World IoT Day celebrates its fifteenth anniversary today, as an event first established by the IoT Council in 2010 to encourage conversations around IoT topics and advance its progression. Today, IoT is arguably no longer a niche term but an innate understanding of the value of connecting devices, from automobiles to soil sensors.
Research from IoT Analytics pinpoints the number of connected IoT devices at around 18 billion today, which is forecast to grow to 40 billion by 2030. However, there remain intrinsic challenges related to the proliferation of connected devices that need to be carefully considered.
In honour of World IoT Day, IoT Insider summarises four key areas within connecting devices, the challenges facing these particular areas, and articles and interviews unpacking these topics featured on IoT Insider.
1. Connectivity infrastructure
Connectivity is a core part of system architecture. Whether devices are connected over Wi-Fi, cellular, or even satellite, considering the right connectivity protocol can prove challenging, as it can depend on the existing infrastructure in the region in which a company is operating in and the use case.
Non-terrestrial satellite communications are increasing in popularity because of their perceived capabilities to connect devices in rural and/or remote parts, however it remains fairly costly and requires significant investment, which may be an insurmountable barrier to SMEs.
You can read insights into non-terrestrial communications in an interview with Liz Wilson from Ground Control; understand the part eSIM is playing in connectivity in an article by Prem Sivasamy by Lyca Mobile; and learn more about the growth of LoRaWAN in an interview with Blynk.
2. Cybersecurity: the persistent challenge
The growth in connected devices has been linked with the growth in an attack surface and understanding on the part of cyber attackers that insecure, legacy IoT devices that receive few and far between over-the-air updates that marks them as particularly valuable targets. This was exemplified by the Mirai botnet attack that occurred in 2016.
As a result, the secure-by-design approach and baking in security into the foundation of connected devices has become more popular, alongside the rise in legislation such as the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) or NIS2 Directive to ensure a clearly defined framework for securing devices.
Industry insights into unpacking the Cyber Resilience Act can be found in Chris Jones from Crypto Quantique’s article; Gianni Cuozzo from Exein’s article; and in an interview with Preeti Khemani from Infineon Technologies.
3. Growth in data: the role of Edge processing
More devices generate more data, which ostensibly aids companies in gaining better insights into, for example, energy usage in the smart grid, or crop yields in agriculture. However, if companies don’t harness data properly, they can find themselves overwhelmed by it, and struggle to extract meaningful insights.
As a result, the role of Edge computing has become more important, reducing latency and alleviating some privacy concerns attached to Cloud computing. Insights on Edge computing in automotive can be found in an interview with Michael Maxey from ZEDEDA; an article from Michael Westerfield from Atrius on combining Edge with Cloud; and Edge computing in mission-critical applications in an interview with Sagar Chandra from Rajant.
4. Artificial intelligence integration
The explosion of artificial intelligence being embedded in connected devices presents a number of opportunities for smarter, faster, more autonomous IoT systems; anything from equipment condition monitoring in manufacturing to anomaly detection in energy grids. But with this, comes the need to understand and identify relevant use cases, to avoid the risk of deploying AI for the sake of deploying AI.
Martin Creaner from the World Broadband Alliance spoke about the deployment of AI in broadband infrastructure; Chris Hillman from Teradata wrote an article on the upcoming EU AI Act; and Paul Williamson from Arm wrote an article on AI-driven IoT innovation in 2025.
Conclusion
The growth in connected devices shows no signs of slowing down, and connectivity, cybersecurity, Edge processing and AI integration are all areas that are causing developers and engineers to rethink how devices are designed, deployed, and maintained, with challenges ranging from cybersecurity to managing the wealth of data generated by devices.
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