Tag: IoT App Developers

IoT has witnessed significant growth in today’s technological age. And when powered by the capabilities of mobility, the technology fostered new advancements in the form of user experience, innovation, and business performance. 

IoT devices and mobile apps are deemed two sides of a coin. They complement each other to redefine businesses and customer experience. And industries across the globe are progressively investing in IoT development services to create IoT-enabled app and makes the most of this blend.

The fusion of IoT and mobile apps is helping businesses from diverse industry verticals to make headway. So, it won’t be vague to say that apart from other industries, IoT has also revolutionized the mobile app development industry. Herein, we have outlined a few ways to explore how this technology impacts the app development process.

How IoT is Impacting Mobile App Development

Shifts Focus

Earlier, app developers used to focus on creating user-friendly apps. However, the IoT growth has shifted their focus on developing IoT-enabled apps that establish an effective integration with the sensors or smart devices. An IoT app helps in everything – expediting business operations, improving customer experience, reducing operational cost, discovering new business opportunities, and more.

Reduces Efforts

The emergence of IoT has brought forth ample opportunities and possibilities in the market. The technology provides one centralized platform that decreases the efforts of IoT app developers in creating an IoT app and performs multiple tasks.

For instance, an IoT application development company uses Beacon technology to manage centralized appliances using a single device at a particular location. Simply put, when a user enters his home, beacon technology emits a signal and sends notifications to perform activities like check security camera, switch on lights, turn on AC or heater, etc.

Emphasizes on App Security

IoT enables an unprecedented amount of entry points, making the apps more prone to data hacks and thefts while transferring sensitive information. So, IoT app developers emphasize on the app security and implement various proven techniques to ensure that users’ privacy doesn’t hamper at any stage and overcome the data security challenge.

Brings Modification

The futuristic apps must support connected devices or say IoT to stay in the market. In a way, IoT has made modifications a necessity, and IoT app developers are going the extra mile to make apps adaptable to smart connected devices.

Final Words

The future of mobile apps seems brighter due to the advent of IoT technology. Given the above factors, it is apparent that IoT is the biggest revolution in the mobile app development industry. And IoT app developers will leave no stone unturned to develop smart apps and steer the innovation curve towards a better-interconnected future.

The IoT industry is vast and offers enormous opportunities to help businesses make headway. Given the rapid growth of IoT, we can say that IoT devices will soon be ubiquitous, from smart cities and utilities to people’s homes and cars. Owing to the increasing IoT devices, the IoT development services and solutions are becoming more prevalent than ever, though it may still be hard to find the best IoT app developers.

Herein, we will shed light on consumer IoT because it the sphere that demands mobile apps the most. In other sectors like agriculture and enterprises, IoT devices may not require mobile interface as they can directly connect to the cloud or be controlled using web applications.

However, consumer-oriented IoT devices typically need apps. Smart homes are probably the first that that strikes our mind when we think about IoT for consumers. And the smart home technologies and devices are rapidly gaining momentum with each passing year. Besides smart homes, consumer-based IoT apps are required in healthcare, agriculture, automobiles, and child and pet care.

IoT will change the way we live in our homes, drive cars, work, and entertain ourselves. The number of connected devices and IoT apps are growing quickly in these industries. If you’re also planning to develop an IoT app and disrupt any of these markets, this guide is for you.

Things You Need to Know About IoT App Development

How to develop an IoT app totally depends on your idea. Though feature-set will be different for a connected car app and a smart home app, you need to know some basic things before embarking on your IoT app development journey.

Major IoT Components

An IoT system comprises four components, including hardware, software, cloud, and network.

Hardware has various low-energy sensors that operate over Bluetooth and connect via the internet. To implement your idea, you have to choose whether you need third-party or custom hardware. A mobile device will also serve as hardware in your IoT system.

Software is a cloud-based IoT app – web or mobile – that is used to manage and control IoT devices connected to it. The IoT app also collects real-time data from sensors and shows it to users.

Cloud plays a vital role in IoT as it processes and arranges data. The most significant advantage of this component is that you do not require physical resources for storing data.

Network transfers data from a mobile device to sensors or devices and vice-versa. It links all devices within the IoT ecosystem.

Besides these IoT components, you must also learn critical challenges of IoT implementation that are:

• Delivering Value to Clients/Customers
• Hardware Compatibility Issues                          
• Data Connectivity Issues
• Inaccurate Data Collection
• Analytics Storage Space
• Data Security Issues

Make sure that the IoT app developers you hire, create a robust solution that overcomes these challenges. Now let’s explore how you can create an IoT app.

How to Develop an IoT Application

Choose a Platform

IoT platforms provide useful toolkits to expedite the IoT app development process. There are currently multiple IoT platforms like Google Cloud, AWS, and Cloud, each having its own features. You can select any of them, but pay heed to the what technologies they support and how much they cost.

Choose the Hardware

If you don’t have your own hardware for your IoT project, you should turn to third-party hardware. But make sure your hardware connects accurately and aligns with your product’s requirements.

Think of Scalability

The relevance of your app depends heavily on scalability. It should be able to manage a massive amount of data, along with multiple devices and processes. Cloud is deemed the best technology for this purpose.

Make Sure Your App Operates Fast

When it comes to transferring data and remotely controlling devices, the app’s speed plays a significant role. Make sure that your IoT app operates faster. Imagine your connected car doesn’t respond quickly when you give a command using your own app. Disappointing, right? This is why you should focus on the app’s speed and performance.

Ensure the Security

Security should be the top priority of your app. Unfortunately, IoT is vulnerable to data infringement when a plethora of devices is connected in one network. And these attacks can expose private and sensitive data when people use IoT for multiple areas like homes, cars, and healthcare devices. So, implement proven strategies to ensure the security of your IoT app and device.

How much IoT App Development Costs

The development cost of an IoT app depends on features, third-party services, technologies, developers’ location, and hourly rate.

To give you estimation, we would say that if IoT app development costs $100,000 in North America, the same app will cost $25,000 if you hire an Indian IoT application development company.

The cost of a basic IoT app ranges from $15,000-$25,000 and a complex projects ranges from $30,000-$50,000, depending on your feature scope.

Final Words

IoT mobile apps are on the rise now. They are becoming a crucial part of our lives by freeing us from daily chores and reminding us things we often forget. By developing a smart IoT app, you can penetrate this ever-growing industry and unleash massive revenue opportunities.

The most important things to consider before developing an IoT app are security, speed, and network stability. Without these features, it would be hard for you to get loyal users who not only use your app but also recommend it to their friends/family. Thus, collaborating with experienced IoT app developers to ensure your app is stable, secure, and lightning-fast would be the best option.

Education is the most powerful tool we have in our possession. By educating more and more people, we can drive a better social and technological change, leading to a more prosperous future. Thus, it is imperative to improve the education in terms of access as well as quality.

Technological advancements have significantly impacted education globally. Among all the technologies, the internet has the most profound effect on the way we educate and learn. Today, you can take a Harvard class right from your living room. You can replace high schools with online resources, learn new skills from YouTube, and even take degrees online.

But what’s next? Is there any other technology that can immensely benefit the education system? Obviously, there is. IoT is the technology that has radically revolutionized almost all the industry verticals. The IoT app developers believe that this innovation is one of the next technological advancements in schools, universities, and education in general.

Below, we have explored the role of IoT in education to unearth the boundless opportunities offered by this technology.

Note: If you already know the IoT impact on education and want to adopt this technology, reach out to an experienced IoT app development company.

Now let’s dive in…

Smart Classrooms

We can anticipate that future classrooms will be driven by technology. Augmented Reality (AR) will make the dissection day more humane by eliminating the need for real animals. Virtual Reality (VR) will replace the science class with a true-to-size display of the particles that make up life.

However, the foundation on which these classrooms will operate is the Internet of Things. Occupancy sensors can automatically detect and record the attendance of the students. Wearable devices will determine if the class is disengaged, tired, or need a break, and the whiteboards will record all the notes taken in the class. An IoT network will completely automate all the functions of the class.

Foreign Language Instruction

The most popular way of learning foreign languages is immersion, where one gets real-time feedback from teachers. For example, while learning French in France, you can get instant feedback from native speakers for free. However, such an environment is hard to recreate in other countries where French is spoken.

This is where IoT comes in handy. Utilizing connected devices, foreign language instructors can create a simulation environment to check whether students have made a correct statement, monitor their progress, and provide them real-time feedbacks irrespective of their location.

Task-Based Learning

IoT will impeccably impact the way we teach because connected devices or systems free up the teachers from monitoring students, allowing them to facilitate learning and educate seamlessly. In task-based learning, students learn-by-doing, and instructors help them when required. IoT-enabled systems provide assistance, feedback, and classroom-level monitoring automatically. By signaling teachers for help through an IoT device, no student will get too far ahead or falls too far behind – an issue that has always persisted in the classroom.

Disability Accommodation

IoT is extremely beneficial for disabled learners. For instance, hearing-impaired students may use a pair of smart sign language interpretation gloves and a tablet to translate sign language into audible speech and thus convert sound into written language. Using IoT devices is the best way to provide educational assistance to disable learners or students.

Final Words

IoT may take some time to gain mainstream adoption in education. The fundamental purpose of the IoT applications is to shed light on the massive benefits one can yield by integrating IoT into educational environments. So, we can conclude that IoT can contribute a lot to improving the quality and accessibility of education.

To create an IoT-based solution and facilitate learning globally, approach our IoT app developers.

The global population has been increasing by leaps and bounds, and so is their electricity demand. To fulfill this demand, power generation companies and utilities are continuously improving their existing working methodologies and machinery. Thus, they are able to elevate the overall plant efficiency, which in turn, enables utilities to provide electricity to a wide area network.

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and SCADA systems have enabled these companies to assess the condition and performance of their power plants’ tools for a long time. However, these systems are less interoperable and don’t offer consumption pattern monitoring of energy consumed by the end consumers.

The emergence of IoT in the energy sector has also resulted in the advent of smart IoT-based energy solutions. These solutions underpinned with IoT sensors and telemetry capabilities offer enormous functionalities to the energy sector in terms of operational optimization, consumption pattern monitoring, and asset performance management.

Smart Energy Solutions

Smart energy solutions are made up of devices like the smart grid and smart meters that are used to garner relevant data. This data comprises factors related to electricity flow and can vary from equipment performance to energy utilized by the end-users. By analyzing this data, the energy companies can make informed decisions to manage electricity flow in three processes, including power generation, transmission, and distribution.

IoT plays a vital role in maintaining the power flow in all these three processes. It allows electricity companies to manage the electricity supply at peak hours and eliminate wastage.

Let’s dive deep into the benefits of the Internet of Things in all these processes.

Power Generation –

Power plant machinery must be efficient enough to minimize electricity wastage. However, power plants undergo high levels of inefficiency and unreliability due to:

• Use of old and malfunctioning equipment
• Improper operations and maintenance (O&M) procedures.
• Incorrect utilization of historical data related to equipment.

These factors considerably affect the efficiency of machinery and equipment. With the help of IoT app developers, power generation companies create cost-effective solutions to enhance their O&M tasks, thus improving the lifetime of the equipment. By continuously tracking the performance of assets, point of failure and required maintenance time can be estimated accurately.

Uptime Monitoring:

Uptime monitoring is the time during which machinery or equipment runs. While the machine is working, different parameters are considered to assess its performance and condition. These parameters help companies to estimate the machine breakdown time and even schedule predictive, condition, or risk-based maintenance tasks.

Downtime Monitoring:

The time in which equipment is not running or under maintenance is referred to as downtime. By using the historical data of equipment garnered through different integrated sensors, appropriate repairs and maintenance can be done to get it ready for operation.

By simultaneously assessing the uptime and downtime of various machines in a power plant, the availability of equipment can be determined. Thus, the standby machines can be used during peak hours to fulfill the extra demand. A few other benefits of monitoring equipment availability are:

• Minimized maintenance costs
• Improved efficiency and reliability of assets
• Fast inspection and detection of sources of failure
• Elimination of unplanned downtime and emergency repairs

Power Transmission –

The efficiency of power transmission systems decreases after a prolonged duration of usage. Additionally, these power grid systems often run along with power plants having high emission rates and low fuel efficiency that result in reduced efficacy of power transmission systems. 

Nowadays, these conventional power grids have been supplanted with upgraded IoT-based smart grids. The new smart grids provide quick remote control on multiple electricity transfer parameters such as voltage, frequency, ramp rate, etc. Moreover, they offer a two-way dialogue system that enables utilities and customers to transmit data and electricity quickly.

Key benefits that an advanced transmission system yield with smart grids are:

Renewable Energy Management:

The energy produced from renewable resources is known as variable power, which varies with change in environmental conditions. A smart transmission system can identify these variations and also balance the power supply by extracting energy or electricity from conventional power plants.

Reduced Operational Costs:

Smart grids complemented with distribution systems can gauge the energy consumption in different locations and the duration of peak power consumption. Based on this data, utilities can choose the best possible time to run “peaking plants” to manage power supply when there is a peak demand for electricity. Since this reduces the usage of less efficient peaking plants, the operational cost is also reduced considerably.

Asset Management:

A transmission system comprises transformers, substations, and transmission lines. These assets and equipment develop faults owing to overloading and continuous operation. So, different IoT sensors are used to examine various factors related to the working of the equipment and identifying safety hazards as well as vulnerable components. This improves the maintenance tasks along with the life of transmission equipment.

Power Distribution –

IoT is improving the distribution services and customer experiences using smart meters and smart grids. A smart meter is an IoT application that transfers power consumption data of a home to the utility provider. Customers can also access the data through a web app or even from television.

Besides, smart meters foster the development of smart distribution systems, offering various benefits in the field of:

Supply Rerouting and Restoring:

Due to unwanted environmental conditions, transmission systems and assets can get damaged, which averts the electricity flow in certain regions. It can take a lot of time to recover the breakdown and restore the electricity supply in a location. However, the blend of smart meters and smart grids can find a separate path to supply electricity and help utilities to reroute the power supply to the area suffering from a blackout.

Energy Management Solutions for Home:

Smart appliances at home can exchange data with smart meters to store and analyze data related to energy consumption. Furthermore, smart meters share this data with a centralized platform that can even be accessed from a TV. This data can be utilized by consumers to manage electricity consumption and thus reduce the bills. 

Final Words

Smart energy solutions are improving the power generation, transmission, and distribution processes. IoT adoption in the energy sector has fueled the emergence of more reliable and efficient systems that reduces the power flow from power plants to end consumers. Thus, utilities are able to boost the reach of their electricity network to more remote locations and suffice the electricity demand of the continuously soaring global population.                                                 

If you also want to add intelligence to your power supply business, we suggest you investing in IoT app development services to create a smart energy solution and drive your business growth.

In today’s tech-driven era, innovation has reached to an extent where machines have begun replacing humans. There has been constant research and advancements to restore comfort and add value to our lives. Internet of Things (IoT) is one of those tech innovations that plays a significant role to make this possible. Every sector, including healthcare, home, manufacturing, energy, etc. is witnessing a massive acceleration in their daily operations using this technology.

Additionally, Statista reports say that the global market size of industrial robots and peripheral is anticipated to reach 70 billion US dollars in 2024. Thus, businesses across the globe are embracing industrial automation extensively.

The primary reason behind the mainstream adoption of industrial automation is the benefits offered by this advancement. Some of its top benefits are:

• High accuracy
• Enhanced efficiency
• Cost-effective
• Low errors
• Lower power needs
• Easy to control
• Quick process completion

Currently, every smart businessperson strives to automate their business processes to stay ahead in the wave of ever-changing tech-innovations. Below, we are exploring a few IIoT applications to provide you a clear idea of the areas where automation can be leveraged.

IIoT Application #1: Security

You may have heard about fire sensors. It is a small example of how IoT can provide safety and security to business premises. In some industries, there is a need for an additional layer of security besides the general needs.

IoT devices have the potential to continuously monitoring the safety indicators to protect the workplace and workforce from mishaps. They also check and track the illness and injury rates, thus providing a safe and healthy environment in industries.

IIoT Application #2: Automation of processes

Employing IIoT, almost every operation can be automated. Smart sensor networks that are connected to a cloud system can offer a great deal of control over your processes. Thus, the need for hiring employees to handle such tasks will be eliminated.

For instance, restaurants are automating the process of food wastage detection with the help of AI and IoT. The blend of IoT and industrial automation is significantly empowering industries. We suggest partnering with an IoT app development company to create a futuristic solution that can uniquely automate your business processes.

IIoT Application #3: Maintenance

How do you keep up with the maintenance needs of your machines? With the signs of hampered productions, right? In order to minimize the risk of low-quality productions, connect IoT sensors to your equipment. It signals you before the machines start malfunctioning. Thus, you can facilitate predictive maintenance of your business with IoT, regardless of the industry.

Wondering how it works? Sensors connected to your machines transmit accurate data to the cloud system. Besides, they allow you to monitor the performance, improvement, and progress of your equipment.

IIoT Application #4: Smart logistics management

Do you know Amazon has announced to deliver packages using drones? Drones will not only improve safety, speed, and efficiency but also replace humans.

Transport drones greatly help businesses to manage logistics. Although it needs a considerable investment at the initial stage, it will turn out to be a boon and way lucrative after successful implementation.

Moreover, you can also track the need for components with IoT devices. This is majorly leveraged in the airline sector. Inventory management can also be easily handled with IIoT devices.

IIoT Application #5: Integration of smart tools

A plethora of smart devices has been launched by IoT app developers, which provide a safer and error-free workforce to the workforce.

Let’s take an example of wearables like smart glasses. They provide instant notifications in case of an emergency like gas leakage or fire. These devices are also capable of determining the efficiencies of an individual to check their capability for a particular task.

IIoT Application #6: Data analysis with custom software

Machine learning technology has taken data management to the next level. The massive data garnered with the help of sensors is meticulously analyzed. This analytics solution is a major benefit of IoT in industries, which also helps in the optimization of processes. Thus, you can build software for this purpose that suffices the needs and aligns with the operations of your business.

 IIoT Application #7: Advanced packaging

Smart tracking tools have enabled businesses to track the loss of packages/products. The weather, roads, and other environmental conditions are also examined before the transit process. This tracking via IoT mechanisms can create a patterns using which businesses can quickly identify better ways of managing products. By availing IoT app development services, you can build smart IoT solutions to optimize your product packaging. 

IIoT Application #8: Smart vehicles

Companies striving to achieve next-level industrial automation are employing automotive vehicles that consist multiple sensors. These smart vehicles can divert their ways to reach their destination. Besides, they have an in-built GPS feature that can detect the traffic in the way and the shortest possible route to smoothen the journey.

IIoT Application #9: Easy quality control

The quality check of the products and operations is imperative for the success of every business. It enables them to stop following practices that waste time and resources. 

Since IoT sensors can gather data related to temperature, raw materials, and even wasted resources, quality engineers can easily detect the loopholes. Such data can also identify the areas where the processes can be handled efficiently. With IoT-enabled devices, quality issues can be eliminated radically.

Conclusion:

IIoT applications have gained a massive momentum lately. The IoT in industrial automation is bringing forth a lot of advancements by making a lot of things possible, which were unimaginable earlier. 

If you think that you are left behind in the wave technological transformations, consult with a reliable IoT app development company. From start-ups to enterprises, every business is investing in IIoT due to its applications and benefits in industrial automation.

Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies use messaging and connectivity protocols to transfer information remotely. The key features of these protocols are:

• Low Power Consumption
• Small Code Footprint
• Low Latency
• Use of Pub/Sub Pattern
• Low Bandwidth Consumption

MQTT protocol suffices all these requirements and has renowned cloud platforms – Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud – as a driving force behind it. Thus, it complements the necessities of IoT and has become a sought-after protocol for this technology.

In this article, we will shed light on what MQTT is, how it works, and how it is beneficial for IoT.

What is MQTT?

MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is an open OASIS and ISO standard (ISO/IEC PRF 20922)[3] lightweight and flexible protocol that was launched by IBM. The lightweight feature allows it to be easily implemented into power-constrained IoT devices, while the flexibility provides support to varied application scenarios for IoT devices and services.

Furthermore, MQTT uses the Public/Subscribe pattern to exchange messages between devices. This protocol basically operates over TCP/IP; however, any network protocol that provides lossless, ordered, bi-directional connections can support MQTT. Generally, it is developed for connections with remote locations where the network bandwidth is limited, and a small code footprint is required.

How Does MQTT Work?

MQTT Architecture

Similar to other IoT protocols, MQTT is based on clients and a server. The connected devices in MQTT are called “Clients”, which communicate with a server known as “Broker”. To clarify,  brokers handle data transmission between clients.

When a client wants to send information to the broker, it will be published to a particular topic. In this case, the client will be referred to as a “Publisher”. On the other hand, when a client that has subscribed to that topic wants to receive information from the broker, then the client will be referred to as a “Subscriber”. Additionally, the client that has subscribed to a particular topic will receive all messages published on the topic henceforth.

The publishers and subscribers do not typically know each other. They are only aware of the broker that serves as an intermediary. Also, any client can be a publisher, subscriber, or both. This setup is recognized as the “Pub/Sub Model”.

MQTT Messages QoS Level

Besides messages, the publisher also sends QoS (Quality of Service) level, which defines the guarantee of the message delivery. There are mainly three QoS levels, such as:

At most once: The broker will only receive the published message at most once. This level should not be used for sending important messages since there are fewer possibilities that the subscribers will receive it.

At least once: In this level, the publisher continuously sends the message until it receives an acknowledgment from the broker. In other words, it is more important that the message is received by the subscribers than to ensure that it is received only once. This is the most commonly used QoS level.

Exactly once: The publisher and broker work in tandem to ensure that the subscriber receives messages exactly once. This level needs some additional overhead in the form of a four-part handshake, which provides a secure authentication strategy for information delivered through network architectures. It is the safest and most guaranteed QoS level but also the slowest one. Thus, it is used only when necessary.

How Does MQTT Work in IoT?

As said earlier, MQTT is one of the most widely used protocols in IoT. Let’s understand how it works in the Internet of Things with an example.

Assume you have multiple weather sensors ( a humidity sensor and a temperature sensor) and two mobile phones. You want to send data about the humidity level to one phone and the temperature level to another.

Using MQTT, this task can easily be managed. Firstly, you need to set up an MQTT broker service. Then, you can connect two sensors on the broker as clients and set them up to send data on topics – “Humid” and “Temp”.

After that, you can also integrate the mobile phones with the broker and subscribe the first mobile to “Temp” and the second one to “Humid”. Consequently, two connected devices will receive messages about the humidity and the temperature whenever the sensors publish the required information to the broker.

Over time, MQTT is becoming the most preferred protocol among businesses and IoT app developers for exchanging data among IoT devices.

Key Benefits of MQTT

Lightweight Code Footprint: IoT devices require only a few lines of code to integrate and work with MQTT protocol.

Minimized Data Packets: MQTT is very energy-efficient and operates significantly if a device is battery-powered or has little CPU power.

Speed: MQTT runs in real-time, with no delays outside of Quality of Service (QoS).

Seamless Implementation: MQTT has in-built libraries in programming languages like Python and Elixir. So, it is easy to implement.

Last Will and Testament: If a client disconnects unexpectedly, you can set message instructions that will be sent to all subscribers so as to remedy the situation.

Retained Messages: Each topic can have a retained message that every client will automatically receive on subscribing.

Common Alternatives to MQTT

XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) is a communication protocol based on XML language for storing and exchanging data. It is often used to support instant messaging services.

A few differences between XMPP and MQTT are:

• The XMPP code footprint is slightly heavier than MQTT, and you need an XML parser to encode as well as decode information.
• XMPP doesn’t support pub/sub model by default, but it can be done with an extension.
• XMPP takes more bandwidth than MQTT.           

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the foundation of the World Wide Web. However, this protocol is stateless and requires more overhead per transmission as compared to MQTT. Additionally, it has a lower throughput than MQTT, which means that you cannot send multiple messages simultaneously.

Conclusion

MQTT plays a significant role in making IoT products more “low-lift” while achieving desired connections among devices, servers as well as apps. Devices that use MQTT protocol sync easier with existing systems.

If you are devising for a major IoT project, then MQTT would be the best choice. You can also partner with experienced IoT app developers who know the ins and outs of this protocol.