Preface to the focus theme section: ‘Internet of things’

Abstract

“Ubiquitous Computing” (Weiser 1991, 1993), “Pervasive Computing” (Satyanarayanan 2001; Estrin et al. 2002), “Things that think” (Gershenfeld 1999), “Ambient Intelligence” (Aarts et al. 2002), “Silent Commerce” (Ferguson 2002)—a plethora of novel terms has evolved in recent years that propagate the coming of a new paradigm shift in information processing. Common to all these concepts is the shared vision of a future world of everyday physical objects equipped with digital logic, sensors, and networking capabilities, which together form a so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT). Whereas computing power was a scarce resource in the former times of mainframe computers and PC’s, the IoT bears the promise of omnipresent real-time access to information and services centred around arbitrary objects and users with their individual tasks and objectives. It is neither a single technology nor a specific functionality which is behind the IoT but rather a bundle of functions implemented by a diverse set of systems and technologies. IoT-related research is accordingly characterised by a multidisciplinary approach that includes aspects of electrical engineering, computer science, management research, psychology and many more (Satyanarayanan 2001). For this reason, the following list of an object’s technological capabilities in the IoT can be regarded as typical but does not claim completeness: