Introduction

The very phrase “Internet of Things” conjures up visions of everyday items becoming chock full of semiconductors, and what once was science fiction is today’s reality. A degree of digital wizardry can be found in many consumer products such as clothing, shoes, furniture, tools, lighting, appliances, toothbrushes, mirrors, and drones, the list is too big to include everything here. Suffice it to say that the things we see, touch, and use every day are all being “digitized.” We are surrounded by sensors of all kinds — cameras, microphones, radiation badges, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, accelerometers, NFC readers, occupancy sensors, the list is endlessly being expanded with each passing moment. Whether the data coming from these devices is riding on BACnet, Modbus, SCADA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Ethernet, eventually it all winds up passing through or residing on the internet.

Smart Cities around the globe are relying on an ever-expanding deployment of IoT devices coupled with 5G wireless infrastructure and edge computing to bring new levels of service and information to their citizenry.