Internet of Things (IoT) in Industry: Contemporary Application Domains, Innovative Technologies and Intelligent Manufacturing

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing innovative technology with various applications, functions and services in everyday life and in a wide range of markets and industries. It can be defined as a global dynamic information network that involves interconnected devices and objects and aims at the mutual interconnection and interaction among people, services and devices at any time and regardless of location. IoT utilizes numerous innovative and advanced technologies in order to integrate intelligence into devices so that they can process information and data and gain knowledge. As an outcome, real-time, autonomous and human like intelligent decision-making systems that reduce the need for human involvement and intervention, are developed. Using this advanced network of interconnected devices in addition to its novel technologies, applications and services cannot only enhance life quality, but can also result in personal, professional and economic benefits. Hence, it has rapidly attracted the interest of organizations, industries and enterprises and has been regarded as an innovation enabler and explorer of new initiatives in industrial domains. Nonetheless, there are still challenges and open research issues that need to be investigated and addressed in order for IoT to be adopted and fully utilized by industries and enterprises. This study scrutinizes IoT from an industrial perspective and presents some of its numerous application domains (i.e. transportation and logistics, healthcare and sanitary, smart cities, smart environments and industry). It describes the context of Industry 4.0 and analyzes its involved innovative key technologies (i.e. cloud computing, Big Data (BD), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) along with their benefits. Moreover, it explores the concept of intelligent manufacturing and looks into the main IoT challenges and open research issues.