What your developers need to know before starting with IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) started out as a nebulous technology that no one really understood. But then time passed and IoT became a very well-defined sector that spread widely across companies and consumer families. IoT has become so prevalent that it is everywhere.

Thermostats, laptops, smartphones, smart devices, vehicles, lighting, doorbells, locks, robots, smoke alarms, electrical outlets, remote controls, autonomous equipment, inventory trackers, biometric scanners, logistics tracking, and ultra-high-speed wireless internet are just a few examples of where you can find it today.

If you can think of it, IoT is in it. This means your company should probably dive into this exciting world. To do this, however, your developers will need to have a strong understanding of several technologies, some of which may not yet be on your radar.

Let's take a look at some of the technologies your developers will need to have a solid understanding of before they start working with IoT.

AI, ML and data science

Modern IoT devices have come to rely on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. With the infusion of AI, ML, and data, IoT devices are better able to make decisions with very little (if any) human interference.

This has become crucial in the business world, especially when these devices are used in remote locations where data must be processed but staffing is complicated.

The purpose of many of these devices is to transmit data from a source to a destination. In the IoT situation, some processing must be taken care of. With the help of AI and ML, this processing is not only possible, but also efficient and able to keep up with ever-increasing demand. With the help of AI, IoT can derive meaningful insights from data, ensure rapid data analysis, ensure data privacy, and protect against cyber attacks.

Embedded Systems and Sensors

Not only is it important that your developers understand how to work with embedded systems (because most IoT works on devices like SoCs), but they will also have to have a solid understanding of sensor technology.

The role that sensors play in IoT is critical. Sensors detect external information and replace it with a signal that humans and machines can understand. And because sensors make it possible to collect data in virtually any environment or situation, they can be employed in virtually any type of use case.

Sensors can collect information such as temperature, humidity, acceleration, position, network data packets, Bluetooth signals, proximity, pulse, measured data, air quality, people flow, humidity and movement. In the hands of the right developer, the sky is the limit with the types and amount of data that can be collected with IoT sensors.

Without built-in sensors, IoT devices are practically useless.

Network and security

Nowadays, networking and security go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. This is especially true with IoT because devices often carry sensitive information (such as user credentials and location). When developers work with IoT, they must have a very strong understanding of how networking and security work together to enable data collection, processing, and distribution.

With IoT, your developers need to know more than just how to configure the network and how data packets travel. Because these devices are often deployed in remote locations, it is also important to understand how data can be collected and stored reliably when network connectivity is unreliable. How do you not only protect these use cases from data loss (due to connectivity issues), but also how to prevent that data from being stolen while it is on the device.

Mobile Development

When consumers deploy IoT devices, they often need to connect them to their smartphones for initial configuration and monitoring. Because of this, you will also need a mobile app that the end user can easily work with.

Your company may have created the perfect IoT solution, but if the mobile app includes a horrible user experience and is too complicated to use, the customer experience will be negative and sales will suffer.

Your IoT development team needs to include mobile app developers, otherwise you'll end up with a product that doesn't sell.

User experience

User experience doesn't just apply to mobile apps and desktop software. Your IoT devices have interfaces, some of which are intended for use by consumers and professionals. If your development team has no idea how to develop and design UX effectively, your product may not be successful.

UX design shouldn’t be an afterthought. Consider this element of IoT development throughout the entire lifecycle of a device and you will find success much easier to achieve. Your IoT teams must consider the user experience from the beginning to the end of the product. Never assume that your target audience has developer, administrator, or operational-level knowledge of how your device works. If you take on a new user-level technology domain, you can be confident that these devices can be deployed by anyone.

IoT Frameworks and Languages

Some of the most popular development frameworks that your developers will use for IoT include KAA IoT, MACCHINA.io, ZETTA, Mainflux, ThingSpeak, ThingsBoard, myDevices, openremote, WSO2, DeviceHive, Arduino, Node-RED, and Flutter.

Without the right IoT frameworks, your development team would have to reinvent a lot of wheels to get things up and running. Instead, empower them to work more efficiently with the right frameworks.

These frameworks work with languages ​​like Java, Python, and Node.js.

Conclusion

If your company is serious about IoT development, you must ensure your teams have a solid understanding of each of the above technologies and ideas. Ignore any of these and your developers will have a hard time getting these devices to market and into users' hands.

If you liked this, be sure to check out our other IoT articles.

• Tackling food insecurity through technology
• Towards the Internet of Experiences
• Web 4.0? It's time to talk about it
• What is IoT governance?
• What you need to know about developing for the Internet of Things