The Internet of Things is one of those technologies that have the greatest potential to successfully change a lot of spheres of our professional and daily lives. The IoT industry is actively expanding.
It is expected that in 2024, the global IoT market will manage to achieve a revenue of around $1,387 billion. And with the projected CAGR of over 12.5% from 2024 to 2028, it will be able to achieve a volume of $2,227 billion by the end of the period.
The range of IoT applications is growing as well. Nevertheless, one of the most widely known use cases is the creation of smart home systems that can make our houses and apartments much more convenient and secure places to be.
At the same time, the Internet of Things can go much beyond this and can be used to transform our towns and cities. The sector of IoT public safety is actively developing today and in this article, we are going to talk about using IoT in this sphere.
Key benefits of IoT for public safety
One of the main aspects that we should pay attention to is the capability of systems powered by the Internet of Things to collect and process various types of data in real time. It means that authorized users can quickly get all the relevant information about emergencies and make well-grounded decisions as soon as possible.
IoT sensors can provide the most accurate data regarding the location of different objects and people and send alerts with such information. As a result, the effectiveness of rescue efforts can be significantly higher.
Use cases of IoT in the safety sector
Though it is rather challenging to enumerate all the existing applications of IoT in this sector, let us mention at least the most common ones.
Smart buildings. In general, the concept of such systems is very similar to well-known smart home security solutions. However, in this case, we should talk about public security, instead of the security of households. These systems can be enriched with a wide range of functions, like entry monitoring or video recording, which will play an important role in case investigation and crime prevention. If any danger or emergency is detected, such a solution should be able to notify the authorized persons and take the required actions (like blocking doors).
Smart streetlights. We are accustomed to the idea that streetlights have only one key function – to illuminate the streets. Nevertheless, smart streetlights may have a row of additional important features that can help to prevent various accidents and even save people’s lives. Such streetlights can be equipped with IoT sensors, cameras, and microphones that help authorities collect real-time data about what is happening around them. In those cases when any deviations from the norm are identified, such streetlights can send notifications so that authorities can take the required measures as soon as possible.
Smart traffic regulation. Traffic jams are known to every person who lives in a comparatively big city or town. One of the factors that can lead to them is irrelevant regulation of traffic, especially in the case of emergencies, incidents, or untypical traffic flows. But thanks to the introduction of IoT sensors that can track and analyze current road conditions, it is possible to fully change the game. When traffic lights have these sensors, they can ease traffic flows by means of adjusting the timing in accordance with ongoing needs. When some unexpected situations are discovered, traffic lights powered by smart sensors can offer solutions that will be the most efficient in regulating traffic in the given situation.
Challenges of using the Internet of things for public safety
Today, IoT has a range of promising use cases for enhancing public safety, as well as great capabilities that are extremely valuable for such purposes. Nevertheless, there are still some pitfalls and challenges that can prevent it from being widely adopted (at least right now).
Privacy-related concerns. The issue is that IoT solutions for public safety need to collect various types of data, including some private info. And here is when we can’t ignore the appearance of a row of ethical questions. Moreover, we shouldn’t forget that IoT systems often become easy prey for hackers, which means that big volumes of highly sensitive data are under threat.
Regulation-related issues. Today, there are still no well-designed laws and rules that can help to regulate the IoT sector which is still a rather new one today.
Lack of standard unification. Today there isn’t any single standard that can be used by developers from all around the world who are currently working on projects powered by IoT.
Conclusion
The prospects of using IoT-powered systems for enhancing public security look quite promising. Nevertheless, to ensure mass adoption of such solutions, there are still a lot of things to do. But the work in this direction is going on and we can expect that already in the near future, we will be able to observe the introduction of new achievements in this space.
Read more:
How IoT Can Enhance Public Safety