Read the full Annual Report in PDF format - CSIR

INTERNET OF THINGS
In brief
Relatively new in South Africa, the Internet
of Things is a worldwide trend that
enables integrated solutions incorporating
the physical world, cyberspace and
humans. It makes possible, for example,
a world in which energy demands
are optimised, the load managed and
controlled through the intelligent control of
appliances, utilities and devices, or where
the devices at home could make sense
of weather predictions and pre-emptively
change settings on ‘things’ to make houses
more comfortable.
The CSIR is researching various
applications and technologies to make the
Internet of Things work for South Africans.
The Internet of Things team, led by Dr Louis Coetzee (second from right): Andrew
Smith, Sizakele Mathaba, Laurie Butgereit, Promise Mvelase, Guillaume Olivrin and
Dr Nomusa Dlodlo.
The challenge
Access to information for enhanced
decision making has become a priority in
today’s world. Accurate information in real
time is needed by individuals, industry and
governments for effective and responsible
use of resources, and improved planning
and execution of activities.
More and more devices and physical
objects are being connected to the
Internet. Each is creating volumes of data;
when processed, the data can be used by
decision makers.
Appropriate actions impacting on the
environment can be executed once the
information received from the many
heterogeneous elements has been
processed.
CSIR research
The Internet of Things posits a world
where all devices and physical entities
are connected to the Internet, creating a
network of unprecedented scale, each
device or physical entity with its own
Internet Protocol number, each with its own
published set of ‘services’, based on the
physical attributes and virtual ‘personality’,
allowing people and other devices to
interact with the physical world through
cyberspace.
These objects are identifiable in terms
of status, geo-location and ability – an
expanded Internet to which services and
intelligence are added. As these objects
will be connected in both a sensory and
intelligent manner, masses of data are
intelligently processed.
The CSIR is researching various
applications, such as the technology
required to optimise and balance
energy consumption in a ‘smart city’.
This involves a fusion of research trends
– distributed intelligence, statistical
analysis and interoperability mechanisms
for heterogeneous devices and cloud
computing.
Unsolved issues in the context of the
Internet of Things phenomenon are the
rights of individuals, governance and
trust. In addition, many technological
platforms and solutions make up the
Internet of Things. Ensuring interoperability
through appropriate standardisation is a
high priority. The envisioned scale and
complexity introduced by the large number
of participating elements is an enormous
challenge. It raises questions such as
how the robustness of solutions can be
ensured. Internet of Things solutions and
applications will face a data deluge;
researchers will have to consider how
the data from billions of things will be
processed, stored and maintained for
future generations.
Outputs
The Internet of Things concept has been
demonstrated in domains such as logistics,
transport and asset tracking, smart
environments, health, energy, defence and
agriculture.
Research at the CSIR has shown the
success of smaller, vertical solutions, such
as finding and identifying misplaced
objects or using quick response (QR)
codes for tree identification. This was
done in the context of a code-sprints
training programme for five students.
62