Today, we are accustomed to using many IoT or Internet of Things and embedded systems every day. But just a decade ago, very few people had smartphones. Innovations and technological advancements have changed that—ushering in an era of the smart revolution almost globally. With the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the revolutionary use of IoT equipment, several million devices link to the internet and cloud services. We can easily connect to the world around us, mainly due to IoT connectivity along with the evolution of regular gadgets. Many new equipment and devices now come inbuilt with IoT technologies, and these include not only personal fitness devices, but also kitchen items, home heating systems, and medical equipment.
Embedded systems typically comprise a small computer integrated into a mechanical or electrical system. Some examples of such devices include electric bikes, washing machines, home internet routers, and heart monitors. Each of these devices comes with an inbuilt computer that serves a specific purpose. Forming the brain of the device, the computers may have one or more microprocessors. For instance, a smartphone consists of many embedded systems interconnected to function simultaneously. So far, embedded systems hardly ever connect to larger networks such as the Internet. Most still use antiquated connection standards such as the RS-232 to interconnect to other embedded systems. These protocols are usually plagued with bandwidth and speed constraints. In comparison, modern communication protocol standards for embedded systems are much faster and support higher bandwidth. Many also support wireless connectivity. All in all, modern embedded systems are more sophisticated than before.
IoT devices, on the other hand, are rather pieces of hardware. They can be machines, appliances, gadgets, actuators, or sensors. Their main function is to transfer data over networks such as the Internet. The design of most IoT devices allows them to be useful for specific purposes. It is possible to integrate IoT devices into various appliances, including industrial machinery, medical equipment, environmental sensors, and mobile systems. There are IoT embedded systems also, and they are embedded systems that connect to the internet or other networks like home networks. Most are capable of carrying out tasks beyond the capabilities of the individual system. Connectivity allows them to perform functions that were not possible earlier.
Sensors effectively behave as the Internet of Things or IoT devices when they can transmit data over networks, including the Internet. It is possible for an embedded system to be enhanced with IoT capabilities by incorporating an IoT module. The basic IoT ecosystem roots still rely heavily on embedded systems. It is possible to gauge the importance of embedded systems within the IoT realm by the fact that embedded systems support much of the functionality of IoT devices.
Although a network, such as the Internet, is a necessary medium for transmitting data to and from IoT devices to their cloud services, embedded systems help in the actual collection, rationalization, interpretation, and transmission of the data from the sensor. Embedded systems also help interface the data with online services, smartphone applications, and nearby computers. In this chain, the numerous sensors that actually collect real-world data, remain the most important link.
