Top IoT Trends to Watch in 2024

Growth in Consumer IoT Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) is continuing its rapid growth, and consumers are adopting more IoT devices than ever before. I expect the consumer IoT market to expand significantly in 2024 as new devices and applications emerge.

Key trends driving consumer IoT growth include:

• Proliferation of smart home devices: Consumers are equipping their homes with connected devices like smart speakers, security cameras, smart thermostats, and smart appliances. The simplicity and convenience of controlling devices via smartphone will lead more households to adopt smart home technology.

• Wearables get smarter: Fitness trackers and smartwatches will become increasingly intelligent in 2024. Advancements in sensor technology, battery life, and microchips will enable more advanced health monitoring and integration with smartphones and apps.

• Voice assistants go mainstream: Voice-controlled virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant will reach deeper penetration thanks to proliferation of smart speakers and integration into more third-party devices and services. This makes IoT interactions more natural and convenient.

• Expanded IoT capabilities in vehicles: New vehicles will ship with integrated cellular connectivity as standard, enabling richer infotainment, navigation, and safety capabilities powered by IoT. Over-the-air software updates will enhance vehicles’ digital features over time.

Private 5G Networks Accelerate IoT

Private 5G networks, operated by enterprises and industries themselves, will unlock new IoT capabilities and use cases. With greater bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and heightened security compared to Wi-Fi, private 5G enables more devices to connect reliably.

Key private 5G network trends:

• Manufacturing and industrial environments build their own localized 5G networks. This optimizes production quality control, automation, robotics, and employee safety powered by IoT sensors and wearables.

• Energy firms and utilities utilize 5G for smart grid enhancements. Private 5G helps efficiently manage connected meters, grid infrastructure, renewable energy sources, and more.

• Logistics and warehouses deploy local 5G infrastructure. This allows ubiquitous connectivity for inventory and asset tracking, fleet management, and supply chain automation.

• Mining companies leverage private 5G for IoT sensor networks. Sensors monitor equipment health, mine structural integrity, miner safety, and more in real-time.

• Healthcare implements campus-wide private 5G. Hospitals and clinics can track assets, monitor patients remotely, and use IoT more extensively with robust private 5G.

AI and Machine Learning Advance Embedded IoT

In 2024, more IoT devices will include embedded AI and machine learning capabilities, allowing for local analytics and smart autonomous operation.

Trends in embedded intelligence:

• Edge AI reduces data transmission needs. Performing AI/ML locally means less data needs to be sent to the cloud for analysis, saving bandwidth.

• Real-time operation unlocks new use cases. With local analytics, devices can make time-sensitive decisions without waiting for round-trip data transfer to the cloud.

• Enhanced capabilities without connectivity. Devices with embedded intelligence can still provide value like personalization and automation even without constant cloud connectivity.

• More data privacy. Processing data on-device lessens privacy risks associated with transferring personal data to the cloud.

• New chipsets designed for edge AI. Chips like Nvidia Jetson designed specifically for edge workloads will drive embedded AI adoption.

Convergence of Operational Technology and IoT

IoT platforms are starting to integrate with long-established operational technology (OT) systems commonly used in industrial settings and critical infrastructure. This OT/IT convergence unlocks new efficiencies and use cases.

Key convergence trends:

• IT/OT integration platforms emerge. Vendors like Microsoft Azure, GE Digital, and Amazon Web Services are offering integrated IoT and OT solutions.

• IoT enhances legacy OT systems. Combining IoT with established Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Distributed Control Systems (DCS) provides richer data insights.

• Centralized management and control. Converged IT/OT enables remote monitoring and management of sensors, equipment, and infrastructure from centralized locations.

• Improved situational awareness. IoT data integrated with OT systems gives greater visibility into overall operations and asset performance.

• Informed decision making. Combining IT and OT data provides robust real-time analytics, diagnostics, and trend identification to optimize decisions.

Security Enhancements for IoT Ecosystems

As the number of connected devices grows exponentially, securing the entire IoT ecosystem becomes crucial. In 2024, expect stronger security measures across hardware, communication protocols, platforms, and network infrastructure to minimize vulnerabilities.

IoT security enhancements:

• Multi-layer defense strategies. IoT ecosystems will utilize defense-in-depth strategies spanning devices, gateways, edge, network, and cloud.

• Security built into device hardware. Chipset manufacturers like ARM are building trusted execution environments directly into SoCs to safeguard device identities and data.

• Widespread adoption of new protocols. Newer connectivity protocols like 802.11ah, 5G, and Thread will offer authentication, authorization, and encrypted communication.

• Platform security features. IoT platforms will provide security monitoring, anomaly detection, encryption key management, access controls, and malware prevention.

• Device behavior monitoring. Cloud and on-premises solutions will monitor connected devices’ activity for anomalies and automatically respond to threats.