Best Books To Learn Internet of things (IoT) in 2021

Looking into the new future, there is a new world that is approaching with fury, with anticipation and with glory. A world that is unfolding and getting ready right in front of our eyes as we are busy taking care of our loved ones, improving ourselves, running our projects and living our day to day lives. It is a world where every appliance we have in our homes, in our cars, farms, hospitals, industries and even in space will have the capability of interconnecting via the internet. It will be era of Internet of Things famously known as IoT. Cisco Systems defines the Internet of things as “simply the point in time when more ‘things or objects’ were connected to the Internet than people.” IoT has numerous applications ranging from Consumer use-cases, organizational use-cases, industrial applications, military applications as well as infrastructural use-cases. We are talking about smart homes, smart cities, revamped agriculture, remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems, smart traffic control, smart parking and much much more that the resources we are about to share will do their best to explore.

It is a wonderful niche to anticipate, to learn and to get ready because it is the future. Whether it is securing such interconnection, learning about embedded systems, networking, systems engineering, electronics engineering, design, programming, manufacturing of such devices or installation of them, there is a huge playing field for every kind of professional to play and enjoy and the game fully. Let us go the books that will open our eyes more and give us a better view of what we should expect and what we can do to be part of this marvel of a world.

1. Exploring Raspberry Pi

Author Dr Derek Molloy is a Professor in the School of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Dublin City University, Ireland. He lectures at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in object-oriented programming with embedded systems, digital and analog electronics, and Connected Embedded Systems. His research contributions are largely in the fields of computer and machine vision, 3D graphics and visualization, IoT, and e-Learning.

Exploring Raspberry Pi first covers the basics of the hardware platform, recommended accessories, software, embedded Linux systems, and Linux programming techniques. Then it takes you deeper into interfacing, controlling, and communicating, with detailed information about Raspberry Pi GPIOs, buses, UART devices, and USB peripherals. You will learn to configure a cross-compilation environment in order to build large-scale software applications, as well as how to combine hardware and software to enable the Raspberry Pi to interact effectively with its physical environment. Finally, you’ll discover how to use the Raspberry Pi for advanced interfacing and interaction applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT); wireless communication and control; rich user interfaces; images, video, and audio; and Linux kernel programming.

Instead of recipes for a few specific projects, Exploring Raspberry Pi arms you with the skills needed to build the projects that exist in your imagination.

You will learn to:

• Develop essential Linux and programming skills
• Build Internet of Things (IoT) applications
• Master interfacing, controlling, and communication
• Design applications that interact with the physical environment
• Utilize the Arduino platform as a service processor
• Build wireless communication applications
• Write and install a custom Linux loadable kernel module
• Apply the Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi Zero to your projects

You may be wondering why we are presenting a Raspberry Pi book in this space of IoT. Well, Raspberry Pi is economical and versatile and can be adapted for thousands of applications. The book takes on a “learn by doing” approach and you will get to deeply understand how IoT world works by actually programming device for yourself. The book favors engineering principles over a ‘recipe’ approach to give you the skills you need to design and build your own projects. If you are the hands-on type of a person, this is the right resource for you. Get it in Amazon below.

2. IoT and Edge Computing for Architects

As IoT is on the brink of being adopted in the multiple sectors around the globe, author Perry Lea knows that an architectural guide is needed if you want to traverse the spectrum of technologies needed to build a successful IoT system, whether that is a single device or millions of IoT devices. Perry is a 30-year veteran technologist who spent over 20 years at Hewlett-Packard as chief architect and distinguished technologist of the LaserJet business. He then led a team at Micron focusing on emerging compute using in-memory processing for machine learning and computer vision. He has other accolades that distinguishes him as a reliable and well rounded professional. He pivoted the company into 5G and the IoT at Cradlepoint then he co-founded Rumble, an industry leader in edge/IoT products.

IoT and Edge Computing for Architects, Second Edition encompasses the entire spectrum of IoT solutions, from IoT sensors to the cloud. It examines modern sensor systems, focusing on their power and functionality. It also looks at communication theory, paying close attention to near-range PAN, including the new Bluetooth® 5.0 specification and mesh networks. Then, the book explores IP-based communication in LAN and WAN, including 802.11ah, 5G LTE cellular, Sigfox, and LoRaWAN. It also explains edge computing, routing and gateways, and their role in fog computing, as well as the messaging protocols of MQTT 5.0 and CoAP.

There is so much more for you to chew on in this 632 pages and 14 chapters work of art.

What you will learn

• Understand the role and scope of architecting a successful IoT deployment
• Scan the landscape of IoT technologies, from sensors to the cloud and more
• See the trade-offs in choices of protocols and communications in IoT deployments
• Become familiar with the terminology needed to work in the IoT space
• Broaden your skills in the multiple engineering domains necessary for the IoT architect
• Implement best practices to ensure reliability, scalability, and security in your IoT infrastructure

This book is for architects, system designers, technologists, and technology managers who want to understand the IoT ecosphere, technologies, and trade-offs, and develop a 50,000-foot view of IoT architecture. Perry recommends that an understanding of the architectural side of IoT is necessary to get the best out of this book. Anyhow, for the curious people, it won’t hurt to take a peek at it. Click below to find a copy from Amazon and add it in your private library.

3. Hands-On Industrial Internet of Things

Giacomo Veneri holds a PhD in neuroscience context with various scientific publications. He has 18 years of experience as IT architect and team leader. Apart from that, he is an expert on IOT since 2013 in the field of Oil & Gas and Transportation. His co-author, Antonio Capasso, has been working for twenty years working on large and complex IT projects related to the industrial world in different markets. He graduated in Computer Automation in 1999 and Computer Automation in 2003 from the University of Naples.

Hands-On Industrial Internet of Things by the two experienced authors takes you through the implementation of industrial processes and specialized control devices and protocols. You will have the opportunity to study the process of identifying and connecting to different industrial data sources gathered from different sensors. Furthermore, you will be able to connect these sensors to cloud network, such as AWS IoT, Azure IoT, Google IoT, and OEM IoT platforms, and extract data from the cloud to your devices.

As you progress through the chapters, you will gain hands-on experience in using open source Node-Red, Kafka, Cassandra, and Python. You will also learn how to develop streaming and batch-based Machine Learning algorithms.

As you can see, the resource gives you a broad range of topics and exposes you to multiple technologies and how all of them interact to solve particular problems. That is the power of IoT.

What you will learn

• Explore industrial processes, devices, and protocols
• Design and implement the I-IoT network flow
• Gather and transfer industrial data in a secure way
• Get to grips with popular cloud-based platforms
• Understand diagnostic analytics to answer critical workforce questions
• Discover the Edge device and understand Edge and Fog computing
• Implement equipment and process management to achieve business-specific goals

The authors implore IoT architects, developers, or stakeholders working with architectural aspects of Industrial Internet of Things to take their slices of this book. It can all be found from Amazon on the link below. Consider going through it as soon as you can.

4. Precision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet of Things

Timothy Chou, the author of Precision, has been lucky enough to have a career spanning academia, successful (and not so successful) startups and large corporations. He was one of only a few people to hold the President title at Oracle. As President of Oracle On Demand he grew the cloud business from it’s very beginning. After earning his PhD in EE at the University of Illinois he went to work for Tandem Computers, one of the original Silicon Valley startups. Among many other achievements Timothy is focused on several new ventures in cloud computing, machine learning and the Internet of Things today.

You may not be sure why your coffee pot should talk to your toaster, but precision technology powering an industrial Internet of Things has the potential to reshape the planet. To help clarify, Dr. Timothy Chou has created Precision to introduce us to the basics of the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). The first part – Precision: Principles and Practices – introduces a vendor-neutral, acronym-free framework. Dr. Chou then discusses the framework’s fundamental principles and these principles put into practice.

The second part – Precision: Solutions – puts Dr. Chou’s IoT framework into practice highlighting 14 real world solutions for manufacturers who are building precision machines and companies utilizing these machines to receive precision enhanced business outcomes. Case studies discussed span a number of industries such as power, water, healthcare, transportation, oil & gas, construction, agriculture, gene sequencers, mining and race cars.

Dr Chou goes from Fault Tolerant Computing, to Cloud Computing to IoT and Precision Data, in such a seamless way that will blow your eager mind. This book will give you a lot of ideas about how you can move your career forward into IoT as well as give you aspects to think about to help make this planet a better place to live.

One of the reviewers affirms that “Whether you are a student in IT, or a CTO looking squarely at the future, you need this as a reference work for how you can create a lasting future where immediate access to data driven decisions is more of a reality than ever.”

Click below to get this gem of a resource from Amazon.

5. IoT Fundamentals: Networking Technologies, Protocols, and Use Cases for the Internet of Things

This is one of those books that has a combination of authors with the type of sought after talent, skills and experience. David Hanes, CCIE No. 3491, is a Technical Leader specializing in IoT and working in Cisco Technical Services as part of the Cloud Support Technical Assistance Center (TAC). With experience in the incubation of new technologies, he is currently leading the TAC support effort for Cisco’s IoT cloud solutions. He also has technical expertise in the areas of collaboration and cognitive computing. David has multiple patents issued and pending in the areas of IoT and collaboration. He is an active participant in the SIP Forum and in the IETF as an RFC contributor and author.

Gonzalo Salgueiro, CCIE No. 4541, a co-author, is a Principal Engineer in Technical Services, working on several emerging technologies and the services opportunities they offer. Gonzalo has spent more than 20 years at Cisco, establishing himself as a subject matter expert, innovator, and industry thought leader in various technologies, including Collaboration, ML/AI, Cloud, and IoT.

Patrick Grossetete, another co-author, is a Distinguished Engineer, Technical Marketing, working on field communication architecture and design (IEEE 802.15.4g/e RF, IEEE 1901.2a PLC, LoRaWAN, IPv6, 6LoWPAN, RPL, …) in the Cisco Internet of Things Connected Group. He joined Cisco through its acquisition of Arch Rock, where he was Director of Product Management and Customer Solutions, focusing on IPv6-based wireless sensor network technology for smart grid, energy, and environmental optimization applications.

Now, five leading Cisco IoT experts present the first comprehensive, practical reference for making IoT work. IoT Fundamentals brings together knowledge previously available only in white papers, standards documents, and other hard-to-find sources―or nowhere at all.

The authors begin with a high-level overview of IoT and introduce key concepts needed to successfully design IoT solutions. Next, they walk through each key technology, protocol, and technical building block that combine into complete IoT solutions.

Building on these essentials, they present several detailed use cases, including manufacturing, energy, utilities, smart+connected cities, transportation, mining, and public safety. Whatever your role or existing infrastructure, you’ll gain deep insight what IoT applications can do, and what it takes to deliver them.

Summary of the book

• Fully covers the principles and components of next-generation wireless networks built with Cisco IOT solutions such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.15.4-2015 (Mesh), and LoRaWAN
• Brings together real-world tips, insights, and best practices for designing and implementing next-generation wireless networks
• Presents start-to-finish configuration examples for common deployment scenarios
• Reflects the extensive first-hand experience of Cisco experts

Getting the fundamentals right is non-negotiable in any kind of career or venture. It is the building block where your mansion is to be built on and getting it right is the beginning of longevity, stability and good performance. This is the guide that chops all the fundamentals about IoT into chunks that you can easily ruminate on as you study your way to understanding its foundation. Get IoT Fundamentals in your hands from Amazon below and begin your career with the right foundation laid out.

6. Hands-On Artificial Intelligence for IoT

The author of this guide deserves some ovation before we set foot on the road. Amita Kapoor, is Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics, SRCASW, University of Delhi. She has been actively teaching neural networks for the last twenty years. She has more than 40 publications in international journals and conferences and her present research areas include Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Photonics, and Robotics. Quite a mindful of experience she is about to share herein. So kindly pay attention.

Spread over 390 pages and spanning 12 chapters, this text covers various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implementation to make your IoT solutions smarter. It starts by covering the process of gathering and preprocessing IoT data gathered from distributed sources.

You will learn different AI techniques such as machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and natural language processing to build smart IoT systems. You will also leverage the power of AI to handle real-time data coming from wearable devices.

As you progress through the book, techniques for building models that work with different kinds of data generated and consumed by IoT devices such as time series, images, and audio will be covered.

Summary of what you will learn

• Apply different AI techniques including machine learning and deep learning using TensorFlow and Keras
• Access and process data from various distributed sources
• Perform supervised and unsupervised machine learning for IoT data
• Implement distributed processing of IoT data over Apache Spark using the MLLib and H2O.ai platforms
• Forecast time-series data using deep learning methods
• Implementing AI from case studies in Personal IoT, Industrial IoT, and Smart Cities
• Gain unique insights from data obtained from wearable devices and smart devices

For those souls beckoned by data science or development in machine learning developer and they are looking to build smart systems for IoT, this is the text you should devour. If you want to learn how popular artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used in the Internet of Things domain, this book will also be of benefit. So do yourself a huge favour by clicking on the link below and buy yourself a copy from Amazon.

7. The IoT Hacker’s Handbook

If you are in the security sphere of technology and would like to immerse yourself into the security aspect of IoT, then author Aditya Gupta is here to take you on a fantastic playing field where he does the real stuff you love. Hacking them!!

Aditya is the founder and CEO of Attify, Inc. – a specialized security firm offering IoT penetration testing and security training on IoT Exploitation. Over the past couple of years, Aditya has performed in-depth research on the security of these devices including smart homes, medical devices, ICS and SCADA systems, and has spoken at numerous international security conferences.

He observes that ss the IoT rises to one of the most popular tech trends, manufactures need to take necessary steps to secure devices and protect them from attackers. This guide breaks down the Internet of Things, exploits it, and reveals how these devices can be built securely so that all security professionals can consider.

You will review the architecture’s central components, from hardware communication interfaces, such as UARTand SPI, to radio protocols, such as BLE or ZigBee. You will also learn to assess a device physically by opening it, looking at the PCB, and identifying the chipsets and interfaces. You will then use that information to gain entry to the device or to perform other actions, such as dumping encryption keys and firmware. Great stuff in here!!

What You will Learn in a nutshell

• Perform a threat model of a real-world IoT device and locate all possible attacker entry points
• Use reverse engineering of firmware binaries to identify security issues
• Analyze,assess, and identify security issues in exploited ARM and MIPS based binaries
• Sniff, capture, and exploit radio communication protocols, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and ZigBee

There is nothing else to add than to urge every aspiring security professional and those in the field to consider reading this book. Those interested in learning about IoT security, such as pentesters working in different domains, embedded device developers, or IT people wanting to move to an Internet of Things security role have it all here. Click on the link below, give yourself a big sigh, order a copy from Amazon and start reading. It is worth it.

8. Practical Internet of Things Security

Packed into eleven chapters, authors Brian Russell, and Drew Van Duren bring this resource to show you how to implement cybersecurity solutions, IoT design best practices, and risk mitigation methodologies to address device and infrastructure threats to IoT solutions. It is no secret that as organizations and perhaps the government embrace IoT in their various use-cases, they all have to defend against new types of security threats.

In this new second edition, you will go through some typical and unique vulnerabilities seen within various layers of the IoT technology stack and also learn new ways in which IT and physical threats interact. You will then explore the different engineering approaches a developer/manufacturer might take to securely design and deploy IoT devices.

Summary of what you will learn

• Discuss the need for separate security requirements and apply security engineering principles on IoT devices
• Master the operational aspects of planning, deploying, managing, monitoring, and detecting the remediation and disposal of IoT systems
• Use Blockchain solutions for IoT authenticity and integrity
• Explore additional privacy features emerging in the IoT industry, such as anonymity, tracking issues, and countermeasures
• Design a fog computing architecture to support IoT edge analytics
• Detect and respond to IoT security incidents and compromises

This book targets IT Security Professionals and Security Engineers (including pentesters, security architects and ethical hackers) who would like to ensure the security of their organization’s data when connected through the IoT. Author Brian Russell is the founder of TrustThink, LLC, where he leads multiple efforts towards the development of trusted IoT solutions. He has over 20 years of information security experience and has led complex system security engineering programs in the areas of cryptographic modernization, cryptographic key management, unmanned aerial systems, and connected vehicle security. His co-author, Drew Van Duren, has provided 20 years of support to commercial and government customers in their efforts to secure safety-of-life and national security systems. He has provided extensive applied cryptographic design, key management expertise, and system security architecture design through rigorous integration of system security design with the core engineering disciplines.

So you can be sure you are learning from some of the best professionals in this area of specializaion. Give them an ear and get their instruction as you strive to be better. Find this guide in Amazon on the link below.

9. The Amazon Way on IoT

For organizations preparing or aspiring to adopt IoT into their daily operations or integrate it into part of their business, learning it from people who have already done it can save them a lot of headache and mistakes that might have already been made. The Amazon Way on IoT provides a template where other organizations can look and apply in their own venture into this forest of stuff to learn and encounter. This is the book to help business people understand and build their IoT strategy.

In this detailed analysis of IoT and Amazon’s approach to it, author John Rossman guides readers with practical insights and recommendations into the strategies and mindset transforming businesses and society.

The Amazon Way on IoT explains how the combination of sensors, cloud computing and machine learning can be used to improve customer experiences, drive operational improvements and build new business models. Rossman offers:

• Guidance through the maze of emerging technologies, customer experiences, and business models, to arrive at a recipe just right for your organization
• Key methods to success from Amazon’s master playbook such as creating seamless customer experiences, process improvement and new business models and utilizing tools such as sensors, machine learning and cloud computing
• Approaches to help you tackle the technology, business and internal challenges in innovating with the internet of things.

Renowned Harvard business professor Michael Porter describes the IoT as the backbone for a third-wave of technology-led innovation and digital disruption and it is something every organization looking into the future should consider adding in their compass. Rossman gives everyone a template that may serve as a boilerplate or a lesson or a guide of how they can implement the same. Click below to get practical insights and recommendations into the strategies and mindset of transforming your business from Amazon.

10. Enterprise IoT: Strategies and Best Practices for Connected Products and Services 1st Edition

Before long, you may find yourself as an organization thinking about delving into IoT especially if you are in Logistics, Farming or any other facet of business that IoT promises to increase its efficiency or change the whole game altogether. For you to prepare for the impending reality, four authors (Dirk Slama, Frank Puhlmann, Jim Morrish, and Rishi M Bhatnagar) present this timely book to help you figure it all out in a simple and easy to understand fashion.

One of the reviewers of the book quips that, “This book is an excellent read if you are about to transform your company into IoT-embracing business and need to understand both worlds. The structured approach helps sort things out, and enables you with a methodic approach to be prepared to turn upcoming opportunities in successful projects. The strategic future perspective makes the content of this book valuable for years to come.”

Current hype aside, the Internet of Things will ultimately become as fundamental as the Internet itself, with lots of opportunities and trials along the way. To help you navigate these choppy waters, this practical guide introduces a dedicated methodology for businesses preparing to transition towards IoT-based business models.

With a set of best practices based on case study analysis, expert interviews, and the authors’ own experience, the Ignite | IoT Methodology outlined in this book delivers actionable guidelines to assist you with IoT strategy management and project execution. You will also find a detailed case study of a project fully developed with this methodology.

There is nothing more you will need in order to get ready for this era of change that has already begun building traction. You can find out more information about this resource as well as order yourself one or two from Amazon below.

Final Thoughts

Internet of Things (IoT) will open a gate of opportunities for engineers across the globe. Efficient networks, robust devices, stable code, cyberspace security, data analytics, energy saving practices, better manufacturing processes among many more are just a few of the things that can herald will be in demand. It will be an era of change, an era where penetration of technology will in our lives will increase and out interaction with them will be essential in order to save our energy usage, to remotely analyse our health, to learn about our environment as well as improve how we take care of our farms and animals.

We hope the books shared above will expound, expand your minds and open rooms that had never been opened before in your imagination and new possibilities to pursue.