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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.