5 Things to Consider When Developing Your IoT Project
While IoT devices are designed to make everyone’s lives much easier, configuring their design can be rather complicated, to say the least. To help you navigate the complex world of IoT, here are five things you must consider when building an IoT project.
1. Figure Out Potential Obstacles
One wrong component can make or break your entire project. Case in point: We’ve previously covered in our ‘Internet of Things: The Four Key Elements’ post that your device’s communication could greatly suffer if you lack a means for transmitting the information to a cloud-based service for future processing. A possible solution would be investing a good wireless protocol like Z-Wave, as How-to-Geek notes it can connect devices as far as 550 feet away. Overall, recognizing the potential problems you could face helps you identify the specific requirements your project needs.
2. Build a Proof of Concept
While you’re at it, you should also consider mapping out a Proof of Concept (POC). Although building one can be intimidating as you’ll need to validate the project’s feasibility, it will help steer you in the right direction. From outlining your objects to detailing the various processes, a POC will supply you with the information you’ll need in order to complete your project. Not to mention, it can also save you a lot of time and effort during the development process.
3. Focus on User Experience
It’s crucial to think how the end-user will be able to interact with and manipulate your IoT device for their own needs and wants. And to achieve this for your project, designers really need to think about how to communicate with people. While this starts with the usability of the IoT device and systems itself, it also encompasses learning and marketing materials you’ll be coming up with to encourage people to try out and buy your product. Indeed, Jonathan Fahnestock, professor of interactive design at Maryville University’s digital media program, highlights the importance of interface design and usability when it comes to advertising, marketing, and e-learning, as these can go a long way in communicating well with your audience. Think about how your project will function in the IoT ecosystem as a whole — from seamlessly using voice control to connecting with other devices.
4. Think About Scalability
How large is your intended user network for your project? How many devices will your IoT project be connected to? When you consider the scalability of the design, you’ll have a better idea of what type of software, hardware, and the like that you’ll need to support your project once it rolled out to the public. Moreover, scaling it out can do a world of good if you’re looking to expand your project, as it prevents a dreaded system outage.
5. Strengthen Your Security
With IoT projects becoming more and more widespread, they’ll be more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. True enough, a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that data breaches in IoT devices went up from 15% in 2017 to 26% in 2019. To this end, it’s especially important that your project’s designers focus on creating a robust security system. Melanie Seekins, one of the Pennsylvania State University’s students whose paper won at the 2019 IEEE UEMCON, points out that combining statistical data, machine learning, and other data analysis techniques is an effective approach for mitigating the risk of a security breach. Plus, they found that using intrusion detection and a visualization tool can help detect if an intruder is within the network. Whatever your security’s design, be sure that each layer of the stack is given proper protection.
