Emerging Technologies and Business Innovations -2

Learning Diary – 2
1. Internet of Things
During recent years, one of the most familiar name scaling new heights and creating a
benchmark is Internet of Things (IoT). It is indeed the future of communication that has
transformed Things (Objects) of the real world into smarter devices. The functional aspect of
IoT is to unite every object of the world in such a manner that humans can control them via
Internet. Furthermore, these objects also provide regular as well as timely updates on their
current status to its end user. Although IoT concepts were proposed a couple of years ago, it
may not be incorrect to quote that this term has become a benchmark for establishing
communication among objects.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and
digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs)
and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-
to-computer interaction.

Popular fields of IoT Applications are: -

• Smart Home
• Wearables
• Smart City
• Smart Grid
• Industrial Internet
• Connected Car
• Connected Health
• Smart Retail
• Smart Supply Chain

IoT is a combination of Sensing, Communication and Computation

Recent IoT Products: - Wemo Remote, Ninja Blocks, NEST Thermostat, etc.

IoT in Power Grids and Home: -

Smart Home - Consists of all the smart appliances in home which communicates with each
other and can take decisions on each other’s readings.

Power Grid - Power distribution to the smart home and the guideline pricing based on the
past peak hours seen.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Smart Meter - Smart meters are the digital energy meters with smart chip and scheduler
which can make decision on scheduling the electrical home appliances based on the guideline
price received from the power grid.

4 Layer Model for IoT

• The first layer of Internet of Things is Integrated Application Layer: These are
the small, memory-constrained, often battery-operated electronics devices with
onboard sensors and actuators.

• The second layer is Management Layer: The various IOT devices of layer 1 need to
be connected to the internet via a more powerful computing device called the IOT
gateway which primarily acts like a networking device. So, like how a WiFi router
helps us connect many laptops, phones and tablets to the internet at home, the IOT
gateway aggregates data from numerous sensing devices and relays it to the cloud.

• The Third layer of Network Construction Layer: All the sensor data relayed by
IOT gateways is stored on cloud hosted servers. These servers accept, store and
process data for analysis and decision making. This layer also enables creation of live
dashboards which decision makers can monitor and take proactive data driven
decisions. Today, almost all cloud computing companies have custom service
offerings for IOT solutions.

• The Final layer is Identification Layer: This is where the magic happens and the
collected raw data is converted into actionable business insights, which can help
improve business operations, efficiency or even predict future events like machine
failure. This layer employs different data science and analytics techniques including
machine learning algorithms to make sense of the data and enable corrective action.

2. Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation is the technology that allows anyone today to configure
computer software, or a “robot” to emulate and integrate the actions of a human interacting
within digital systems to execute a business process. RPA robots utilize the user interface to
capture data and manipulate applications just like humans do. They interpret, trigger
responses and communicate with other systems in order to perform on a vast variety of
repetitive tasks.

RPA Tools – UiPath, blueprism, Automation Anywhere

RPA supports “attended” and “unattended” use cases

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Attended RPA - Automation that interacts in real time with humans who initiate and control
robot tasks, generally associated with front-office, agent- led activities.

Unattended RPA - Automation that replaces a complete human function in a ‘lights-out’

manner, creating a virtual workforce, generally associated with back-office activities.

RPA Benefits

• Better accuracy
• Improved Compliance
• Fast Cost Savings
• Super Saleable
• Increased Speed and Productivity

3. Artificial Intelligence
It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent
computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human
intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically
observable.

Intelligence is the computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world. Varying
kinds and degrees of intelligence occur in people, many animals and some machines.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is wide-ranging branch of computer science concerned with

building smart machines capable of performing tasks the typically require human
intelligence. AI is an interdisciplinary science with multiple approaches, but advancements in
machine learning and deep learning are creating a paradigm shift in virtually every sector of
the tech industry.

Four different approaches that have historically defined the field of AI:

1. Thinking humanly
2. Thinking rationally
3. Acting humanly
4. Acting rationally

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
The first two ideas concern thought processes and reasoning, while the others deal with
behaviour.

Some of the examples include

• Smart assistants (like Siri and Alexa)

• Disease mapping and prediction tools
• Manufacturing and drone robots
• Optimized, personalized healthcare treatment recommendations
• Conversational bots for marketing and customer service
• Robo-advisors for stock trading
• Spam filters on email
• Social media monitoring tools for dangerous content or false news
• Song or TV show recommendations from Spotify and Netflix

An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and
acting upon that environment through actuators
Human agent: eyes, ears, and other organs for sensors; hands, legs, mouth,
and other body parts for actuators

Robotic agent: cameras and infrared range finders for sensors ,various motors for actuators

Virtual assistants are software agents that perform human-like tasks based on voice or
written commands. They can live on any device connected to the internet, such as
smartphones, desktops, or in-home speakers.

Virtual Assistants
• Keep users organized: .
• Automate repetitive tasks.
• Perform manual tasks
• Record and process data
• Research information

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Natural Language Processing, usually shortened as NLP, is a branch of artificial
intelligence that deals with the interaction between computers and humans using the natural
language.

The ultimate objective of NLP is to read, decipher, understand, and make sense of the human
languages in a manner that is valuable.

Most NLP techniques rely on machine learning to derive meaning from human languages

4. Smart Cities

A Smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic Internet of Things (IoT)
sensors to collect data and then use insights gained from that data to manage assets, resources
and services efficient.

Four definitions of Smart city include being

a. Efficient

b. Innovative and competitive

c. Inclusive and responsive

d. Resilient and sustainable

Major characteristics are used to determine a city's smartness include

• a technology-based infrastructure;

• environmental initiatives;

• a high functioning public transportation system;

• a confident sense of urban planning and

• humans to live and work within the city and utilize its resources.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
A smart city's success depends on its ability to form a strong relationship between the
government including its bureaucracy and regulations and the private sector. This relationship
is necessary because most of the work that is done to create and maintain a digital, data-
driven environment occurs outside of the government. Surveillance equipment for busy
streets could include sensors from one company, cameras from another and a server from yet
another.

Additionally, independent contractors may be hired to analyse the data which is then reported
back to the city government. This data could then lead to the incorporation of an application
development team that is hired to come up with a solution for the problems found in the
analysed data. This company could become part of the system if the solution requires regular
updating and management. Therefore, a smart city's success becomes more focused on
building positive relationships than on completing a single project.

Smart cities use a combination of the internet of things (IoT) devices, software solutions, user
interfaces (UI) and communication networks. However, they rely first and foremost on the
IoT. The IoT is a network of connected devices such as vehicles, sensors or home appliances
that can communicate and exchange data. Data collected and delivered by the IoT sensors
and devices is stored in the cloud or on servers. The connection of these devices and use of
data analytics (DA) facilitates the convergence of the physical and digital city elements, thus
improving both public and private sector efficiency, enabling economic benefits and
improving citizen's lives.

The IoT devices sometimes have processing capabilities called edge computing. Edge
computing ensures that only the most important and relevant information is communicated
over the communication network.

A firewall security system is also necessary for the protection, monitoring and control of
network traffic within a computing system. Firewalls ensure that the data constantly being
transmitted within a smart city network is secure by preventing any unauthorized access to
the IoT network or city data.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Other smart city technologies include:

• application programming interfaces (APIs)

• artificial intelligence (AI)

• cloud computing

• dashboards

• machine learning (ML)

• machine to machine (M2M)

• mesh network

Smart cities utilize their web of connected IoT devices and other technologies to achieve their
goals of improving the quality of life and achieving economic growth. Successful smart cities
follow four steps:

1. Collection - Smart sensors throughout the city gather data in real time.

2. Analysis - Data collected by the smart sensors is assessed in order to draw meaningful
insights.

3. Communication - The insights that have been found in the analysis phase are
communicated with decision makers through strong communication networks.

4. Action - Cities use the insights pulled from the data to create solutions, optimize
operations and asset management and improve the quality of life for residents.

Fostering Sustainability with Smart Cities

Sustainability is another major facet of smart cities. Urbanization is expected to increase even
more in the coming years. The United Nations reports that around 55% of the world's
population currently resides in an urban area or city; this figure is set to rise 68% throughout
the coming decades. Smart technology will help cities sustain growth and improve efficiency
for citizen welfare and government efficiency in urban areas in the years to come.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
While cities already present environmental advantages, such as smaller geographic footprints
that impact fewer ecological systems, they also negatively impact the environment with
emissions, such as their extreme usage of fossil fuels. The network of smart city technologies
could alleviate these detrimental effects.

Making the switch to an electric public transportation system would not only decrease fuel
emissions but could also pose the advantage of working closely with the city's electric power
infrastructure in order to minimize the impact of charging batteries during peak hours of
electric use. Furthermore, with proper coordination, electric vehicles could also be used to
regulate the frequency of the city's electric grid when they're not in service.

Challenges and concerns of Smart Cities

Smart city initiatives must include the people they aims to help: residents, business people
and visitors. City leaders must not only raise awareness of the benefits of the smart city
technologies being implemented, but also promote the use of open, democratized data to its
citizens. If people know what they are participating in and the benefits it can bring, they are
more likely to engage.

Fostering collaboration between the public and private sector and city residents is key to
creating a smart citizen who will be engaged and empowered and positively contribute to the
city and community. New and innovative collaboration methods can improve engagement.
Smart city projects should include plans to make the data transparent and available to
citizens, often through an open data portal or mobile app. This enables residents to engage
with the data and understand what it is used for. Through a smart city app, residents may also
be able to complete personal chores, such as viewing their home's energy consumption,
paying bills and finding efficient public transportation.

However, perhaps the biggest challenge smart cities face is the problem of connectivity. The
thousands or millions of IoT devices scattered across the city would be defunct without a
solid connection and the smart city itself would be dead.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Furthermore, public transit, traffic management, public safety, water and waste management,
electricity and natural gas supply can be unreliable, especially as a system ages and grows.
However, the importance of these operations will only increase as the city expands and the
demands on its infrastructure increase. These systems must be constantly maintained and
tested to ensure their proper functioning.

Smart cities are also challenged by finding ways to attract and keep residents without a
cultural fabric. The cultural essence of an area is oftentimes what attracts residents the most;
this is something that cannot be programmed or controlled with a sensor. Therefore, smart
cities may falter because they cannot provide a sense of authenticity, distinctiveness or place.

Need of Smart Cities

The primary goal of a smart city is to create an urban environment that yields a high quality
of life to its residents while also generating overall economic growth. Therefore, a major
advantage of smart cities is their ability to facilitate an increased delivery of services to
citizens with less infrastructure and cost.

As the population within cities continues to grow, it becomes necessary for these urban areas
to accommodate the increasing population by making more efficient use of their
infrastructure and assets. Smart city applications can enable these improvements, advance
city operations and improve the quality of life among residents.

Smart city applications enable cities to find and create new value from their existing
infrastructure. The improvements made facilitate new revenue streams and operational
efficiencies, helping governments and citizens save money.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
 5. Block Chain

A blockchain is a tamper-evident, shared digital ledger that records transactions in a public or

private peer to peer network. Distributed to all member nodes in the network, the ledger
permanently records, in a sequential chain of cryptographic hash-linked blocks, the history of
asset exchanges that take place between the peers in the network.

At its most basic level, blockchain is literally just a chain of blocks, but not in the traditional
sense of those words. “block” and “chain” in this context, talks about digital information (the
“block”) stored in a public database (the “chain”).

“Blocks” on the blockchain are made up of digital pieces of information. Specifically, they
have three parts:

• Blocks store information about transactions like the date, time, and dollar amount of
your most recent purchase
• Blocks store information about who is participating in transactions. A block for your
purchase would record your name .
• Blocks store information that distinguishes them from other blocks

While the block in the example above is being used to store a single purchase the reality
is a little different. A single block on the blockchain can actually store up to 1 MB of
data. Depending on the size of the transactions, that means a single block can house a few
thousand transactions under one roof.

When a block stores new data it is added to the blockchain. Blockchain, as its name suggests,
consists of multiple blocks strung together. In order for a block to be added to the blockchain,
however, four things must happen:

• A transaction must occur

• That transaction must be verified.
• That transaction must be stored in a block
• That block must be given a hash.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Block Chain -Secure??

Blockchain technology accounts for the issues of security and trust in several ways. First,
new blocks are always stored linearly and chronologically. That is, they are always added to
the “end” of the blockchain.

After a block has been added to the end of the blockchain, it is very difficult to go back and
alter the contents of the block. That’s because each block contains its own hash, along with
the hash of the block before it. Hash codes are created by a math function that turns digital
information into a string of numbers and letters. If that information is edited in any way, the
hash code changes as well.

Block Chain Benefits

• Secure , Reliable and transparent

• Immutable , Hacking Resistant
• Real time settlement , Operational Cost saving
• Reduced Risk

Block Chain Advantages

• Speed
1. Faster transaction times

• Security

1. Less required oversight

2. Involvement of few intermediaries

3. Less duplicate effort

• Efficiency
1. Immutable records, preventing tampering and fraud
2. Improved Trust among members
3. Privacy

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
Challenges

• New Technology
• Scalability
• Process Redesign

Blockchain is going through a path of diffusion across industries far beyond its initial fintech
applications. More organizations in more sectors—such as technology, media,
telecommunications, life sciences and health care, and government are expanding and
diversifying their blockchain initiatives. Blockchain appears to be entering a new era of
wider, more practical adoption as even many of the reluctant begin to grasp the technology’s
long-term potential.

Blockchain represents an innovative combination of existing technologies such as peer-to-

peer networking, cryptographic hashing functions, and consensus protocol, among others.
There are a number of key elements to blockchain that make it so potentially disruptive,
including:

• Distributed ledgers:-Everyone participating in a blockchain network keeps a copy of

all the transactions. It enables a truthful and immutable record since it’s virtually
impossible to tamper with historical records that are stored on multiple computers or
nodes.
• Smart contracts:-These can be used to deploy business logic. They can represent
contractual terms between parties or rules associated with a particular workflow. The
key benefit of smart contracts is autonomous execution and real-time transactions.
Smart contracts can reduce enforcement and compliance costs, litigation, and
complexity while improving decision making and speed of operations.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
 • Consensus algorithm:-All (or a majority of) parties agree to network-verified
transactions. This is the mechanism to confirm transactions without an intermediary,
i.e., one central decision maker.
• Cryptography:-Once transactions are made, cryptography is used to confirm
authenticated and verifiable transactions. The blocks are also linked and secured using
cryptography so that the data can be read only by the appropriate users.
• Permission:- This ensures that members of a network can only see items in ledgers
that are relevant to them.

This growth and development of blockchain platforms has led to a variety of uses across
different industries and for many different purposes.

• Supply Chain:-Blockchain solves a variety of business problems, including

inaccurate inventory levels, the inability to achieve volume discounts on raw
materials, product and raw materials fraud, and the inability to manage product recalls
in a timely manner.
• Financial Services:-Finance and banking are other areas where blockchain can
provide an alternative to existing processes and systems. The complexity of trade
finance, for example, is associated with many manual checkpoints, multiple
disintegrated platforms, the increased role of the banking industry due to tightened
regulations, and other challenges. It leads to both payment and shipment delays and
higher costs.
Assets can be created or represented on a blockchain and securely and efficiently transferred
between parties. Today it takes two business days to settle stock trades (T+2
settlement cycle). Blockchain can significantly reduce settlement time and associated
credit and market risks.The use of smart contracts for processing insurance claims can
improve turnaround time, reduce costs, and provide seamless claim processing
experience
• Automotive Industry:-Blockchain is well positioned to become prominent in the
automotive industry in the same way as disruptive technologies such as high-
performing GPS, sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D
 • The value chain of the automotive industry—including procurement, manufacturing,
and distribution and service functions—will benefit from the distributed, immutable,
and resilient nature of blockchain technology.
• Public Sector:-Governments can improve efficiency in such areas as contract
execution, social services, customer service and experience, risk management,
transparency, and fraud. Blockchain enables a wide variety of transactions, including
collecting taxes, delivering welfare benefits, issuing documents, and recording
properties.
• Health Care:-Blockchain can help address the issues of medical records
interoperability, data standardization, protection, and scalability. The idea is to allow
patients to securely share their data with various medical services providers,
pharmacies, insurance companies, and research institutions.
Further, connecting all medical devices on a blockchain platform would connect patients,
providers, and payers to better understand who’s complying with treatment regimes
and their associated outcomes.

Rachit Srivastava
190103173
Section - D