I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
One of the first definitions of the Internet of Things (IoT)
has been given by Kevin Ashton in one of his article
published in RFID Journal (July 22, 2009).
Internet of Things represents the next step of evolution of
the Internet, since it takes into consideration all physical
objects that are connected to the network, sensing more and
more data according to a context-aware logic, and providing
more experiential information in order to aid the work of
people and machines. This new wave of the Internet is
correlated to the following key enabler elements:
- Ubiquitous connectivity, empowered by modern
high speed pervasive wireless technologies
- Availability of a large number of interconnected
sensors and actuators, fully integrated in a new network
ecosystem
By extending the above concepts, Cisco Systems defines
the Internet of Everything [3] as bringing together people,
process, data, and things in order to make networked
connections more relevant and valuable than ever before, by
turning information into actions that create new capabilities,
richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity
for businesses, individuals, and communities.
Finally, according to [2] we can consider the
aforementioned “things” as active participants in business,
information and social processes where they are enabled to
interact and communicate among themselves and with the
environment by exchanging data and information sensed
about the environment, while reacting autonomously to the
real/physical world events and influencing them by running
processes that trigger actions and create services with or
without direct human intervention.
The analysts consider The Internet of Things as one of
most promising technologies so that they included it into the
group of technologies that have the potential to dramatically
improve our life and that, for this reason, are counted in the
“Disruptive Technologies” [1].