Data is the new oil for digital businesses, as the adage goes. So how do you capture real-time data from the physical world?

Creating digital products requires physical objects embedded with sensors that are then connected to the internet. Sensors create signals that are interpreted and used by IoT systems

For example, if you want to know the temperature in all the hotel rooms and adjust it to optimize energy consumption, you must install temperature sensors. A system will ingest and analyze the data and trigger actions without human intervention.

Sensors transmit data through a communication network that connects IoT edge and gateways and goes to a platform where the data system collects, processes, and analyzes the data. Once you have the data, you can create workflows and pipelines that feed analytics systems, machine learning models, and AI applications.

Microcontrollers convert analog signals to digital signals, such as a voltage signal to a digital value representing the data. These signals are processed to extract information, analyze, and generate an output sent to the IoT platform.

The output generated is used by other systems that perform actions, control, or interact with other devices. For example, if a factory machine malfunction is detected, this signal may stop other machines until corrections or modifications are made.

• I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) (synchronous)
• SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) (synchronous)
• Wireless Protocols
  • Short Range (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Matter)
  • Long Range (Zigbee, LoRa, Cellular)
• UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) (asynchronous)

MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol commonly used to securely connect and share data between IoT sensors/devices, cloud computing, and applications. MQTT requires minimum bandwidth and is ideal for IoT devices with limited resources.

IoT sensors also use different technologies, such as images, light, magnets, infrared, touch sensing, ultrasonic, sonar, and many more.

There are miniature sensors built using MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) that are highly sensitive and measure the physical, biological, or chemical properties of particular environments. For example, some MEMS sensors are accelerometers, gyroscopes, and pressure sensors.

1. Pressure sensors
2. Temperature sensors
3. Image sensors
4. Gas Sensors
5. Humidity Sensors
6. Optical Sensors
7. Proximity Sensors
8. Motion Sensors
9. Infrared (IR) Sensors
10. Smoke Sensors
11. Gyroscopic sensors
12. Acceleration sensors
13. Chemical sensors
14. Water quality sensors
15. Level sensors

Krasamo is an IoT development company based in Plano, Texas, with more than 12 years of experience in IoT projects in industrial and consumer markets.

Krasamo serves the IoT technology market and has participated in strategic developments collaborating with many medium to large US clients.

Learn more about IoT consulting services with Krasamo today.