Do you think smart homes are just refrigerators and thermostats?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is everywhere, especially in our homes, from voice assistants and smart light bulbs to thermostats that learn your preferences and habits. But what all the hype and your smart fridge don’t tell you is that the IoT will actually pave the way for a hyperconnected world. It’s not just about counting steps and miles with a watch – the IoT is a revolution in connectivity. It’s bringing unprecedented convenience and opening up a whole new era of innovation.

Smart World

Today’s smart home consists of voice-activated devices that connect to a few objects and appliances, but this is just the beginning. In the near future, everything in your home will be connected and not only perform simple commands, but more importantly, provide intuitive solutions and react intelligently without user input.

Freshly brewed coffee – an often mentioned feature of the smart home and the Internet of Things – is just the beginning. For example, when a smartphone is connected to a smart oven, it will automatically start the preheating process based on what it knows about the user’s wake-up time. This can be done without any form of privacy invasion. The oven will know when the alarm is set to go off, and it will wait for confirmation – either through the app or by detecting when the alarm is turned off – before preheating. This makes it easy to quickly have a heated frozen croissant for breakfast before work.

Meanwhile, a smart thermostat automatically adjusts to compensate for the temperature increase from the oven, or lights turn on automatically, but only in the room a person is about to enter. A connected car knows what time it will take to leave for work, so it automatically opens the garage door and starts the engine. If the car is parked outside in the snow, it knows to start earlier, giving the icy windshield enough time to melt and clear before setting off. The endless possibilities truly demonstrate the power of a truly connected world.

Driving into the future

The Internet of Things will have a big impact on mobility, and it will start long before fully autonomous cars hit the road. As smart cities function, drivers will not only get real-time traffic information - they will know exactly which roads offer the fastest routes. Details of traffic lights will be sent directly to cars, and cars will share them with drivers. Details of the car itself, such as speed and location, will be sent back to the traffic light, allowing both parties to interact. So, if traffic is light north-south, but traffic is rising eastward, the light will automatically adjust to compensate in the direction of heavy traffic, extending the green light time for as many drivers as possible.

When cars are able to drive themselves, the capabilities enabled by the Internet of Things will be taken to a whole new level. Rather than just providing all the smart city information to the driver, this information will be transmitted directly to the vehicle so that the vehicle can take the most efficient and time-saving route during the commute.

Self-driving cars will allow passengers to do whatever they want during their commute, and continue doing it when they get home. For example, if you are watching a movie, it can be instantly transferred (from a device or in-car display) to the living room TV, allowing the viewer to continue watching with just the press of a button.

A smarter way to shop than ever before

One of the most exciting parts of the Internet of Things is how it will change the world of retail. Today, it often happens that you walk into a store and leave without buying a single item you were looking for. Maybe the item was misplaced, or maybe you forgot what you were looking for. Whatever the case, it will inevitably lead to you returning to the store.

With the Internet of Things, every item could have an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag that would try to connect to your phone as you approach. Many stores already use these tags for security purposes or in their warehouses, so why not expand this functionality? Grocery stores might install illuminated LED signs that not only sell, but also add items to your shopping list. In addition, imagine the impact it would have when retailers use large screens to display items that customers recently browsed online. Sensors could connect to each shopper's phone, check their store history, and then adjust the items to be displayed accordingly. This would bring one of the most successful elements of online shopping to physical retail.

It’s not just about what you buy and how you find it in the store — the future of retail is also about how you pay and leave. A new concept called “walk out” allows consumers to buy whatever they want without having to wait in line for a cashier — something Amazon Go has been exploring with some success. In fact, with this approach, checkout counters are eliminated entirely. By combining smartphone technology, in-store sensors, and artificial intelligence, the “walk out” approach is a clear step ahead of the self-checkout terminals that most retailers have added. As a smart store, retailers can determine which items have been placed in a shopping cart and which have been returned to the shelf. This technology will only become more mature over time, bringing more opportunities for smart shopping experiences.

Everything is connected

The Internet of Things is mentioned so often that it can seem like just another marketing buzzword. But the hype is justified, and the “everything” in the Internet of Things has no limits. From your home and office to our cities and beyond, we are on the verge of a connected revolution.

As a world-leading semiconductor intellectual property (IP) manufacturer, Imagination can provide industry-leading low-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth IP for various IoT devices. Recently, Imagination launched the latest generation of Ensigma Wi-Fi IP, IMG iEW400, which supports the IEEE 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 standard. iEW400 can provide a one-stop overall solution including RF and baseband IP, designed for low-power and battery-powered applications such as IoT, wearable devices and hearables.

iEW400 is a ready-to-use solution that integrates RF, analog front end (AFE), baseband physical layer (PHY) and MAC layer. It provides analog hard core and digital synthesizable RTL, which can achieve maximum flexibility and fastest time to market while reducing development costs. In addition, iEW400 can be paired with Imagination's low-power Bluetooth solution to achieve a true Wi-Fi 6+ low-power Bluetooth 5.2 combo chip.

iEW400 can meet the needs of many IoT markets such as wearable devices, smart homes, and smart industries more efficiently and reliably. Especially in high-density deployment scenarios, solutions such as iEW400 are becoming more and more critical, as it can provide the above IoT devices with longer service life, higher reliability and robustness, and stronger performance.