Application of IoT
Let me recall a few years back when I could find only IoT use cases was for Community based Siren. The sensor was based on 2G data where the siren will automatically alarm us and Police/security if there is a burglar in the area. Then came the smart home solution that connects appliances like Freeze, Washing machine, Rice cooker, etc through Home WiFi and can be monitored/controlled from anywhere.
Now, as the cellular data network has expanded, such connectivity for sensor networks and usage have also surged. Let’s point some of the use cases here in Nepal.
Smart utility meters (electricity, water)
One of the early adoptions of IoT in Nepal is with Smart electricity meters. Such meters regularly send the consumption units to the server on a regular basis which can also be monitored through the website or mobile apps (coming soon).
Nepal Electricity Authority had started implementing ToD (Time of day) meter for 3 phase connections in Kathmandu in 2018. Now it is known that around 10 thousand such meters are installed throughout the country. The use of such a smart meter will reduce the cost of manual meter reading, save electricity loss, and provide proper control over peak power management. Now, they have planned for the installation of such meters in every household. Similarly, the same concept can be applied to the Water supply meter as well, which is also in the plan.
Vehicle tracking and monitoring
Another mostly used IoT application is vehicle tracking also called GPS tracking, where you can view the real-time location of your locations. The GPS location of the vehicle is sent regularly to the centralized server which is then put into a map. The same application can also be used for navigation for the driver.
Based on this, there are several applications built over it like public transport tracking and finding a bus, taxi, and even flight. Some of the organizations like corporate houses or even bus service providers use this system to track and monitor those vehicles.
Early warning system for disaster
Using sensors in several places, the risk of some disasters like earthquakes, floods, landslides is acquired. Then the system alerts the people at risk to save lives and property.
After the identification of possible risk, DHM has collaborated with both Ntc and Ncell both to send warning SMS to the people under the risk.
Lakes Tsho-Rolpa and Imja which are at the risk of outbursts had been equipped with such early warning systems. If found risky, the system disseminates information to the people to reduce the loss of life and others.
Weather monitoring system
The weather stations or meteorological stations located in hundreds of places collect the weather information from such places. Apart from providing real-time weather information, this also helps to forecast the weather for the coming days in no time.
Digital payment using Point of sales terminals.
As digital payments are on the rise in Nepal, service providers are providing this handy point of sales terminals that use cellular connectivity to communicate their servers for the payment. Currently, 2G data is being used for such a purpose, but for the future, 4G connectivity shall prevail with a more prompt response and advanced features.
Apart from those mentioned above, there are a bunch of other IoT solutions to launch in Nepal:
- Centralized CCTV video monitoring of a city/remote area
- Parking lot management
- Smart waste management
- Prisoner tracking with handcuff, foot lock
IoT is one of the growing connected devices lately and will expand exponentially with the upcoming 5G network.
Concluding
IoT system is finally taking a shape here in Nepal which seems to grow more with more efficient and advanced communication technologies like NBIoT over 4G, 5G. There are no official statistics like how many sim cards or connections are used for IoT in Nepal. But we can assume from various sources for it to be around a lakh (100 thousand). The IoT also opens a new assured revenue stream to tackle the declining revenue/profit challenge of the telcos.
Ntc and Ncell both have widened their efforts in providing such IoT solutions with the help of sensor distributors. Nepal Telecom has used more of its SIM cards (CDMA, GSM) for electricity meters while Ncell is more into vehicle tracking. They have also launched some customized data packages for such IoT/M2M solutions.
Furthermore, Alternative
Application of IoT
There are multiple applications of the Internet of Things in heterogeneous fields. IoT is adjustable to almost any technology that is capable of providing relevant information about its own operation, performance, activity, and even about the environmental activities.
These days, many companies have adopted the IoT so as to increase productivity, output efficiency. Let’s discuss the different applications of IoT one by one.
- Wearables – Wearable enables people to better understand their health condition. This is probably one of the earliest industries to have deployed the IoT at its service. FitBits, Heartrate monitor & smartwatches can be seen everywhere these days. Apple watch, MI smartwatch are common examples of wearables.
- Health – As we talked about earlier, small wearable sensors can be connected to the patient’s body to get the information.
- One best example of the smart wearable is the Guardian glucose monitoring device which is developed to aid people suffering from diabetes. This device detects glucose levels in the body with the help of an electrode called a glucose sensor. This device is placed under the skin and it sends relevant information to the monitor via radiofrequency.
- Traffic Monitoring – IoT plays a great role in managing the traffic system in larger cities. The various devices interconnect with the applications can help us in avoiding the traffic jam, calculating the shortest path, etc.
- Smart Home Appliances – With the help of IoT, our home is being smarter. The best examples are Amazon Alexa, Google Home. These devices allow us to communicate in two ways and provide relevant information by analyzing the surrounding.
- Smart Cities – As the world be moving the smart cities, IoT has a lot of scope in implementing smart cities. Smart surveillance, automated transportation, smart energy management systems, water distribution, security & environmental monitoring all are examples of internet of things applications for smart cities.
- Agriculture – Agriculture is another best applications of IoT. Smart drones, devices can be interconnected to gather relevant information about farming and disseminate it to the respective person. It allows farmers to get the right information about the next action. Sensing for soil moisture and nutrients, controlling water usage for plant growth, & determining custom fertilizer are some simple uses of IoT.
- Hospitality – The use of IoT brings significant improvement in the hotel industry. Some common examples of IoT in the hospitality industries are smart keys, smoke detectors, map navigation, applications to book rooms, etc. One simple example, automatic keys help the hotel owner to get all the relevant information about the guest, so the guest does not have to explain everything.
- Business – Of course, a business can not be apart from IoT. The use of IoT has an exponential contribution in scaling the business. So, IoT has a huge application in the business.
- Industrial Automation – One simple example of industrial automation with IoT is e-attendance. Before the advancement of IoT, people used to manual attendance. But, now there are lots of things which is automated with the help of IoT. The industry is one of the fields where both faster developments, as well as the quality of products, are the critical factors for a higher ROI. With IoT, one could even re-engineer products and their packaging to deliver better performance in both cost and customer experience. IoT here can prove to be game-changing with solutions for all the following domains in its arsenal.
- Smart Parking
- Smart Retail
Challenges of IoT
Apart from many advantages of implementing IoT, there are many challenges that stand in the way of the successful deployment of IoT applications. They are
- Big Data
- Networking
- Heterogeneity
- Scalability
- Security and Privacy
- Interoperability
- Maintenance