Internet of Things - IoT

Today, a lot of various devices are connected to computer networks. The such devices can be used both in local networks (LAN) as in large networks (WAN). Of course, the well-known internet is the gigantic WAN network (Wide Area Network). So it is natural that today a lot of very different devices are controlled over the internet also.
This IT discipline is developing very dynamically and you can find various terms for it. It is very easy to find many studies where it is discussed what are the differences or similarities between the solutions that are included in a given term. For me, it doesn't really matter which of these terms we will use.
However, since we are here to discuss with the control of devices via computer networks, it may be worth knowing a few terms that appear when discussing these topics by other authors - nothing will happen if you skip this chapter.

•••   M2M, IoE and IoT   •••

The M2M acronym is defined as a term for any technology that enables networked devices to exchange information and perform actions without the manual assistance of humans.
Some M2M definitions say that they refer to devices that use any communication channel, including a computer network.
Other definitions emphasize that M2M technology refers to isolated instances of device-to-device communication, and IoT refers to a grander scale.

The term IoT is mainly used for devices that can communicate with each other via the computer network independently of human action. The internet allows these devices to connect, interact and exchange data. The IoT ensures of remote devices access just like M2M technology („Machine-To-Machine”).

We have one more similar term, IoE - „Internet of Everythings”.
The IoE is defined as a technology that extends the Internet of Things and the M2M technology to include people also. We will not be considering it longer, we know that we have three different names for very similar technologies.

Here I will be using the term "IoT" understood as the intelligent connections of different devices, people and processes of data exchanging via computer networks. We have a lot of different examples that modern computer control is commonly based on the use of computer networks, of course of the Internet also. In other words, the IoT technology is a modern and common way of computer controlling the world of various devices.
It is estimated that there are currently (in 2021) around 20 billion devices controlled via the Internet network worldwide.

It's obvious and natural that I have been developing and testing various applications to control IoT devices. I developed applications for controlling small devices such as LEDs, but also tested the possibility of controlling robot manipulators via computer networks.

Remember that "things" in the IoT can refer to a very wide variety of devices such as for example sensors and actuators. They can be implemented in cars, ships, airplanes, homes, refrigerators, washers, mobile phones, heart monitoring implants and so on.

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To sum up
Here we will understand that "Internet of Things" refers to many very different devices connected to the Internet. These devices can be controlled by people or other machines via the network. Examples of device control via LAN networks, not necessarily the Internet, will also be discussed here.