CS578: Internet of Things

The “Things” in IoT

Dr. Manas Khatua

Assistant Professor, Dept. of CSE, IIT Guwahati
E-mail: [email protected]

“Arise! Awake! Stop not till the goal is reached.”- Swami Vivekananda.
 The “Things”
 Sensors & Actuators are the fundamental building blocks
of IoT
 Sensor senses
 Actuator acts Sensor

 Smart objects are any physical objects that contain

 Embedded technology
 Microcontroller unit, memory storage, power supply,
communication ports, input and output, timer or counter
Actuator
 Sensors and/or actuators

 Smart objects are to sense and/or interact with their

environment in a meaningful way
 being interconnected, and
 enabling communication among themselves or with
external agent.
Smart Object

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 Sensors
• It measures some physical quantity and converts that measurement into analog/digital
form

• There are a number of ways to group and cluster sensors into different categories

 Based on external energy requirement  Based on application industry

• Active / Passive
• Medical / Manufacturing /
Agriculture / etc.
 Based on placement location
• Invasive / Non-invasive
 Based on measuring scale
 Based on distance from the sensing object • Absolute / Relative
• Contact / No-contact

 Based on sensing mechanism

• Thermoelectric / Electromechanical / Piezo resistive / Optic / Electric / Fluid mechanics / Photoelastic /
etc.

 Based on sensing parameter

• Position / Occupancy / Motion / Velocity / Force / Pressure / Flow / Humidity / Light / Temperature /
Acoustic / Radiation / Chemical / Biosensors / etc.

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 Sensor Types: What it measures
Sensor Type Description Example
Position • Measures the position of an object • Proximity sensor
• Position could be absolute/relative • Potentiometer
• Position sensor could be linear, angular, • Inclinometer
or multi-axis
Occupancy • Detects the presence of people and • Radar Sensor
animals in a surveillance area
• Generates signal even when a person is
stationary
Motion • Detects the movement of people and • Passive Infrared (PIR)
objects Sensor

Ultrasonic Proximity Infrared Proximity Microwave Radar PIR Motion

Sensor Sensor Sensor Sensor
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 Cont…
Sensor Type Description Example
Velocity and • Velocity sensor measures how fast an • Gyroscope
Acceleration object moves • Accelerometer
• Acceleration sensor measures the
changes in velocity
Force • Detects whether a physical force is • Tactile sensor
applied and the magnitude of the force • Viscometer
Pressure • Measuring the force applied by liquids • Barometer
or gases • Piezometer
• It is measured as force per unit area

Gyroscope Capacitive Touch Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor

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 Cont…
Sensor Type Description Example
Flow • Detects the rate of fluid flow through a • Water meter
system in given period of time • Anemometer
Humidity • Detects amount of water vapour in the air • Hygrometer
• Can be measured in absolute/relative scale • Soil moisture sensor
Light • Detects the presence of light • LDR light sensor
• Photodetector
• Flame Sensor

Soil moisture LDR light Flame

Water meter
sensor sensor sensor

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 Cont…
Sensor Type Description Example
Radiation • Detects the radiation in the environment • Neutron detector
• Geiger-Muller counter
Temperature • Measures the amount of heat or cold • Thermometer
present in the system • Temperature gauge
• Two type: contact / non-contact • Calorimeter

Neutron detector Geiger-Muller counter Temperature Thermo-

Sensor Hygrometer

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 Cont…
Sensor Type Description Example
Acoustic • Measures sound level • Microphone
• Hydrophone
Chemical • Measures the concentration of a • Smoke detector
chemical (e.g. CO2) in a system • Breathalyzer
Biosensor • Detects various biological elements, such • Pulse oximeter
as organisms, tissues, cells, enzymes, • Electrocardiograph (ECG)
antibodies, nucleic acid, etc. • Blood glucose biosensor

Hydrophone Breathalyzer Pulse oximeter

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Sensors in a Smart Car

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Sensors in a Smartphone

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 Actuators
• Sensors are designed to sense and measure the surrounding environment

• Actuators receive some type of control signal (commonly an electrical

signal or digital command) that triggers a physical effect, usually some
type of motion, force, and so on.

Source: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/1878050/Landingpages/Events/Schwabengipfel/Guido_Schmutz_IoT-Cloud-or-OnPrem.pdf?t=1501051153000

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 IoT based Automated Systems
Smart Parking
System
Source:
https://www.mobiloitte.com/blog
/smart-parking-solution-using-iot/

Smart Irrigation
System
Source:
https://www.hydropoint.com
/what-is-smart-irrigation/

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Actuator Classification
• Common ways to classify actuators:

 Type of motion they produce

• e.g. linear, rotary, one/two/three axes

 Power output
• e.g. high power, low power, micro power

 Binary / Continuous output

• Based on number of stable-state outputs

 Area of application
• Specific industry or vertical where they are used

 Type of energy
• e.g. mechanical energy, electrical energy, hydraulic energy, etc.

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Actuators by Energy Type

Type Examples

Mechanical actuators Lever, Screw jack, Hand crank

Electrical actuators Thyristor, Bipolar transistor, Diode

Electromechanical actuators AC motor, DC motor, Step motor

Electromagnetic actuators Electromagnet, Linear solenoid

Hydraulic and Pneumatic Hydraulic cylinder, Pneumatic cylinder, Piston,

actuators Pressure control valve, Air motor

Smart material actuator (includes Magnetorestrictive material, Bimetallic strip,

thermal and magnetic actuators) Piezoelectric bimorph

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 Smart Objects
• It is the building blocks of IoT

• Smart object has the following five characteristics:

– Sensor(s) and/or Actuator(s)

– Processing unit
• For acquiring sensed data from sensors,
• processing and analysing sensing data,
• coordinating control signals to any actuators, and
• controlling many functions (e.g. communication unit, power unit).

– Memory
• Mostly on-chip flash memory
• user memory used for storing application related data
• program memory used for programming the device

– Communication unit
• Responsible for connecting a smart object with other smart
objects and the outside world (via the network using
wireless/wired communication)

– Power source
• To powered all components of the smart object
TelosB Mote

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Cont…

Source: Cisco
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Present Trends in Smart Objects

• Size is decreasing

• Power consumption is decreasing

• Processing power is increasing

• Communication capabilities are improving

• Communication is being increasingly standardized

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Lessons Learned

 What is “Things” in IoT

 Classification method of Sensors

 Different Sensors based on Sensing parameter

 Classification method of Actuators

 Different Actuators based on Energy type

 What is “Smart object” in IoT

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 Figures and slide materials are taken from the following Books:

1. David Hanes et al., “IoT Fundamentals: Networking Technologies, Protocols,

and Use Cases for the Internet of Things”, 1st Edition, 2018, Pearson India.

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