Which are hardware and software components of IOT? How do thesecomponents get synchronised in an IOT based application?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Hardware and software components of IoT:

1. Hardware: These are the physical components that make up the IoT system. They include sensors, actuators, gateways, and embedded communication hardware.

   • Sensors: These are devices that detect changes in physical or environmental conditions and send the information to other electronics, frequently to a computer processor. They are used to collect real-time data from the environment. For example, in a smart home, sensors can be used to monitor temperature, humidity, light intensity, etc.

   • Actuators: These are devices that can cause a system to achieve a certain effect. For example, if a sensor detects that the temperature in a room is too high, an actuator could be used to turn on the air conditioning.

   • Gateways: These are the communication bridges between sensors/actuators and the network. They aggregate sensor data, translate between sensor protocols, processes sensor data before sending it onward and more.

   • Embedded Communication Hardware: These are the components that allow devices to connect and communicate with the internet and with each other. They can include things like WiFi or Bluetooth chips.

2. Software: These are the programs and other operating instructions used by a computer and other hardware devices. In the context of IoT, software components include middleware, applications, and cloud services.

   • Middleware: This is the software "glue" that helps to connect different applications across various networks. It can be used to ensure that data from one device can be read and understood by another, even if they use different protocols or data formats.

   • Applications: These are the programs that use the data from the sensors to provide useful services to the user. For example, a smart home application might use data from temperature sensors to automatically adjust the heating in a house.

   • Cloud Services: These are platforms that provide a variety of services over the internet, such as data storage and processing. In the context of IoT, cloud services can be used to store and analyze the large amounts of data generated by IoT devices.

Synchronization in an IoT based application:

The synchronization of hardware and software components in an IoT based application is achieved through the use of various communication protocols and standards. These protocols ensure that data can be exchanged between devices in a reliable and secure manner.

For example, a sensor might use a protocol like MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) to send data to a gateway. The gateway could then use another protocol like HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to send the data to a cloud service. The cloud service could then process the data and send instructions back to the gateway, which could then control an actuator to perform a certain action.

In addition, middleware can be used to ensure that data can be exchanged between devices that use different protocols or data formats. This can be particularly important in IoT systems, which often involve a wide variety of different devices and technologies.