The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the set of physical objects that can automatically collect a wide array of information about people, nature, the built environment, machines, and products and transmit this information over a network. Before the Internet of Things, much of this data either could not be collected, had to be collected manually (such as by inspectors examining faults in bridges), or was collected automatically—but only at great expense via specialized telecommunications links (as in the case of advanced weather stations, for example). Now, with the Internet of Things, it is possible to create intelligent systems that continuously collect vast arrays of data and transmit it over the Internet to be monitored and analyzed.