The Internet of Things (or IoT for short) refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is seen as a requirement for Internet connected devices. If all objects and people in daily life were equipped with identifiers, they could be easily managed by computers and other Internet enabled devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Equipping all objects in the world with tiny RFID tags could transform daily life. For instance, business may no longer run out of stock or generate waste products, as involved parties would know which products are required and consumed. A person’s ability to interact with objects could be altered remotely based on immediate or present needs, in accordance with existing end-user agreements.

According to Gartner there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things by 2020. According to ABI Research more than 30 billion devices will be wirelessly connected to the Internet of Things (Internet of Everything) by 2020. Cisco created a dynamic “connections counter” to track the estimated number of connected things from July 2013 until July 2020 (methodology included). This concept, where devices connect to the internet/web via low power radio is the most active research area in IoT.