Application of Internet of Things in Defense sector
Internet of Things or the IoT is a phenomenon which defines that the electronic devices communicate with the help of internet and cloud computing technology to perform certain actions which finally helps to accomplish a job. IoT is the ultimate concept to disrupt our way of life as we live today. This has been coined as the top three technological trend by many research agencies like Gartner which the humans are likely to invest in coming decade. A simple example for an IoT device can be of an alarm indicator on your mobile phone which communicates with your gas cylinder at home. The alarm beefs up when there is any gas leak at home, so, that the resident could take sufficient precaution to prevent gas leak hazards.
Defense industry has been benefited by most of the applications from technological innovations. Due to high competition from countries in pursuit of global hegemony and also increase risk of threat from terrorism. Advance and intelligent IoT Cloud based devices are not only used to engage in spying, but, also is used by armies during frontal combat. The main objective is about information sharing at all level of defense actions. Military technology integration will mean unification of computing, storage and networks with sensors, devices and collaborative applications. The army has come up with intelligent helmets that can diagnose brain injury, robotic limbs for injured soldiers, unmanned vehicles for all the three transport mediums and difficult terrains. These ultimate wearable technologies are quite adaptive to environmental changes and very important to defense establishment. This real time information sharing during war like scenario help the soldiers to take decision to react in different situations. IoT technology or devices widely used for defense purposes are primarily not allowed for commercial use. Security is considered to be the main concern in not commercializing the technology used for defense purpose. In other way, IoT services are evolving due to the interference by defense establishment. After a certain period of use by defense, the technology has to be transferred to the public for commercial use. Then the public get to use the best of the technology with less security concern.
There are many private defense contractors like HP, Textron, Navistar Defense, Rockwell Collins, General Electric, Raytheon, etc, who are like IoT vendors to the defense organizations. Most state of the art innovation on communication and warfare technology for defense is made by these private contractors. Internet of Things Cloud is completely maintained private for confidential communication for strengthening security. Some of the devices like ejecting chairs in fighter jets are a part of the technology, CBRNE ( Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) detection systems, mission critical intelligence communication system, a protection suite with integrated surveillance system are an integral part of the Internet of Things technology.