Post by account_disabled on Jul 30, 2020 17:18:19 GMT 2
The Internet of Things (IoT) is an interconnected network of objects which range from simple sensors to smartphones and tablets; it is a relatively novel paradigm that has been rapidly gaining ground in the scenario of modern wireless telecommunications with an expected growth of 25 to 50 billion of connected devices for 2020 Due to the recent rise of this paradigm, authors across the literature use inconsistent terms to address the devices present in the IoT, such as mobile device, smart device, mobile technologies or mobile smart device. Based on the existing literature, this paper chooses the term smart device as a starting point towards the development of an appropriate definition for the devices present in the IoT. This investigation aims at exploring the concept and main features of smart devices as well as their role in the IoT. This paper follows a systematic approach for reviewing compendium of literature to explore the current research in this field. It has been identified smart devices as the primary objects interconnected in the network of IoT, having an essential role in this paradigm. The developed concept for defining smart device is based on three main features, namely context-awareness, autonomy and device connectivity. Other features such as mobility and user-interaction were highly mentioned in the literature, but were not considered because of the nature of the IoT as a network mainly oriented to device-to-device connectivity whether they are mobile or not and whether they interact with people or not. What emerges from this paper is a concept which can be used to homogenise the terminology used on further research in the Field of digitalisation and smart technologies.
Introduction
In 2011 Cisco predicted that 50 billion of Things would be connected to the Internet by 2020 (Evans, 2011). On the other hand, more recent investigations show that 25 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020 and those connections aim at facilitating the process of autonomous intelligent decision making (Gartner, 2014). No matter which prediction is right the main highlight is that smart things will be several times more than the estimated world population.
The IoT is proliferating across all sectors, creating opportunities and becoming a competitive marketplace weapon as the focus of primary benefits, shifts from both internal and external improvements of the worldwide industries (Gartner, 2016). Sectors benefitted from the IoT are: transportation, smart city, smart domotics, smart health, e-governance, assisted living, e-education, retail, logistics, agriculture, automation, industrial manufacturing, process management, among others (Gubbi, Buyya, Marusic, & Palaniswami, 2013) and (Miorandi, Sicari, De Pellegrini, & Chlamtac, 2012).
There are many ways to define the IoT, some popular definitions are:
“a dynamic global network infrastructure with self- configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual ‘Things’ have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network” (Van Kranenburg, 2008).
“Things having identities and virtual personalities operating in smart spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate within social, environmental, and user contexts” (INFSO, 2008).
(Lopez, Rios, Bao, & Wang, 2017) established three main components required for the IoT namely Smart things, network infrastructure and backend servers (see Fig. 1). This simplified architecture describes the essence behind the paradigm of the IoT. The Smart devices seen Fig. 1 are designed to interact both with users and other devices connected to the network, some of these devices might not even require interacting directly with users.
Fig. 1
figure1
Simplified structure of the IoT
Full size image
There is a broad range for the objects or “things” in the IoT, some of these objects can get different names in the literature, such as smart devices, mobile devices, smart things or smart objects. Smart devices are considered objects capable of communication and computation which range from simple sensor nodes to home appliances and smartphones (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). This author also considers smart devices as the objects present in the network of the IoT.
The devices in the IoT should have the capability to dynamically adapt to the changing contexts and take actions based on their operating conditions; they should be self-configuring and interoperable, having unique identities and being able to communicate and exchange data with other devices and systems (Ray, 2016). Therefore, smart device should be context-aware and have network connectivity.
Currently, in the literature, different terms are found for what this paper calls smart devices. Lo, Yu and Tseng (2014) used the term smart device, whereas İlhan, Yıldız, & Kayrak (2016) used the term smart mobile device. The term mobile devices is also used by some authors, such as Lau, et al. (2017), Khan & Khan (2017) and Furthmüller & Waldhorst (2012). Azhar & Cox (2015) uses the terms “mobile tools”, “mobile technologies” and “mobile devices” for devices that allow workers to get instant access to project documents, plans and specifications. Azhar & Cox (2015) addresses tablets, cloud technologies, Radio Frequency Identification Tag and wearable devices as mobile technologies when tablets, smartphones and wearables are devices that implement various mobile technologies. This misconception is led by the lack of a clear concept of smart device.
This paper intends the define a clear and scalable concept of Smart device, which researchers around the globe can use for further research. The review methodology is described in Section 3, findings are explained in section 4, and the conclusions are discussed in section 5.
Introduction
In 2011 Cisco predicted that 50 billion of Things would be connected to the Internet by 2020 (Evans, 2011). On the other hand, more recent investigations show that 25 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020 and those connections aim at facilitating the process of autonomous intelligent decision making (Gartner, 2014). No matter which prediction is right the main highlight is that smart things will be several times more than the estimated world population.
The IoT is proliferating across all sectors, creating opportunities and becoming a competitive marketplace weapon as the focus of primary benefits, shifts from both internal and external improvements of the worldwide industries (Gartner, 2016). Sectors benefitted from the IoT are: transportation, smart city, smart domotics, smart health, e-governance, assisted living, e-education, retail, logistics, agriculture, automation, industrial manufacturing, process management, among others (Gubbi, Buyya, Marusic, & Palaniswami, 2013) and (Miorandi, Sicari, De Pellegrini, & Chlamtac, 2012).
There are many ways to define the IoT, some popular definitions are:
“a dynamic global network infrastructure with self- configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual ‘Things’ have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network” (Van Kranenburg, 2008).
“Things having identities and virtual personalities operating in smart spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate within social, environmental, and user contexts” (INFSO, 2008).
(Lopez, Rios, Bao, & Wang, 2017) established three main components required for the IoT namely Smart things, network infrastructure and backend servers (see Fig. 1). This simplified architecture describes the essence behind the paradigm of the IoT. The Smart devices seen Fig. 1 are designed to interact both with users and other devices connected to the network, some of these devices might not even require interacting directly with users.
Fig. 1
figure1
Simplified structure of the IoT
Full size image
There is a broad range for the objects or “things” in the IoT, some of these objects can get different names in the literature, such as smart devices, mobile devices, smart things or smart objects. Smart devices are considered objects capable of communication and computation which range from simple sensor nodes to home appliances and smartphones (Stojkoska & Trivodaliev, 2017). This author also considers smart devices as the objects present in the network of the IoT.
The devices in the IoT should have the capability to dynamically adapt to the changing contexts and take actions based on their operating conditions; they should be self-configuring and interoperable, having unique identities and being able to communicate and exchange data with other devices and systems (Ray, 2016). Therefore, smart device should be context-aware and have network connectivity.
Currently, in the literature, different terms are found for what this paper calls smart devices. Lo, Yu and Tseng (2014) used the term smart device, whereas İlhan, Yıldız, & Kayrak (2016) used the term smart mobile device. The term mobile devices is also used by some authors, such as Lau, et al. (2017), Khan & Khan (2017) and Furthmüller & Waldhorst (2012). Azhar & Cox (2015) uses the terms “mobile tools”, “mobile technologies” and “mobile devices” for devices that allow workers to get instant access to project documents, plans and specifications. Azhar & Cox (2015) addresses tablets, cloud technologies, Radio Frequency Identification Tag and wearable devices as mobile technologies when tablets, smartphones and wearables are devices that implement various mobile technologies. This misconception is led by the lack of a clear concept of smart device.
This paper intends the define a clear and scalable concept of Smart device, which researchers around the globe can use for further research. The review methodology is described in Section 3, findings are explained in section 4, and the conclusions are discussed in section 5.