The Internet of Things (IoT), that loose assortment of tiny sensors now embedded in everything from televisions to cars, and smart watches to sneakers, can collectively do a lot. Whereas each individual sensor isn’t capable of very much, when combined with billions of others, they can map human behavior, help to predict everything from shopping trends to the weather, and perform millions of other tasks, both mundane and critical. They are even making their way into heavily industrialized applications, and have also been hijacked and used for bad things, like the world’s largest botnet attack.
But despite their seeming hegemony and limitless potential, there are a couple places where the tiny sensors have yet to gain much of a foothold. One of them is deep in the world’s oceans, and the other is on the frontlines of today’s modern battlefield. The armed forces want to change that, with the Army bringing the technology to war, and the Navy working to develop its own flotilla of seafaring IoT vessels.
Both programs are advancing independently, and both face big challenges. Read the entire report, only in NextGov Magazine.