“As the Internet of Things (IoT) technology advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways.”

IoT has become a major breakthrough in present years which is not only being taken seriously by industry leaders but also it has become a compelling one for the students of Engineering –especially Computer Science Stream. There are numerous projects that can be done by the computer science students which will not only be fascinating enough but also will help them immensely enhance their knowledge and required skill set for venturing into IoT domain. It will churn out the hidden and unprecedented creativity of the students. The few noteworthy projects are:

• Raspberry Pi based IoT Projects: Raspberry Pi can be considered as the completely functional Linux computer platform through which multiple programs can be coded and executed. The significant benefit of using Raspberry Pi is, it essentially provides all the benefits of a conventional computer with astonishingly low power consumption rate.  This is affordable as well from financial perspective as well as student projects run on a tight budget. It is an open source hardware that can be used in multiple areas such as:

  • Room temperature sensing

  • Sensors to measure humidity

  • Smart music players

  • Voice recognizers

• Smart parking Solution: In this era of uncertainty, one of the biggest problems is finding the proper parking at the time of need. Computer Science students can build an algorithm based on IoT sensors parked at the parking lot. Whenever a car enters or leave, the car premise should send a notification on the mobile system through SMS. It will drastically reduce the parking problem.

• Noise pollution algorithm: Noise pollution is one of the dreaded areas which need to be checked immediately. There are different ways to check the noise level through connected devices. If noise is more than the permissible limit beside school, hospital, college then automatic alert will be sent off to the nearest police station and the concerned personnel.

• Traffic Rules Violation Solution: IN many cases, the accidents take place due to rash and uncontrolled driving. Drivers often cross the roads in spite of the red signals which not only puts their lives in danger but others’ lives as well. To check this rash driving, IoT can be the best possible solution. IoT connected traffic cameras will be programmed to capture any instance of anomaly in traffic and through Wi-Fi, it will automatically update in the driving records which can be used for penalize the wrong doers and reduce the accidents and traffic rules violation.

• Patient Monitoring system: Healthcare is one of the most complex domains which needs immediate technology assistance for complete revamp of the existing system. For such prerequisite the Doctors need an unequaled refresh patient's wellbeing related parameters. For this kind of circumstances this IOT based framework can realize a computerization that can keep the Doctors record-collection over web.

IOT Based ICU Patient Monitoring System is a Raspberry Pi based framework which gathers patient's data with the assistance of couple of sensors. It utilizes Wi-Fi module to impart this data to the web. There is this Blood weight and heart beat screen module electrically associated with the framework and physically to be worn by the patient.  

• Garbage Monitoring System: IOT Garbage Monitoring System is an extremely creative framework which will keep the urban communities clean. This framework screens the junk bins and advises about the level of trash gathered in the waste receptacles by means of a webpage or mobile application. For this the framework utilizes ultrasonic sensors put over the waste bins to recognize the rubbish level. The framework makes utilization of microcontroller, LCD screen, Wi-Fi modem for sending information, mobile application.

An app is created to demonstrate the status to the concerned personnel (The Municipality) observing it. The site page gives a graphical perspective of the waste containers and features the trash gathered in shading to demonstrate the level of garbage gathered. The LCD screen demonstrates the status of the trash level. The framework puts on the alert when the level of waste gathered crosses the permissible limit.

There is potential to execute countless projects on this topic. Based on the curriculum and the skillset, the students ought to choose the best and most suitable one.

-Abhijit Chatterjee, A technology connoisseur