Reason for the Standardization of IoT Sensors
Sensors are components that do the same thing they are named for – they sense a parameter they are designed for and deliver the appropriate data. Sensors are commonly used in digital instruments like thermometers, mobile phones, refrigerators, and even smart thermostats. Have you ever wondered how your smartwatch can tell your heartbeat numbers? An optical sensor can measure the reflected green light it sends through the skin. In short, sensors are now prevalent in all digital devices. They have made life easier for personal and business users – from handling the intensity of the overhead lamp to managing one’s health.
Utility of Sensors in IoT
By definition, one needs to connect IoT devices with the internet to enjoy its functionality. The machine’s information from the user is transferred to the system, which then optimizes its services according to it. Smartwatches that alert the medical system when the user is experiencing a physiological problem need to read the health markers of the user. Thus, in these cases, the utilization of IoT Sensors will be essential. In recent times – due to factors like a contraction, increased functionality, and complex amalgamation levels into electronic circuitry.
The market for IoT Sensors has been showing considerable growth recently. Verified sources predict that the market revenue of IoT-enabled sensors will reach USD 56 billion in 2022, and consumers will connect about 43 billion devices to IoT devices around the world. Pressure sensors will cover 36% of the global market when considering individual sensor types.
Safety and Reliability of the Sensors
As the market for sensors is picking up speed, people are becoming concerned about the safety and reliability of their utilization. IoT Sensors can work in these situations without any problem. Moreover, as they are ever-present and can be placed anywhere required, they serve their purpose better than human guard.
It is a common misconception that these sensors cannot work in extreme conditions. Let us know about a few circumstances where these sensors are already used and working perfectly:
- Drill rigs for oil, gas exploration stations, and other energy industry-related platform are now equipped with different sensors that optimize the performance and safety within the lowest possible cost. Incidentally, these sensors work operate under environmentally severe conditions. The sensors have to be strong and reliable –otherwise, rigs and platforms would be regularly out of service, damaging the business considerably.
- In manufacturing uses, it would compromise employee well-being if gas sensors fail to sense the existence of poisonous fumes. Autonomous vehicles will stop functioning properly if the light detection and ranging (LIDAR) remote-sensing system sensors malfunction regularly – as LIDAR is fundamental to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Consequently, IoT sensors manufacturers are enjoying an increase in their sales and are creating several new products as time goes.
Why Should We Need Standards?
The presence of standards – to be followed by all IoT device manufacturers – is simple. Unless there is a specific set of quality-control guidelines and clear rules about the development and use of IoT Sensors, the markets will be flooded with lesser–quality products. The presence of thousands of sensor products on the market ensures that IoT device manufacturers abide by scalable standards that improve their act or speed up the progress of new applications. They must be attentive towards the requirement of self-governing conformity and accreditation protocols.
Available IoT Standards in the Present Scenario
The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) has delivered an uncluttered platform for consumers, academic researchers, and technical specialists from IoT sensors manufacturers to assemble for developing standards. A few instances of IEEE standards and projects generated from these collaborations are listed in the table below:
|
Sl. No: |
Name of the standard |
Utilization purpose |
Main constituents |
|
1 |
IEEE 2700-2017 |
IEEE Standard for Sensor Performance Parameter |
|
|
2 |
IEEE P1451.99 |
IEEE Standard for Synchronization of Internet of Things Devices and Systems. |
|
|
3 |
IEEE P2020 |
The standard for Automotive System Image Quality. |
|
|
4 |
IEEE P2520 |
The standard for Testing Machine Olfaction Devices and Systems. |
|
|
5 |
IEEE P2846 |
Assumptions for Models in Safety-Related Automated Vehicle Behavior. |
|
Present Situations
Presently, IoT sensors manufacturers are facing problems in setting up sensors in multifaceted IoT applications because of the problems they face while making an effort to integrate systems from different vendors. Within these issues, one can list the most prevalent interoperability problems as:
- Hardware compatibility
- Wired and Wireless Connectivity
- Security
- Software development, and
- Cloud computing
The companies spend considerable time and effort to solve these issues before creating new generation sensors.