The 'Internet of Things' May Not Always Need An Internet Connection

The “Internet of things” is one of those odd phrases that can mean many things and nothing at the same time. Between 26 and 50 million “things” will be connected to the Internet by 2020, according to various forecasts.

But not all of those things need an Internet connection, points out Davor Sutija, who runs Thinfilm, a Norwegian company working in the field of printable electronics. They don’t all need IP addresses. All they need is the ability to pass on the information they gather to something that can process the information, often via a connection to the Internet.

“Smart” objects only need to be smart enough to do that job. Unlike traditional electronics, which are made of silicon wafers mounted on boards etched with circuitry, a new generation of printable (and sometimes bendable) electronics are made in the same way as a newspaper -- by depositing an ink-like substance on a thin film (hence the name) made of a type of plastic commonly used for soft drink bottles. The result is a sheet of electronics that can be over a kilometer long, is cheap and flexible, and can be embedded into everything from clothes to food packaging.

In patient monitoring, the electronics could even make human communications more effective, for instance.