IoT technology overview

Internet of Things (IoT) is the name given to a network of devices that can connect to the internet or a private network, and exchange data with other IoT devices and centralised systems (for example a clinical database or an environment management system).

A typical IoT system will comprise of the following elements:

• an IoT device (usually small and low power) that performs one or more primary functions and can send (or send and receive) data across a network to another device or a target application
• the (usually) wireless connectivity technology and network used by the IoT device to send and receive data
• a backend IoT application that collects and analyses the data. The results are either used to trigger an alert or provide some useful data to manage and control the systems the IoT device is monitoring, which can directly respond to the IoT device

This guidance will focus primarily on the connectivity technologies used by IoT systems but will touch on the other elements where they relate to connectivity.

IoT devices are usually small low power physical objects that perform a particular ‘primary’ monitoring or triggering function and connect to a network to communicate with other devices.

The IoT device may be a piece of hardware that performs only the connectivity function and is integrated with another device (for example, enabling IoT connectivity for pathology lab equipment to allow data to be sent to a host application) or they can be manufactured with both elements (that is, a single device that performs their primary function and communicates with a network such as a heart rate monitor).

Most IoT devices also require a power source, such as a battery, and software to control the device and how it communicates with other devices over the network.