IoT Devices: Applications, Challenges, Security, and Privacy Concerns

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in modern dwellings. It begins by introducing various applications, such as smart phones, climate control systems, lighting systems, home security systems, and smart TVs, illustrating how these devices enhance convenience and efficiency. The report then delves into the advantages of IoT, highlighting how they make life easier and improve service quality. However, it also addresses the disadvantages, including over-reliance on technology, security vulnerabilities, control issues, and concerns about reliability and connectivity. The report explores the importance of data security, including physical and firewall security, and discusses the need for robust data encryption and self-destruction modules. It also examines the significance of reliability, including repeatability and robustness, in ensuring consistent performance. Furthermore, the report touches upon connectivity issues and the impact on privacy. The document concludes with a table summarizing various IoT devices, their functions, manufacturers, and costs, and provides a list of relevant references. This report emphasizes the importance of addressing security and privacy concerns to fully realize the benefits of IoT devices in our homes.

Current devices that could be used in your dwelling
Today, in this contemporary world we are surrounded by gadgets, these are all applications of
embedded systems, development of which in the last decade has led to burgeoning small hand-held
devices which can again be connected to each other to synchronize data and share information with
internet.
All these devices and equipment which are made to make our life easy are all together as a
system known as internet of things.
These devices have penetrated the very depth of our livelihood and with the advent of
applications which can be installed and run on the OS on these devices, same devices hence now can
be used for multiple different applications. Let’s consider an example of a most common hand-held
device a smart phone, its used to make a phone call to sending text, browsing internet, downloading
and listening to our favorites genre, this device can also record our heartbeats, if used in conjunction
with other portable equipment it can detect and measure diabetes in a person. A simple iPhone is also
being used to monitor activity during gym exercises etc.
The climate control system in every house is another such IoT device, it uses data from local
probes into its systems and decides the room temperature accordingly so that a person entering the
house won’t feel an impulse. The data used to take a decision can also be taken from local
meteorological department or a national system in case of some natural calamity like a cyclone, heat
wave etc.
Similarly, light control systems are also trends in present day homes, they are good for saving
on energy bills, the bill reduces to half of what it used to be prior to installing the feature. This can
also be attached to ambience control or TV control, water motor control, ex- the motor will not run on
its own when there is no one inside the house, and/or fills the tank partially when there are a few
people inside the house.
Home security system is another such device used widely, people can control remotely or
even locally while living in their respective homes as to who can access or get into their house, this
generally has a camera, microphone and a remote to open the gates which opens when it gets the
required signal. In an advanced person, automatic door lockers and a security key is featured, which
then may dial the local law enforcement agency in case the system senses breach in the security.
Home security system is augmented by latest in development like motion sensors, infra-red detectors,
and suspicious activity detector.
Advanced fire detection also features in the above-mentioned system which works on the
logic that if 5 or more smoke and fire detectors detect fire, then the system automatically relays a

message to the owner and also to the local fire department, hospitals for the emergency and also the
law enforcement agencies.
Smart TVs are also a trend today, this offers you access to internet for streaming through you
tube videos apart from setting reminder to your favorite shows and also recording live streams for you
to watch later. Theses also have mood detection feature which then reads your face and plays a movie
or a serial based on it. Smart TVs may also feature motion sensors to understand your body language
and offer gesture based services, the motion or movement it captures is stored locally and can be
understood as your digital gesture or a digital id based on your body language.
These systems are there to make out life easier, they are connected with each other to
understand our requirements even better and hence the quality of service increases, but there systems
have a set of disadvantages as well. Let’s discuss some of these issues and possibly think of some
solutions.
Usage, control, connectivity, security, privacy
As the human life has become easier, they try to become lethargic, this has lead to a downfall
of the fitness culture among the youth. Dependence on these technologies should be for the benefit,
here off course the disadvantages depends on the usage, over usage of any technology can be a bane.
Now let’s see some serious implications miss use or abuse of these IoT devices. Since almost
all of these artificially intelligent IoTs store human behavioral data, these are vulnerable to security
threats like thefts, blackmailing, misuse etc. A possible solution to such an issue would be securing
the data both physically and through a firewall with the most updated form of data security protocols
available in the market. This security issue is serious in nature and will have to be innovative in our
approach; a data security designer should always be a step ahead of schemers.
As we know that a signal which is predictable and can be controlled is used, any other signal
which cannot be predicted and/or controlled is of no use to engineers. Hence there is an issue with
control of these IoT devices; this section also takes care of the security aspect of the data. The basic
unit or a black box as we may say is a processing device which takes a set of input and provides a set
of output after processing. The data moving in and moving out of the blackbox has to be controlled.
The data has to be controlled, and the device needs to be always in our control. Consider- an example
where an anonymous person has control or remote access of our security system or even cameras in
auto drawing hall can be a nightmare. Hence this feature has to be controlled. Here again an
appropriate firewall needs to be in place in order to control.
Reliability has to do with many terms like repeatability; robustness etc. repeatability is getting
the same set of results or solutions for a set of input data, no matter how many times it is applied. This

features increases the reliability of the system, as we can be sure that the device will be able to repeat
the assignments over and over again and that the scaling factor doesn’t change depending on some
unstable or changing parameters. Robustness also enforces reliability, let’s talk about physical
robustness, if a device is physically robust it means that the operating range like altitude, pressure,
temperature won’t affect the device much in its manufactured operation range. Hence it would be able
to produce the same result every time, if the same input is given. Physical robustness also closely
signifies physical strength of the device. Manufacturer has to take care of these issues.
As we has discussed about the 802.11 abgn project if the IEEE, which is mostly associated
with wireless and wired communication. There are various means of communication, wifi, Bluetooth,
infrared etc. for a device to connect to each other and to the internet. There are places where we are
not able to use these devices effectively due to connectivity issues. As we have already seen that in
order to work reliably for many of these devices, intranet or internet connectivity for data gathering
for base decisions is a must. For- Example third world countries in Latin America or South East area
and Africa has a weak network presence. The issue can be gradually resolved using advanced
technology implementation for the unprivileged etc.
Privacy is very closely associated with security issue; data security is the key issue to be
spoken about here, good firewall security, data encryption modules, data self-destruction module in
case of a theft etc. can effectively solve the problem.

Table of the IoT devices
Functions Manufacturer Cost
Iphone 5S Apple Inc. 500$
Google home: It’s a speaker
with google assistant
Google 300$
Home pod smart speaker with
Siri
Apple Inc. 200$
Amazon Echo show: It’s a
screen which allows people to
see output based on commands
they give to alexa, video call
facility and video stream facility
available.
Amazon 150$
Awair Glow: Combination of
air monitor and smart plug.
Awair $35
TP-Link: Multicolor Light bulb
+ WiFi
TP- Link $100
Google daydream: Virtual
reality headset
Google 1300$
Logitech Pop: Smart Button
Controller- This is a great
product if you already have
connected lights, speakers, etc.
It makes it easy for everyone in
the home to control those
devices.
Logitech 500$
Nest Cam: camera for outdoor
recording, both videos and stills
can be taken
Nest 75$
Prodigio Connected Nespresso
machine: Coffee machine with
wifi- orders coffee capsules
online itself
Prodigio 95$
REFERENCES
Zeinab Kamal Aldein Mohammed, et al, (February 2017), Internet of Things Applications, Challenges
and Related Future Technologies, World Scientific News, pp.- 126-148, EISSN 2392-2192.
S. Misra et al., (2016), Security Challenges and Approaches in Internet of Things, Springer Briefs in
Electrical and Computer Engineering.
M. A. Ezechina, K. K. Okwara, C. A. U. Ugboaja, (2015), The Internet of Things (Iot): A Scalable
Approach to Connecting Everything, The International Journal of Engineering and Science, pp.- 09-
12

M.U. Farooq, et al., (March 2015), A Review on Internet of Things (IoT), International Journal of
Computer Applications, Volume 113 (Issue 1), pp.- 1.7
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