Internet Of Things
At present, the use of devices is increasing and this covers more and more fields, ranging from research, through industrial applications, to, why not, everyday use. In addition, the use of the internet is growing, so much that it has become a daily necessity and part of the productive force that moves the economy, culture and other aspects of society. Adding research to the level of development of devices that can increase process more information with smaller size and lower energy consumption, taking advantage of this to develop applications to monitor data, automate processes, from the digital world to the physical world.
The concept of the Internet is familiar to many people today. If you ask anyone, you will answer that it is a place that allows you to search for things, send emails, enter social networks. It is clear that the internet allows the exchange of information, but that it is really the Internet and why it has become so relevant today.
To begin, I will talk a little about the history of the Internet. It all started in the 50s in the Cold War. If the internet like many technologies we used recently were developed by military necessity. The United States Department of Defense wanted a command and control network that was not exposed in the event of a nuclear war. At that time, such military orders used telephone switching offices, such as those in the image.
If it is observed, this network as military view, an attack in the commutation offices or worse still in the interurban offices would be overwhelming since it would cut off all kinds of communication between the high-ranking sides to the other sides that await orders. Which represents a high risk. Then Paul Baran designed the following network distribution proposal within the RAND Corporation that hired the DoD, and AT&T, the company that had control over the telephone networks back then, was asked, but it rejected the idea. After years in lawsuits for having the head in such research, the DoD constituted an organization known as ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency).
Then Larry Roberts, director of ARPA was inspired by a conference describing a similar system interconnected between the campus computers made by the Laboratory National Physics (NPL), in England. This added to Paul’s distributed system were the first steps to build the network known as ARPANET.
This system connects the host to a subnet that contains IMP (Interface Message Processors) that are microcomputers. Each connected to a host. The design is that between IMP there is a long-distance contact, while between IMPs and host there is a short distance combination. Communication between IMPs was done between datagrams. But what are datagrams, and how does this work. They look like boxes that carry the information, but before sending this box there is a verification that the box can be sent safely and also verifies if something happens on the road, to send another box if necessary. This made it safer in case there was an attack. In fact, the subnet was the first electronic switching network of storage and shipping packages.
The experiment was so successful that it was a matter of years for more and more Universities to join. A year later they had been joined by Universities such as the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), SDC (System Development Corporation) RAND Corporation, BBN. Over the years, more companies and universities were added, turning it into a National scale project.
In the late 1970s, the NSF (National Science Foundation) saw the enormous impact that ARPANET had had on university research by allowing scientists across the country to share data and collaborate in research projects, which enhances the exchange of knowledge between the Interconnected Universities. But there was a disadvantage for certain Universities since in order to integrate their node into ARPANET a university had to have a research contract with the Department of Defense. Since many did not have a contract, the initial response of the NSF was to sponsor the Computer Science Network (CSNET) in 1981. This network connected the departments of computer science and industrial research laboratories to ARPANET. In the late 1980s, the NSF went further and decided to design a successor for ARPANET that was open to all university research groups.
From this investigation, the TCP / IP protocols were born to handle the nodes within the network, whose quantity grew with the passage of time. The success in this project prompted other countries to implement networks that ended up interconnecting with each other creating the World Wide Web, which is where the Internet is sustained as a global data transfer network.
Then the action of a military intervention plus the motivation of creation and development by academics boosted the development of one of the most revolutionary technologies of the twentieth century. That escalated from sending written information to having the ability to encode and encapsulate text, video voice. But this type of communication has human interaction, that is, there are a human transmitter and receiver, which despite being communicated by computers, exist in the process. For example, when an email is sent, the sender is a person, who wants to communicate something to another person who is at the end of the communication. There is the encoding process, transport, even with wireless media, but to the end and the beginning is the person using technology as a medium. But what would happen if the person allowed to be part of the communication process and became a passive object of that process? This is when the concept of the Internet of Things begins to break down.
To begin with, you have to know the concept of Ubiquitous computing, is a paradigm in which the processing of information is linked with each activity or object as encountered. Is Hidden integration of technology in human environments where users can access to information and functionality at any time and anywhere and as opposed to the desktop paradigm, in which a single user consciously engages a single device for a specialized purpose, someone “using” ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems simultaneously, in the course of ordinary activities, and may not necessarily even be aware that they are doing so. Pervasive computing refers to the technology being so well integrated that it becomes diffused within the environment, while Ubiquitous refers to the fact that the devices are scattered within the space. These two concepts are so linked that they tend to be used as synonyms
These concepts are important because IoT is the symbiotic interaction of software and hardware that through the combination of technologies and concepts from different fields such as Ubiquitous computing, pervasive computing, previously mentioned, Internet Protocol, which has to do with the Internet as such, Sensing Technologies and embedded devices that are part of Hardware. This makes it possible to make objects intelligent because in addition to controlling and monitoring you can communicate with other devices around them, becoming them as a kind of IMPs.
And because the devices became so relevant as to become network nodes. It turns out that since the discovery and use of semiconductor materials, a career was created in the development of increasingly powerful and smaller devices. This last part is interesting because the first computers, the most sophisticated, had elements known as vacuum tubes, which allowed to develop logic and thereby solve calculation problems. The problem was that these computers occupied entire rooms and were not fast enough since they worked through gases, which were heated and you had to wait for the temperature to stabilize.
The development in the investigation of devices based on Silicon and in the interaction at the electronic level with other doped materials allowed the creation of the diodes and transistors, which allowed to increase the processing speeds with the advantage that each time the size is reduced. This resulted in the explosion of embedded systems, which are sets of processors with devices and sensors created for a specific cause, for example, a processor that has a temperature sensor connected and a humidity sensor can capture data and process them to send them via the Internet to an application. All of this physically integrated into just one printed circuit board (PCB).
Another concept that is used, especially to automate processes is the control systems. This concept encompasses a study in dynamic systems, but the way to summarize it is shown in the following diagram. This is an example of a feedback system, which in the case of automation is the most used. For example, there is a reference signal, which is the signal that the system wants to reach, this is compared to the current one generating a difference that is known as an error, this happens to the plant controller that acts according to that input and a system of feedback that is basically a sensor. To explain it, it can be when a person wants to bathe. With the foot, the temperature is measured, if it is cold turning on a heat water faucet until the desired temperature is reached. This is a feedback system since depending on the sensor (foot) the opening of the faucet is adjusted with hot water, taking as a reference the temperature preferred by the person.
Then the IoT encompasses these concepts due to its two main processes, monitoring and automation. These contain a PCB in the case of monitoring and in the case of Automation it also has mechanical systems that serve as actuators. These are concentrated in a physical node, this physical node as it is interconnected to the network. Then physical objects have virtual counterparts representing them, and that become themselves active parts of the process.
The IoT has many advantages, but being internet nodes, it also brings risks such as keeping keys by default, making these devices vulnerable and at the same time with the possibility of becoming bots of denial of service attacks. I also use insecure network services since successful exploitation of the vulnerabilities that might exist in these services could compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the data stored in the device or even allow remote access to it. Therefore, it must be taken into account that these devices must have information encryption, secure connections and passwords that are updated regularly.
The IoT is a technology that will continue to grow and mostly through semiconductor research that enables the creation of more powerful devices and more precise sensors. In addition to the use that can be given to improve the quality of life of people, cities and societies. With the care of maintaining the confidentiality, integrity or availability, the three aspects of information security, this technology will be integrated into fields of research, industry and people in their daily lives.
References
Tanenbaum A. , Wetherall D. “Redes de computadoras” Quinta edición 2012 Cap 1.5
Borgia E. “The internet of Things vision: Key Features, application and open issues” Elseveir 2014
