Chapter 2 – The Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things, called “IoT” for short, refers to sensors, machines, and other electronic devices connected to the internet where information can be exchanged immediately with people or machines managing the system.
Getting Familiar With IoT
To help better understand IoT, let’s explore how a smart doorbell works step-by-step by clicking through this activity. To enlarge the activity, click on the small box in the upper right corner and then when finished, click on “esc” to return to smaller size.
Let’s Brainstorm!
The CSU IoT Sensor Kit
Monitoring how much moisture is present in the soil will help you determine best when and how much water to give plants or crops.
Turns out, soil sensors operate in a similar way to smart doorbells! Now work through this activity to learn more.
Knowledge Check
Review the material by answering the following question(s).
A sensor is a device that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure, or any one of a great number of other environmental phenomena.
In this context, an electronic device refers to something such as a cell phone, laptop, GPS tracking device, Alexa, etc.
Wikipedia defines a smart device as "an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, NFC, Wi-Fi, LiFi, 5G, etc., that can operate to some extent interactively and autonomously."