Internet of Things (IoT) Data

As organizations continue to adopt IoT technology, ensuring secure access to a private network becomes particularly difficult. Network access control systems, however, protect network data by requiring user authentication and authorization before every request.

These systems also proactively address security breaches, though many also integrate with anti-virus or malware systems that organizations already use.

Network segmentation refers to the act of dividing different parts of a network into separate segments or subnets. This is done either physically or technologically, usually as part of a network access control system that limits who can access what parts of the network.

Once organizations have identified subnetworks, they establish virtual fences around them using a variety of techniques, including VLANs, SDNs, and firewalls.

Precision agriculture refers to the management of farms with satellite and other data and technologies. The resulting maps provide highly detailed information about the topology and condition of farms, down to the individual plants.

Other common terms for precision agriculture include satellite farming and site-specific crop management.

A predictive maintenance model uses sensors and IoT technology to monitor the condition of equipment and predict when it will need repairs or replacements. This equipment may be anything from personal cars to large factory machines.

The machine learning programs used to run these models tend to take either the regression approach or the classification approach. Regression produces more accurate results but relies on more data; classification best predicts equipment failure within a set time period.

Smart building technology arms a building’s component systems with the ability to communicate with each other and with management. Security systems, plumbing, electricity, waste management, temperature control, and more work exchange data constantly in order to improve the comfort and safety of people living or working inside the buildings.

Smart building technology works for both residential and commercial buildings.

Smart factory technology allows factory sensors to communicate with each other, with employee mobile devices, and with management’s software platform. This enables employees to monitor equipment 24/7 and receive immediate alerts whenever there is a problem. The technology also enables the equipment itself to automatically adjust operations in order to keep the factory running smoothly.

A smart stadium uses IoT to collect, analyze, and act on data within a stadium. This data may come from the stadium itself or from the mobile phones of visitors. Some stadiums also collect data on surrounding areas, like parking lots.

Chatbots answer customer visitor questions or requests. While many rely on command-based functions, the better AI chatbots use artificial intelligence, especially NLP (natural language processing), and sentiment analysis.

Occasionally people refer to these bots as AI assistants, conversational interfaces, conversational agents, or even chatterbots.

Retail AR refers to the use of augmented reality (AR) and even virtual reality (VR) to improve retail sales. With this technology, customers can do things like try on clothes without undressing or visit stores while in quarantine. Aside from the attraction of trying the newest technology, AR and VR can meet customers wherever they are.

Warehouse management systems run machine learning software to maintain a warehouse or distribution center (or a fleet of them).

Traffic management, as part of a smart city model, enables private individuals and municipal officials to monitor and manage the flow of traffic.

A smart city is a city whose infrastructure and services have the ability to collect and share data. Smart cities data, therefore, refers to the data that make up or are generated by smart cities.

Fleet management uses IoT and other technology to monitor the movement and function of a fleet of vehicles. These vehicles may be trucks, cars, or ships.

V2X Technology uses wireless devices in vehicles and other objects to integrate internal and external data in real time via machine learning programs to improve road safety

Usage-based insurance refers to the collection of driver behavior and environmental data to underwrite car insurance plans. It is also called Pay-As-You-Drive or Pay-How-You-Drive insurance.

The shelf is a dynamic environment, where shoppers select items purposefully and on impulse, where store owners showcase products to entice customers in the store and online.

Inventory management does not just entail having the right stock but also ensuring said stock was effectively sourced, stored, and sold at the right price, at the right time. 

AI has been used to improve supply chain and demand forecasting for a couple of decades. Demand planning applications use data driven algorithms to take historical data and use it to forecast. Demand forecasting can include promotion planning or stock and sales forecasting. The machine looks at the forecast, compares it to actual shipments, and suggests alternatives and optimization options. Over time, many companies started doing more specific forecasting for specific regions, products or stores or for more granular points in time. Both retailers and their suppliers (CPG companies or 3rd party shipping and supply chain companies) use their data to help conduct automated decision making within the supply chain.