A chair that detects you’re sitting incorrectly, a coffee maker with predictable maintenance, or a bike that sends emergency messages when crashed. These are examples of objects that can detect changes in the environment. This is possible thanks to sensors, because IoT is more about sensors than smart devices.

What is an IoT sensor?

According to WhatIs.com, a sensor is

“…a device that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure, or any one of a great number of other environmental phenomena. The output is generally a signal that is converted to human-readable display at the sensor location or transmitted electronically over a network for reading or further processing.”

Basically, these small detectors enable devices to sense, making them a bit more human when IoT sensors are installed. For example, when someone touches a hot metal, the sense of touch sends a stimulus to the brain, creating a conscious impression of the physical world.

The same happens with IoT devices: sensors collect data from the environment and send it to the cloud, transforming real-life information into digital data. Sensors act as the nervous system collecting data to be processed, and the cloud (software) acts as the brain.

Types of IoT sensors

Sensors are used in almost all IoT applications. The key is to analyze what kind of valuable information you need or want to collect and choose the right sensor to be installed. Here are some of the most used:

• Temperature
• Accelerometer
• Pressure sensor
• Humidity sensor
• Proximity sensor
• IR Sensor (Infrared Sensor)
• Light Sensor
• Ultrasonic Sensor
• Smoke, Gas and Alcohol Sensor

How IoT can change your business

By adding sensors to existing products, transforming common objects into smart ones, a company can reinvent itself. The most important thing once you’ve decided to implement IoT in your business is to know what relevant information you need to collect to draw conclusions that will help you make decisions to improve and optimize processes.

There are three main reasons to invest in IoT in a company: reduce costs, provide better services or products, and differentiate from competitors.

Smart sensors and, consequently, IoT are transforming businesses in different ways. We’ll highlight two:

• Adding value to a product

When giving connectivity to an existing object, you’re providing it with life, thus giving extra value. This intelligence provides interesting information that helps enhance your business, the customer experience, or whatever you aim to improve.

Imagine a supermarket where all the fridges are equipped with temperature sensors that send alerts whenever the temperature is out of range. This helps prevent incidents and food waste, for example, just by adding a temperature sensor to a fridge.

• Reinventing a business

Another advantage of implementing IoT in your company is the possibility of reinventing a business.

If you’re dedicated to selling or renting coffee makers to other businesses, sensors enable predictive maintenance, opening a new business line offering this new service to your customers.

Start your IoT project right now!

Are you ready to implement the Internet of Things (IoT) in your business? We can help you do it! Accent Systems is an engineering company that turns your ideas into connected devices. Just contact us and explain all your needs.