IoT stands for Internet of Things. IoT is a network of devices which can collect, process and exchange data over the internet. A network of devices means devices are connected. These devices are connected by technology like WIFI, Lora, Zigbe, Bluetooth and cellular networks.
Data is any physical quantity that can be measured. Any physical parameter that can be pursued or measured. The data can be in various forms like sensor data generated by sensors, telemetry data about the status and performance of devices, and Actuation data this data contains information related to the actions and controlling information, Meata data this data tells more about how data generated what is the source of data when data is generated.
Data can be any physical quantity. So temperature at office or home can be data. The real-time location of a person or car can be data. The number of bottles generated after a certain interval of time can be data. Images of celestial bodies can be data. Voice messages shared with the person via phone or any other devices can be data.
To collect the data we use a sensor. Sensors are the primary source for collecting data. To collect different types of data we use different types of sensors depending on the working principle. The sensor will generate the electrical signal as per the input physical parameter. But this electrical signal is converted into the data by the controlling unit. The controlling unit can be a microcontroller or development board to which sensors are connected.
IoT uses various Technology and Protocols to share the data. Technology is basically a medium o which data is shared. IoT protocols are basically rules which are followed to share the data. The technologies are WiFi, Bluetooth, RFID, LORA, ZigBee, etc. The protocols used in IoT are Matter, MQTT, AMQP, M2M, etc.