The Internet of Things: a Survey and Outlook

TL;DR

This survey reviews recent advances in IoT, focusing on communication protocols, platforms, and emerging trends, highlighting the evolution from sensor networks to a complex, interconnected ecosystem of everyday objects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent IoT research, emphasizing communication technologies, protocols, and future research opportunities in the field.

Findings

IoT has evolved from simple sensor networks to complex interconnected systems.

Emerging radio interfaces and protocols are enabling large-scale IoT deployments.

Future research will focus on scalability, security, and intelligent data management.

Abstract

The recent history has witnessed disruptive advances in disciplines related to information and communication technologies that have laid a rich technological ecosystem for the growth and maturity of latent paradigms in this domain. Among them, sensor networks have evolved from the originally conceived set-up where hundreds of nodes with sensing and actuating functionalities were deployed to capture information from their environment and act accordingly (coining the so-called wireless sensor network concept) to the provision of such functionalities embedded in quotidian objects that communicate and work together to collaboratively accomplish complex tasks based on the information they acquire by sensing the environment. This is nowadays a reality, embracing the original idea of an Internet of things (IoT) forged in the late twentieth century, yet featuring unprecedented scales, capabilities and applications ignited by new radio interfaces, communication protocols and intelligent data-based models. This chapter examines the latest findings reported in the literature around these topics, with a clear focus on IoT communications, protocols and platforms, towards ultimately identifying opportunities and trends that will be at the forefront of IoT-related research in the near future.