Considered by some to be the most important development of the 21st century, there’s no doubt that the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be impactful. What’s less clear is when and how. We’ve got a list of seven examples of how IoT has – or may potentially – change our lives.
The virtual and physical realms are becoming increasingly enmeshed through the world of the Internet of Things. The rate of Internet connections is outpacing companies’ abilities to secure them. As a result, a large driver of cybercrime is the least-protected networks and systems found in the healthcare information technology world – building automation, or smart building technology.
To date, the smart building’s health applications have focused on maintaining the best indoor temperature for occupants, developing lighting in tune with the human circadian rhythm, or improving air quality with sensors-enabled ventilation. While all these systems do support general health and, therefore, an improved ability to fight disease, they do not help control the spread of coronavirus. With many experts claiming that this kind of pandemic may become more common in the decades ahead, the smart building may need to start looking into its in-depth toolkit to see how it can help.
Conversion to smart buildings turns a former cost into an enabler of business. Digitally enabled office space can be personalized, so the profile of the person working in a given area — immediately on login — dictates information access, security protocols, climate control preferences, room automation and services access/charging and much more. The building effectively becomes a multi-faceted administrative assistant, automatically managed and controlled through digital transformation. Everyone benefits — owner/landlord, operator, tenant and user.
As lockdowns start to ease in many countries, so the tentative return to work begins, leaving people understandably concerned about how safe a space an office will be in the middle of a global pandemic. There is likely to be an increase in the amount of technology used to monitor employees. From thermal cameras taking your temperature when you enter the building to apps or wearables to alert you if you get too close to colleagues, work could soon have the feel of the Minority Report movie.
The Single-Pair-Ethernet (SPE) concept comes from the automotive industry which required lean Ethernet cabling for vehicles. On the basis of xBASE-T1 protocols, SPE can also be used in building cabling and factory automation. SPE requires – as the name suggests – just a single twisted pair for data transmission. A thin two-core cable and a compact connector are sufficient for the cabling. In comparison to classic Ethernet cabling, the number of possible connection points is multiplied. The connection to the Local Area Network (LAN) takes place using switches either centrally in the floor distributor or distributed in the zone at the service outlets.
The goal of the new SPE standards is a single-network vision where all devices in plants communicate using the same set of protocols–balancing node cost, node size and ease of commissioning smart systems.
A company called Kinsa is leveraging IoT tech to create a network of connected thermometers, collecting a huge amount of anonymous health data that could offer insights into the current and future pandemics. The ability to track fever levels across the U.S. in close to real time could be a crucial piece of information for both the public at large and for decision-makers in the healthcare sector and government.
A Smart Building is defined as ‘a structure embedded or retrofitted with internet-connected devices and appliances’. Smart buildings have a lot of reported benefits including increased efficiency, reduced utility costs and simplifying daily life for tenants. Smart buildings achieve these benefits by using sensors and actuators to collect and manage data according to the business’ services and functions. The effectiveness of smart buildings centre on the use of interconnected technologies to make buildings more intelligent and responsive which as a result can improve their performance and optimise how space is used.
Smart building technology has a profound effect on many industries, such as manufacturing, as well as the commercial real estate market. Today’s businesses are looking for more than an empty building that they house their equipment in. The smart building features are as much of a selling point as the location. Here are seven other ways that smart buildings are changing commercial real estate: Expanding options, fully Integrated systems, Adapting to tenants’ technology requirements, improving environmental friendliness, and better automation due to versatile IoT sensors.
