消费者和工业物联网有什么区别？

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the latest product-development buzzword, akin to other terms like “the cloud” or “smart cities.” These terms are typically very nebulous, but generally apply to an important set of identifiable products or technologies. They can be more focused, such as “cloud storage” and “cloud computing,” and many companies often identify themselves as providing products and services that fall over these names. The more-focused terminology helps narrow the collection of vendors, products, and services to a more manageable or understandable level. Hopefully, this will be the case with consumer, commercial, and industrial IoT (IIoT).

首先,我们至少需要一个基本的描述IoT. Generally speaking, IoT is a distributed network system that typically employs the internet/cloud for some aspect of its communication and usually includes sensors/control systems, a storage component, a compute component, a user-interface component, and possibly gateways（图。1）。

Some devices might incorporate multiple components. For example, a smartphone could provide information from its sensors while also running a user-interface application that displayed information moved up to the cloud. It might also act as a gateway to other devices like a smartwatch or a Bluetooth-based sensor.

1. An Internet of Things (IoT) environment contains a mix of devices connected via the internet/cloud. It’s also possible for edge nodes to connect directly to the cloud without connecting to a gateway.

Granted, the description is very general and a lot of details come into play in an actual system from a plethora of protocols like MQTT and TCP/IP to security and management systems. In theory, an IoT system should be expandable, allowing dynamic changes to its operation and include devices not provided by a single vendor.

Consumer, commercial, and industrial IoT share attributes and are typically built on the same hardware and software platforms. That’s why IoT discussions tend to get murky, especially when delving into the details. For instance, smartphone and tablet apps tend to provide one way of querying and controlling devices. Windows and iOS PCs, on the other hand, generally run the heavier user interfaces, often providing management tools that would be cumbersome on the smaller, portable devices.

物联网设备和软件在坚固性和预期的寿命等领域基本上有所不同，以及谁可以访问数据以及如何向各方提供数据。

消费者物联网

消费者IoT设备和服务针对个人用户或家庭。这包括亚马逊的Echo等产品（图2）or Google’s Nest Thermostat(see “为互联网设计的优雅恒温器”)。Hardware tends to be designed for low cost and limited lifetime and maintenance. A device is likely to have a shelf life measured in months or years, with new versions quickly replacing older products on store shelves. The device lifetime may be many years, but replacement rather than maintenance or upgrade is the norm.

2. An example of a consumer IoT device would be Amazon’s Echo voice-control system, which doubles as a wireless music player.

每个消费者的设备将是唯一的，尽管有些设备可能需要多个设备，例如，每个灯泡是一个设备的较大房屋或智能照明的多个恒温器。由于包括安全性在内的各种原因，这种有限数量的设备倾向于简化用户的管理接口软件。通常将产品隔离到几个使用匹配应用程序访问设备以外的访问控件（如果有的话）（如果有的话）。从用户的角度来看，设备的收集及其管理与该用户或其家人隔离开来。

Typically, a vendor’s device and data-management infrastructure isn’t seen or controlled directly by the consumer, although the user’s management support is provided through it and isolated from other users. This may be related to a vendor’s monetization of consumer information or a mechanism for providing additional services, such as Amazon Echo’s ability to place orders for products or services.

供应商的基础设施与消费者的动物大不相同。它将需要管理数百千万或数十亿个设备，并且需要考虑用户分区。基础架构也可以建立在第三方的工具或服务上。后者通常基于云，并通过云/互联网提供连接。不过，这增加了另一个复杂性，因为第三方将拥有自己的管理基础架构，以向供应商提供服务，而供应商又为自己的消费者提供服务。

商业物联网

商业物联网sits between consumer and industrial IoT and shares aspects of both. Some may actually group commercial and industrial IoT together. The scope of commercial IoT typically resides at the company or organization level. Applications like smart power and lighting would fall under the commercial IoT umbrella.

One example of a commercial IoT platform isVerdigris’Einstein system（图3）。It hooks into existing building power infrastructure to provide smart metering and monitoring to minimize power consumption in large commercial buildings that may have a mix of occupants.

New hardware also supports 4G-LTE connectivity. The cloud-based support employs artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze electrical “fingerprints” and subsequently optimize building controls, sending users critical notifications of energy use. It can also help predict future breakdowns based on system use and operation.

Verdigris’ system highlights some major differences between consumer and commercial IoT systems. The first is scale, followed up by management and analysis. Commercial systems rarely involve single devices—there may be dozens or thousands depending on the application. A number of sites may also be involved in one system, adding to the management challenge.

3. Verdigris’ Einstein smart sensor (above right) can be added to existing installations (above) to provide information to Verdigris’ artificial intelligence platform.

此外，与消费者物联网相比，客户管理和分析要复杂得多。分层访问控制对于数据和控制功能至关重要。客户可能会利用数据库访问以及服务API和数据分析（例如Verdigris的AI支持）。AI在IoT Cloud支持中并非唯一。Watson AI技术可作为IBM的物联网服务的一部分，可以从MED等物联网平台访问(see “mbed IoT Starter Kit Links to IBM's Cloud”)。

Industrial IoT

Industrial IoT might be viewed as rugged, long-term commercial IoT, but that overlooks the differences in IIoT’s design and infrastructure. Like many commercial solutions, IIoT solutions often target existing automated industrial systems. The difference is that these systems may be older, so the level of sensors is often based on what was available. They provide sufficient information to control the industrial process, but additional information would be useful if it’s possible to incorporate more sensors. Such sensors might track the status of components such as plumbing. Sometimes, it can provide supplemental information about system wear and tear to anticipate maintenance requirements.

与商业物联网相比，与新物联网支持的现有系统的集成信息通常更为复杂。同样，从长期来看，需要维护集成以及方程式两侧的支持更新。双向集成的潜力也导致更复杂的安全集成过程。这就是为什么全IIOT集成通常需要比商业物联网应用程序更多的时间的原因之一。

Like commercial systems, industrial IoT is more amenable to gateway use. Incorporating many gateways requires planning, but they ultimately provide the ability to do more processing on the floor. They also enable more independent operation, with the possibility of distributing information locally.

用户customizat IIoT网关通常会有更多ion, or even the ability to run user applications. These systems may require significantly more customization than a commercial system in order to tailor them for a particular industrial process.

与IIOT系统有关的定制是部署将花费比许多商业物联网系统更长的原因之一。IIOT开发人员通常需要更多的支持并创建更多集成解决方案，而大多数商业物联网集成可能会在云中完成。IIT围绕的安全性，延迟和应用程序通常使云类型的集成类型不切实际。

IIoT equipment also tends to have more demanding requirements than commercial alternatives. Very long-term support and rugged specifications such as extended temperature support are common requirements for many applications.

So where do IoT applications like smart cars and smart cities fit? Smart cars would fall into the consumer IoT realm, while smart cities might be a mix of commercial and industrial IoT.

物联网系统和平台并非平等创建。消费者，商业和工业物联网使用的沟通和操作类型即使不完全相同。差异涉及那些采购并被允许在系统内采购，信息或控制的人。

Oftentimes, multiple players are involved in support and management of the software, because building an IoT system from scratch isn’t an easy task. On top of that, supporting it in the long term becomes a full-time job that’s usually very distracting for commercial or industrial companies, and a bit ridiculous for consumers.