Delivered for the 2019 AI+Blockchain for Social Impact training in Cape Town as an introduction to the internet of things for people with no prior knowledge of the subject.

1. Insights into
the Internet of
Thingstitle.
AI+Blockchain for Social Impact
5 March 2019
Wiebke Toussaint
Data Scientist, Applied AI Researcher

2. Presentation title.
Date, 2016
Name Surname
Job title
Objectives
Workshop Take Aways
• Understand the building blocks
of IoT
• Develop an appreciation of key
concepts and terms used in IoT
• Gain familiarity with specifying
IoT requirements

3. Why IoT?
• IoT is a network of sensing devices.
• Sensors are a technology for
gathering data.
• Surveys are also a technology for
gathering data.

4. Why IoT?
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Which insights are you lacking?
• What data do you need to get those
insights?
• Are sensors the only / best way of
getting that data?

5. The Basics - Sensor Networks
Seedling (event)
Eyes (sensors)
Neurons (network)
Electrical signals
(data)
Brain (processing)

6. The Basics - Sensor Networks
Observation /
Event
Sensors / devices / nodes (eg camera)
Bits / Data
packets
(eg pixels)
Data processing
(eg cloud analytics)
Gateway
Network

7. Building Blocks of IoT
Real world events
Sensors
Observations
Communication network
Event analysis | Event control
Actuator
Actions

8. Why IoT has become hot
1. Sensor quality, availability and price
2. Measurement quality & standards
3. Wireless technologies & networks
4. Cloud computing & AI

9. Your project requirements
determine the sensor
network specifications!

10. Application requirements
• Measured property
• Frequency of observation
• Error tolerance
• Response time
• Field maintenance
• Location

11. Sensor technology requirements
• Physical: size, material, weight, cost
• Battery life / power requirements
• Sampling frequency, accuracy
• Data storage capacity
• Processing power

12. Wireless Networks Requirements
★ Power
★ Cost
★ Availability
LOW
LONG
HIGH
Range
Data transfer
LoRa WAN
[Cellular]
(GSM, 3G, 4G)
SHORT
WiFi
ZigBee
Bluetooth
[SigFox]