Devices are the ‘things’ of Internet of Things. Every device around us has a potential to connect to the internet and give us some useful information. Types and categories of such devices are increasing as more and more industries are embracing the concept of IoT. So what kind of devices can fit the scheme of things? They are termed embedded devices, which are equipped to read, process and send information over the internet. Embedded device has a chip or a circuitry called microcontroller that has all the necessary ingredients to power or control the device. Ingredients typically include a memory chip, an embedded processor, IO and network ports, etc. It may also have a small OS running Linux that enables us to drive the device. The ability to control the device and make it talk to the network is one of the key aspects in IoT.
The price of computing resources have fallen down dramatically in recent years and therefore it has become very cheap to build controller boards and circuitry that drive our computing needs. These boards, therefore, can be envisioned to embed in any object around us to make it a more real-time talking object. The object can emit data about itself. Instances of embedded devices include but not limited to: sensors, gateways, mobile phones and tablets, personal gadgets, home automation devices, gateways, printers, healthcare industry devices like glucometer, heart rate and BP monitors, imaging systems, fitness bands, emergency response systems, medication reminder device, voice devices signalling a condition etc. Also included are automotive industry devices like tire pressure monitor or a bigger concept like connected cars to drive road safety measures, supply chain industry devices like RFID reader and tags that enable efficient tracking of inventory during distribution, energy and utilities industry devices like smart grids, smart meters that helps monitoring and load balancing energy utilization, home automation industry devices like thermostat, home cam, smoke alarm, connected door lock etc.