The internet of things (IoT) represents a transformative wave in technology, promising to revolutionize how we interact with our surroundings. The business potential of IoT devices is rapidly evolving, driven by advancements in sensor technology, expanding applications, and increasing connectivity. This evolution is unfolding so swiftly that it is challenging to grasp its implications fully.
At a high level, the IoT connects devices in homes, factories, and public spaces. Examples include refrigerators that order groceries when they run low, cars that cooperate to find parking spots, and systems that proactively maintain industrial plants remotely to prevent outages. The goal is to reduce expenses and energy usage.
More Powerful, Smaller, and Lower Cost
One of the primary reasons for the rapid acceleration of IoT is the continuous advancement in sensor technology. Sensors are becoming smaller, more powerful, and more energy-efficient, enabling a broader range of devices to become “smart.”
These sensors collect data on various metrics, from environmental conditions to personal health indicators. Their proliferation lays the groundwork for a vast network of interconnected devices that can communicate and collaborate to perform complex tasks.
Importantly, the cost of smart sensors has decreased dramatically, making them available in low-cost and affordable products, which has increased consumers’ interest.
AI Benefits Big Data Analysis
Another critical factor is the explosion of data generated by IoT devices. As these devices become more prevalent, they produce vast volumes of data that can be analyzed to derive valuable insights. Manufacturers and service providers can use this data to optimize processes, improve efficiency, and enhance decision-making.
For example, in manufacturing, IoT devices can monitor machinery in real time, predicting failures before they occur and scheduling maintenance proactively. This benefit reduces downtime and extends the lifespan of equipment, leading to significant cost savings.
Health Care and Smart Cities Are Big Potential Markets
IoT devices are proving transformative in health care. Wearable devices can continuously monitor vital signs, providing users and health care providers with real-time health data. This attribute allows for personalized and proactive health care, where conditions can be detected and addressed early.
Remote monitoring can also reduce the need for hospital visits, making health care more accessible and less burdensome for patients. The benefits of IoT in health care are vast, encompassing everything from chronic disease management to emergency response systems.
Smart cities are another intriguing area where IoT is making a substantial impact. Integrating IoT devices into urban infrastructure makes cities more efficient, sustainable, and livable. Intelligent traffic management systems can reduce congestion and improve safety, while smart grids can optimize energy consumption and reduce waste.
Environmental sensors can monitor air quality and noise levels, providing data that can inform policy and improve public health. Integrating IoT in urban planning can create cities that are more responsive to their inhabitants’ needs.
IoT Benefits Extend to the Consumer Sector
Smart homes with IoT devices offer increased convenience, security, and energy efficiency. The potential for enhancing daily life is immense, from smart thermostats that learn and adjust to user preferences to security systems that provide real-time surveillance and alerts. These devices can also be integrated with voice assistants, creating a seamless and intuitive user experience.
Despite the rapid advancements, the full potential of IoT is challenging to comprehend because it represents a fundamental shift in how we interact with technology and data. The interconnected nature of IoT devices means that their benefits are not just additive but multiplicative.
As more devices come online and begin to communicate with each other, the possibilities for innovation expand exponentially. This network effect makes it challenging to predict how IoT will transform industries and daily life.
Infineon Bets on the ‘Edge’ To Optimize IoT’s Business Potential
Infineon Technologies is one of the leading global semiconductor manufacturers specializing in microelectronics. The company provides innovative solutions for automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, focusing on energy efficiency, mobility, and security.
While its capabilities can be broadly applied to multiple markets, its next-generation PSOC (programmable system-on-chip) Edge portfolio, which features powerful AI capabilities for consumer and industrial applications in the IoT space, is perhaps the poster child for overall industry optimism.
Manufacturers integrate configurable digital and analog circuits into PSOC devices. These devices offer improved design revision capability and reduced component count because an on-chip microprocessor manages them. They are efficient, take up less board space, use less power and lower system costs. These attributes appeal broadly to IoT device makers as win-win elements.
AI Takes These Capabilities to a Higher Level
Increasingly, next-generation IoT edge devices require more performance without sacrificing power. Because Infineon’s new PSOC solutions use machine language (ML) capabilities to compute alertness while balancing performance and providing integrated security for connected home devices, wearables, and numerous industrial applications, AI becomes a significant benefit.
AI enhances voice/audio sensing for activation and control, vision-based position detection, and face/object detection. As a result, IoT devices can become more intuitive, anticipative, less reactionary, and proactive in their operation.
Examples of these enhancements are security system cameras that can discern with a high degree of confidence between external intruders and animals or HVAC systems that can avoid costly repairs by proactively signaling device failures weeks or months in advance.
In my recent interview with Infineon’s EVP of IoT, Compute, and Wireless, Sam Geha said AI will make legacy IoT devices look crude and archaic. “As billions more IoT devices are deployed into the market, more information must be stored, processed, and harnessed. AI will help connect our real world to the digital world, from buildings and homes to wearable consumer and fitness devices to factories and cities,” Geha remarked.
Closing Thoughts
To be sure, Infineon’s involvement in the IoT space was strong before “internet of things” became a buzzphrase.
The company’s IoT strategy enables secure, energy-efficient, intelligent, connected devices by leveraging its expertise in microelectronics to provide comprehensive solutions, including sensors, microcontrollers, and connectivity modules.
Infineon prioritizes robust security features to protect data and privacy in IoT applications. Its approach emphasizes seamless integration and interoperability, supporting diverse applications from smart homes to industrial automation.
Moreover, Infineon has a strong “design-in” confidence reputation that puts OEMs at ease, a significant advantage given that these solutions are being integrated into solutions that can cost $60,000 or more, as is the case with EVs.
Geha also believes that a microcontroller approach like Infineon’s new PSOC Edge E84 family is the most cost-effective way to democratize these solutions in a broad spectrum of products that use AI and ML in wearables, smart homes and other low-power “always-on domain” products with autonomous analog sensing supporting battery applications, such as smart locks, video doorbells, and security cameras.
“Infineon’s vision is to create capabilities in this space that can scale, make it easy for design partners to utilize its solutions over multiple generations of products, and get faster to market in a consistent and reliable manner,” Geha stated.
The IoT market is projected to grow significantly, with an estimated value of over $1 trillion by 2025. This growth is driven by the increasing adoption of IoT devices across various industries, including health care, manufacturing, and smart cities. Over the next five years, analysts expect the market to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 25%, highlighting its rapid expansion and transformative potential. These are not trivial data points.
While the overall market seems obsessed with how the likes of Apple and Google are battling over AI and its comprehension in their smartphone, PC, and tablet operating systems, Infineon has quietly played a leadership role in putting the pieces in place to optimize AI at the edge in the IoT space.
While it may not always get the headlines it deserves, Infineon continues to quietly demonstrate IoT market governance, innovation, and credibility, which few companies have achieved.
