A system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that can transfer data over a network without the need for human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction, the Internet of Things (IoT) uses processors, sensors and communication hardware to collect, send and act on data acquired from specific environments.
IoT devices do the heavy lifting of sharing the collected sensor data via a gateway or device, and again without human intervention (although people can interact with the devices, if they so choose). IoT can be applied across numerous different applications. For example, smart thermostats, smart appliances, connected heating, lighting and electronic devices are being used to control a home’s systems remotely, while the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), connects machines, tools and sensors on the shop floor to give process engineers and managers better production visibility.
