The Emerging Internet of Things Marketplace from an Industrial Perspective: A Survey

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a dynamic global information network consisting of Internet-connected objects, such as Radio frequency identifications, sensors, actuators, as well as other instruments and smart appliances that are becoming an integral component of the future Internet. Over the last decade, we have seen a large number of the IoT solutions developed by start-ups, small and medium enterprises, large corporations, academic research institutes (such as universities), and private and public research organizations making their way into the market. In this paper, we survey over one hundred IoT smart solutions in the marketplace and examine them closely in order to identify the technologies used, functionalities, and applications. Based on the application domain, we classify and discuss these solutions under five different categories: 1) smart wearable; 2) smart home; 3) smart city; 4) smart environment; and 5) smart enterprise. This survey is intended to serve as a guideline and a conceptual framework for future research in the IoT and to motivate and inspire further developments. It also provides a systematic exploration of existing research and suggests a number of potentially significant research directions.