The Importance of Sensors to the Internet of Things

Bremner, D. (2015) The Importance of Sensors to the Internet of Things. Technical Report. Knowledge Transfer Network, Sensors & Instrumentation Leadership Committee. (Unpublished)

Abstract

The excitement and hype surrounding the emerging technology market known as the Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted a great deal of attention from industry, business leaders, and governments alike. According to Cisco estimates1, the IoT will create a $14 Trillion global opportunity, and Business Insider predict it will be the largest market for technology hardware ever 2. If these are correct, the impact on traditional business models through the adoption of new technology within industry, the service sector and governments will be transformational. At an individual and societal level, important areas such as health care and aging population will particularly benefit from IoT. The changes on tomorrow’s society can only be imagined but there is little doubt, whether individually, societally, economically, or industrially, these changes will be far reaching. However, the promise of future riches can fool the unwary into overlooking the jewels that already exist which are delivering benefit to the UK economy today; whose presence will be pivotal to the UK’s position in the IoT market of tomorrow. In the SILC white paper ‘The IoT Tree of Life’3, the 4 foundation roots from which the IoT will develop are: Low Power Processing, Miniature Sensors, Ubiquitous Wireless, and Power Efficiency. This briefing paper explores Sensor Systems, the ‘eyes and ears’ of the IoT, and elucidates how the existing UK strengths in this area can be leveraged to deliver competitive advantage to the UK economy in the emerging IoT market.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Technical Report)
• Status: Unpublished
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bremner, Dr Duncan
• Authors: Bremner, D.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering
• Publisher: Knowledge Transfer Network, Sensors & Instrumentation Leadership Committee
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher.