoT) in Malaysian
Construction Industry”, Annals of Emerging
Technologies in Computing (AETiC), Print ISSN:
2516-0281, Online ISSN: 2516-029X, pp. 44-52, Vol.
2, No. 1, International Association of Educators
and Researchers (IAER),
DOI: 10.33166/AETiC.2018.04.004.
[10]
Mano, Y., Faical B. S., Nakamura L., Gomes, P. G.
Libralon, R. Meneguete, G. Filho, G. Giancristofaro,
G. Pessin, B. Krishnamachari, and Jo Ueyama. 2015.
Exploiting IoT technologies for enhancing Health
Smart Homes through patient identification and
emotion recognition. Computer Communications,
89.90, (178-190). DOI:
10.1016/j.comcom.2016.03.010.
[11]
V. Sundareswaran and M. S. null, “Survey on Smart
Agriculture Using IoT,” International Journal of
Innovative Research in Engineering & Management
(IJIREM), vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 62–66, 2018.
[12]
P. Tadejko, “Application of Internet of Things in
logistics-current chal- lenges,” Ekonomia i
Zarz{a˛}dzanie, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 54–64, 2015.
[13]
S. Rajguru, S. Kinhekar, and S. Pati, “Analysis of
internet of things in a smart environment,”
International Journal of Enhanced Research in Man-
agement and Computer Applications,vol. 4, no. 4, pp.
40–43, 2015.
[14]
H. U. Rehman, M. Asif, and M. Ahmad, “Future
applications and research challenges of IOT,” in 2017
International Conference on Informa-tion and
Communication Technologies (ICICT), pp. 68–74,
Dec 2017.
[1] via direct saturation adjustment," Vision, Image and
Signal Processing, IEE Proceedings -, vol. 152, pp. 561-
574, 2005.
[2] F. Gonzalez and J. Hernandez, " A tutorial on Digital
Watermarking ", In IEEE annual Carnahan conference on
security technology, Spain, 1999.
[3] D. Kunder, "Multi-resolution Digital Watermarking
Algorithms and Implications for Multimedia Signals",
Ph.D. thesis, university of Toronto, Canada, 2001.
[4] J. Eggers, J. Su and B. Girod," Robustness of a Blind
Image Watermarking Scheme", Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on
Image Proc., Vancouver, 2000.
[5] Barni M., Bartolini F., Piva A., Multichannel
watermarking of color images, IEEE Transaction on
Circuits and Systems of Video Technology 12(3) (2002)
142-156.
[6] Kundur D., Hatzinakos D., Towards robust logo
watermarking using multiresolution image fusion, IEEE
Transcations on Multimedia 6 (2004) 185-197.
[7] C.S. Lu, H.Y.M Liao, “Multipurpose watermarking for
image authentication and protection,” IEEE Transaction
on Image Processing, vol. 10, pp. 1579-1592, Oct. 2001.
[8] L. Ghouti, A. Bouridane, M.K. Ibrahim, and S.
Boussakta, “Digital image watermarking using balanced
multiwavelets”, IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 2006, Vol.
54, No. 4, pp. 1519-1536.
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 66-71
Published Online December 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)
71
[9] P. Tay and J. Havlicek, "Image Watermarking Using
Wavelets", in Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE, pp. II.258 –
II.261, 2002.
[10] P. Kumswat, Ki. Attakitmongcol and A. Striaew, "A New
Approach for Optimization in Image Watermarking by
Using Genetic Algorithms", IEEE Transactions on Signal
Processing, Vol. 53, No. 12, pp. 4707-4719, December,
2005.
[11] H. Daren, L. Jifuen,H. Jiwu, and L. Hongmei, "A DWT-
Based Image Watermarking Algorithm", in Proceedings
of the IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and
Expo, pp. 429-432, 2001.
[12] C. Hsu and J. Wu, "Multi-resolution Watermarking for
Digital Images", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and
Systems- II, Vol. 45, No. 8, pp. 1097-1101, August 1998.
[13] R. Mehul, "Discrete Wavelet Transform Based Multiple
Watermarking Scheme", in Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE
TENCON, pp. 935-938, 2003.
