Internet Of Things (IoT) Archives

Blockchain and IoT are the state of the art technologies that have set the wheel of INDUSTRY 4.0 on a roll. They involve multiple stakeholders and bring digital transactions, big data storage, and cryptographic security to the table. These smart practices and technologies have the capability to transform the food industry to make it more robust and sustainable. This article will give you an insight on how Blockchain and IoT are impacting Food Supply Chain.

What is blockchain?

Do you remember Skywalker from Star Wars keeping a record of things using ‘force’? Blockchain is the skywalker of the digital age which can help you to keep the track of things using digital systems. Blockchain is used to store data or keep records using technology.

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) means a digital decentralised database that helps to keep check against data theft. Blockchain is a type of DLT, which is a digital system for recording digital transactions. Its super strength lies in the fact that it can keep a tap on transactions and related data in multiple places at the same time. Can you imagine a huge chain of boxes linked together? Blockchain stores data in blocks that are digitally chained together and computers in this system are connected to a peer-to-peer network instead of a central computer like in traditional databases.

So, Blockchain technology is preferred over conventional databases in how it stores and manages information. These days, the whole world is getting digitized and so cyber security is the new basic need of industries and people. Blockchain is designed to make it impossible to hack the system making it secure and immutable. Hence, Blockchain technology is getting more traction and it is being wide used by many businesses.

How blockchain is used by food supply companies?

Three years ago the world experienced something unimaginable. Many businessmen skipped their heartbeat and many companies left to face the inevitable. The COVID-19 disaster cut opened the existing fault lines in the supply chain. The nature of the food industry is such that it is vulnerable to timing, delivery and safety. If the food supply chain perishes, the whole human race perishes. Hence, to conquer such uncertainty, blockchain offers an amazing solution. Let’s take a deeper dive into the Blockchain and understand the impact it’s having on the food industry.

Blockchain ensures food safety. It can trace the food supplies from suppliers to buyers.
While of course, among the other benefits, balancing market pricing is one of them. It establishes a ledger in the network and adds value to the current market.
Blockchain is thoroughgoing. It helps by giving information about the entire value chain.
It is effortlessly easy to use for the participants. Access the records in your comfort without any hustle. It may help to give you an idea about the universal and total outline of supply and demand.
The blockchain apps for trades might upscale traditional commodity trading and hedging as well.
If transparency is something you are looking for in a business, then Blockchain is a big YES for you. It enables verified transactions to be safely shared with all players in the supply chain, creating a marketplace with immense transparency.

Food supply chain companies use blockchain to track and trace items as they move through the supply chain. The government and various industries are using blockchain as the basis for smart contracts and other mechanisms for transferring and protecting intellectual property rights. Many industries that want to revolutionise their business strategies are now exploring blockchain-based applications as a secure and cost-effective way to create and manage a distributed database and maintain records for digital transactions of all types.

Hence, blockchain is being considered as a viable solution for securely tracking and sharing data between multiple business entities. Along with blockchain, a few other technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) is also contributing to the blossoming future of businesses.

What is the Internet of Things?

Do you want to turn on and turn off the car in your garage without moving a foot and enjoying soda sitting on your sofa or do you want to save energy and switch off lights in your house? You can do all this without moving a foot and with just your single command with IoT.

Internet of Things refers to the combined network of linked devices and the technology that facilitates communication between devices and the cloud, as well as between the devices themselves. With the 21st century, the internet went on to reach everywhere. But more soothing than this was the advent of super-cheap computer chips and high bandwidth telecommunication which enabled billions of devices to connect to the internet. So from smaller devices like the table lamp to the bigger devices and things like cars, houses can use sensors to collect and store data and respond intelligently to users.

The Internet of Things incorporates everyday “things” with the internet. This has offered tremendous space for food supply chains to explore the area. The major drawback of the food supply chain was the irregular interconnection. IoT, thus indulging the interconnection between the various stakeholders of the supply chain helps to create an effortless and effective system. As computing devices also underwent a revolution, they were reduced in size, these chips also became smaller, faster, and smarter over time.

Multiple benefits that IoT offers to the Food supply chain industry

So, let’s look deeper into IoT and the impacts it is having on the food industry

It is cost-effective

The cost of syncing computer devices with other objects has now been reduced handsomely. It has opened a new avenue for the food supply chain industry as B2B businesses always look to reduce the investment and increase profits. Though costs of IoT are allied, they effectively increase the main course and profits.

It soothes the process

The food industry can’t endure staying behind. Globally, the population has been booming and so the onus lies on the supply chain to balance the needs of the human race. The food industry, hence, has revolutionised itself with a focus on pouring our storehouses, businesses, and offices with IoT devices. These smart devices can automatically transmit and record data to and from the Internet. Which eases the surveillance burden of the contractors.

It makes tracking easier

The Internet of Things is everywhere. From manufacturer to retailer’s market to consumers while they shop, IoT devices can help to track the food supply movement. In the food supply chain, data is used by companies to track and trace products movements, analyze trends of their usage, easily communicate with people, automated machinery, and many more endless uses. So IoT makes the hustle free tracking of every stakeholder of the food supply chain.

Readjustment with the global trends

COVID 19 had skipped two good years from the lives of the people. Globalisation has reduced the boundaries and borders and brought the world closer to each other. But when disasters like COVID struck the world, it was nearly impossible for the world to avoid them. But with the IoT, these kinds of readjustments are now way much easier.

The IoT is made up of sensor-embedded devices that captures the data and then transmits volumes of data from all types of IoT devices to the Internet, machines, people, and beyond. So, by analysing the trends at any end of the supply chain, we can easily readjust the whole food supply chain cycle.

It can spread awareness and make monitoring serene.

While the IoT offers novel uses in the food industry, it can replace the long used tracking practice of logistics. Gone are the days when it was difficult to keep track of the ordered products. Now companies can use smart labels to give consumers full visibility into their supply chain. Customers can simply scan the package’s QR code, and learn if the package has left the factory or when, and how each ingredient made its way into that particular product. This way, IoT is helping the companies to be aware of the purity and elevating food safety practices.

It can upscale the management of warehouses.

It is not just the food production, but the storage in the warehouses is also a huge task for food manufacturers. Manufacturers install sensors for timely monitoring, quality control, leveraging real-time analytics to streamline production, measure worker productivity, and calculate labour costs. IoT with real-time maintenance capabilities could automatically fix its own malfunctions before they occur.

According to the Food Industry Executive Report, researchers predict that more than 34 billion Internet-connected devices will be in use by 2020, 40 percent of which will be used for business-related purposes. In the supply chain, the IoT enables real-time monitoring, transparency, huge data collection, and more effective and automated problem solving than conventional methods. To prepare for the future of demands, stakeholders of the supply chain must indulge the practice of IoT and effectively start to include the smart practices in the business.

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IoT (Internet of Things) is one of those technological marvels of the modern era that has digitally transformed the Healthcare sector by introducing smart healthcare apps. These healthcare IoT applications have helped the medical industry to overcome the existent roadblocks and limitations in its functioning. IoT App Development Companies have empowered the practitioners, patients, and service providers to unfold new horizons. This has resulted in simplified access to medical facilities through remote communication and reduced mortality rate on account of avant-garde treatment methodologies. Needless to say, the rate of adoption of IoT App Solutions has sky-rocketed and an upward demand curve has been observed.

Take a look at this interesting statistical data released by Statistica, indicating the estimated size of the IoT Healthcare market (in billion US $) between 2016 and 2025.

Fortune Business Insights predicts that the IoT in Healthcare market size will soar up to USD 176.82 Billion by the end of 2026.

In this blog, I have penned down how IoT in Healthcare has revolutionized the fundamental tenets of this domain and the immense benefits of IoT Application Development reaped by the patients, doctors, and service providers unanimously.

IoT in a nutshell

Internet of Things comprises of a network of devices and software applications, interconnected via computer networks and wireless communication channels. This ingenious eco-system is meant for collecting and sharing real-time data. Data is stored in cloud platforms and can be remotely accessed by authorized users from any part of the globe. IoT in Healthcare has worked wonders in domains like telehealth, mHealth, telemedicine, etc. Let’s dive into some of the use cases in the healthcare domain.

Popular Use cases of IoT in Healthcare

Remote patient Diagnoses and Observation

IoT empowered solutions record the necessary health parameters to facilitate remote patient diagnoses and monitoring. This is one of the important features of IoT in telemedicine apps.

Doctor-patient consultations take place through live audio and video call, and other advanced communication channels, without the need for patients to pay a visit to the hospital. IoT powered external devices such as digital stethoscopes, oximeters, etc are being used by patients during digital telemedicine consultations.

IoT activity monitoring devices such as heart rate monitoring cuffs, glucometers, pulse meters, etc. used by the patients enable the doctors to remotely observe the health of elderly patients and those with chronic conditions. The data obtained from these devices aid the physicians to identify the correct course of treatment for patients.

Mobile Health and Wellness

IoT mobile app development has elevated wellness to a completely new level. Wearables like Apple watches, Fitbits, etc transmit patient’s vital health parameters through Bluetooth, Wifi, GPRS Networks and display the results in the smartphones. This proves immensely beneficial in keeping a track of the body vitals and other wellness parameters such as sleep patterns, body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar level, activity tracking, etc. and providing real-time data to the patient, their doctors, and caregivers. For example, a Holter monitor device is a wearable that tracks abnormalities in a patient’s heartbeat. This helps in timely preventive care. Click here to gain more insights on wearable technology.

IoT powered ingestible devices

These ingenious ingestible sensors available in the form of pills can be swallowed and it remains inside the human body and stay at a particular spot and sends data to mobile applications. The sensors embedded inside these pills detect drug doses taken and missed by the patient. Some of these pills have an in-built camera that provides visibility of the internal organs. Thus, ingestible devices prevent life-threatening conditions.

Emergency handling

IoT facilitates the accurate collection of patient data in case of medical emergencies and transmission of this data in real-time to the Emergency Response medical staff. This allows the ER staff to stay prepared while the patient is being brought to the hospital and no time is wasted after the patient’s arrival.

Aiding surgeries

IoT powered tools and applications provide handy assistance during surgeries and in handling post-surgery care. The IoT sensors accumulate data, transmit it, and analyze the same, resulting in finding out even the tiniest problem, and thereby preventing surgical complications.

Efficient Tracking of Patients, Staff, and Inventory

Smart IoT healthcare solutions contribute in the following ways:

Wireless ID cards for staff and patients enhance security, effectively manage admissions, and simplify staff management.
RFID tags are used to track patients such as babies and elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease and even staff members in case of urgency.
IoT integrates with Real-time location systems (RTLS) to manage the assets of healthcare enterprises. It employs BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and iBeacon to track supplies in the operating rooms and inventory.

Virtual Monitoring of medical equipment

The contemporary healthcare services require avant-garde software and hardware equipment and their continuous monitoring, to prevent them from system failures and cyber-attacks. IoT powered solutions virtually monitor them and provide alerts to the medical staff if some anomaly is detected.

Managing Pharmacy

Managing the drugs in a hospital and transferring the same safely to storage facilities is a herculean task with chances of errors. Pharmacies managed by IoT application enable faster delivery of medicines and takes care of drug-preservation issues while transfer.

Handling insurance procedures

Insurance companies leverage IoT devices to validate claims and detect fraudulent practices with the help of the data captured by these devices. Such devices also enhance the transparency between insurance providers and customers regarding processes like pricing, underwriting, handling claims, and assessing risks.

Architecting an IoT Environment in healthcare

Steps to be followed by Digital healthcare service providers for the implementation of IoT are as follows:

Deploying devices possessing sensors, monitors, actuators, camera systems, actuators, and detectors to accumulate data.
Conversion of received data to the digital format and store the same in a data center.
Managing and analyzing the medical data with the help of data analytics based on which the correct course of action is decided.

Key Advantages of IoT powered Healthcare IT services

Easy access to healthcare facilities

Remote doctor monitoring and consultation facilities make healthcare and wellness easily accessible to patients with less mobility, the ones residing in remote areas with no hospitals nearby, and the super-busy professionals who hardly find time to visit the clinic. Moreover, the patients have a plethora of options at their disposal while choosing doctors.

Misdiagnosis of diseases

IoT system with the help of computer vision, sensors can collect data from several IoT devices and leverages advanced analytics enabling providers to know the course of the disease and thus avoid the wrong diagnosis of diseases. Faster and error-free diagnoses of diseases, continuous patient monitoring, and proactive treatment methodologies are some of the major gains for patients opting for digital healthcare services.

Lesser negligence and better adherence to treatment plans

Thanks to the IoT healthcare monitoring solutions encourage patients to stick to their treatment procedures and help the doctors to stay informed about the patient’s condition without much ado.

Operational Flexibility

Online diagnoses with the help of IoT Mobile apps allows doctors to enjoy flexible schedules without having to visit the clinic in case of non-emergencies.

Lesser crowd in hospital spaces

Digitally smart healthcare centers can do away with over-crowded waiting rooms, and as such can manage with lesser spaces and fewer administrative staff. Furthermore, the chances of healthcare staff getting infected with contagious diseases lessen.

Cost-efficiency

IoT healthcare solutions enable doctors to scale up the patient count by diagnosing more patients in a day.
On account of digital real-time consultation and monitoring, patients save on the cost by avoiding unnecessary hospital visits, longer hospital stays, and readmissions.

Augments Brand value

Implementing IoT powered smart solutions and motivating the patients to adopt these technologies enhances the brand value of a company and provides them a competitive edge over others and improves overall patient satisfaction too.