Internet of nanothings
The technology around the 'Internet of Things' or Internet of Things (IoT) consists of equipping any physical object (electronic and / or biological) with microsensors and a microprocessor that can send data wirelessly, mainly for remote use through from Internet. An independent study by Davis [1], from the McAfee company, predicted about 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by the end of 2020. Various sources of information place this prediction quite close to the current reality [2].
Next step
Today, in addition to smartphones, there is a —very — wide range of devices that integrate wireless communication both between nearby devices, in local networks or to the Internet. The next step in the advancement of technology around the IoT is to provide 'things' with capabilities based on Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology systems.
Internet of Nano-Things, between us
In recent years, scientific advances in the reduction of components and mainly in wireless communications, have experienced substantial progress in which a diversity of actors have been involved, including commercial solution providers, standardization organizations, institutions of academic research and end users who have benefited from the push required by the development of 5G communications. Among the numerous tools and applications that are developed, are the nano-scale tools that can be integrated into both living organisms and 'things' to send data wirelessly to computers for control or monitoring of nano-tasks, thus giving way to a Internet of nano things (and it’s like, the Internet of bio-nano things).
Nanothings, in addition to consuming very little energy, are expected to be able to amplify it by collecting vibratory energy using piezoelectric nanogenerators [4]. Nano things, apart from performing signal transmission tasks, can perform basic data processing and storage and provide us with new capabilities for nanometric detection with a higher level of sensitivity. There are several promising candidate materials for building nano-things, including a thin strip of graphene called graphene nanoribbon, three-dimensional (3D) roll-shaped graphene called carbon nanotubes, and graphene spheres.
Another interesting characteristic of nano-things, grouped in nano-networks, is that communications can develop at the molecular level and by plasmonic radiation (a type of communication that develops by taking advantage of the oscillations that occur when light interacts with nanoparticles in metamaterials of nanoantennas); nano-networks operate in the THz Band [5].
Challenges ...
The commercial explosion of Nano-Things is in a very early phase, but when it can be massively distributed (say, ... when you need a 'nano-phone'), the challenges in terms of security and privacy of information will be present. . The inappropriate use (ethical and moral aspects) of the technology of the Internet of nano-things — as is the case today with the IoT and the Web — is an issue that will be with us for a while. The fear that any nano-device could be deliberately introduced into the human body for purposes not necessarily medicinal will be on our heels. We'll get through it. Meanwhile, there is still a long way to go.
The main challenge for an IoNT is for us to be able to design and develop interoperable applications between domains, and more intelligent, for the benefit - mainly - of humans and the rest of the living beings on this planet.
References
[1] G. Davis, "2020: Life with 50 billion connected devices," 2018 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE), Las Vegas, NV, 2018, pp. 1-1, doi: 10.1109 / ICCE.2018.8326056.
[2] Internet of Things (IoT). Technologies, Applications, Challenges, and Solutions. B.K. Tripathy, J. Anuradha; CRC Press, © 2018 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC; ISBN-13: 978-1-138-03500-3.
[3] The Components of Functional Nanosystems and Nanostructures By Gülay Baysal; Submitted: October 9th 2019; Reviewed: March 6th 2020; Published: May 14th 2020; DOI: 10.5772 / intechopen.92027
https://www.intechopen.com/predownload/71703
[4] Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays, Zhong Lin Wang, Jinhui Son; Science, vol. 312, no. 5771.
[5] Graphene-based Plasmonic Nano-Antenna for Terahertz Band Communication in Nanonetworks; Published in: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (Volume: 31, Issue: 12, December 2013)