The Internet of Things or IoT is a raging hot topic. It is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and computer networking. It aims to interconnect everyday objects around us and make them smart. With each passing day, IoT is becoming a more lucrative career choice. If you’re aiming for a job that requires knowledge of IoT, then you must go through these top IoT interview questions. However, before that, let’s become familiar with the basic definition of IoT.
What is IoT? Internet of Things [Definition]
Internet of things is a concept that pertains to inter-device communication via the internet. It is a remarkable concept that tries to bring the operations of the home, workplace, and other devices together to one unified platform. IoT is a complex field that involves many technologies, such as artificial intelligence and computer networking . An IoT system is a collection of many IoT-enabled devices, such as coffee machines, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and so on. IoT has both personal and professional applications.
Top IoT Interview Questions and Answers
To make this list legible, we have divided it into three sections: beginner-level IoT interview questions, intermediate-level IoT interview questions, and advanced-level IoT interview questions. Let’s start with IoT interview questions for beginners and newcomers.
Beginner-Level IoT Interview Questions
The listed ones are the best IoT Interview questions for beginners.
1: What is IoT?
The Internet of Things is a platform and a network using which different devices can communicate with each other. These devices must be IP-enabled. These devices together form an IoT system. IoT devices collect data and then send it to the cloud service for storage and processing.
2: Enumerate the characteristics of the Internet of Things?
Following are the various characteristics of the Internet of Things:
- Artificial Intelligence
AI is an important aspect of IoT. Artificial intelligence grants machine the ability to think on their own. Data collection, AI algorithms, and network technologies are what make IoT devices smart.
- Connectivity and communication
Connectivity is vital to the internet of things. IoT has data hubs, networks, sensors, and so on for connectivity. They cannot work ideally without proper communication with one another. IoT uses BLE, Li-Fi, radio waves, Wi-fi, et cetera for communication.
- Scalability
Scalability helps to handle collected and analyzed data by the sensors. The size of the IoT ecosystem is mushrooming every day, and more and more elements are becoming a part of it. This results in the generation of massive amounts of data. Hence, scalability is vital to handle this data judiciously.
- Sensing
Sensing starts once all the objects of an IoT system are interconnected properly. Data collected by the sensors isn’t useful until it is interpreted correctly. Sensing helps to analyze all the collected data and develop business intelligence.
- Active Engagements
IoT requires an active engagement among cross-platform technologies, different products, and various services. Generally, blockchain cloud computing is used for accomplishing active engagements between IoT components.
3: What are the industries that can benefit from IoT?
IoT has the potential to be leveraged across a wide array of industries. Some of the top industries using IoT are:
- Agriculture
- Consumer devices
- Energy
- Healthcare
- Manufacturing
- Public transportation
4: Explain the components used in IoT.
There are four key components of IoT. These are connectivity media, data processing, sensors, and user interface.
1) Connectivity Media
Connectivity or communication media are the mediums through which sensors are connected to the cloud network. The data is sent to the cloud infrastructure once it is gathered by the sensors. Different types of IoT devices use different types of communication mediums. Bluetooth, mobile networks, WAN, and Wi-Fi, are some of the popular communication media for IoT.
2) Data Processing
Once the data reaches the cloud, data processing starts. Data processing software enhances IoT devices in many ways. Adjusting the temperature of an AC automatically and face recognition via mobiles are examples of data processing.
3) Sensors
A sensor is an input device that gathers live data from the surroundings of an IoT device. It acts as a medium between the real world and the IoT device. Different types of sensors gather different types of data. For example, a temperature sensor collects temperature data while an accelerometer collects the motion data of an IoT device.
4) User Interface
To interact with the user, IoT devices come with a user interface. The UI makes it possible for the user to handle the IoT device and see the output if any. A good UI enriches the user experience and encourages user-device interaction.
5: Can you list some of the major advantages of IoT?
There are many advantages that IoT brings to the table. IoT brings together AI, big data, networking, and sensing for facilitating automation and analytics. Following are the most important advantages of the internet of things:
- Better resource management - IoT devices offer real-time insights that make resource management efficient.
- Developing new business opportunities - IoT devices are capable of creating new business insights and thus, generating new business opportunities while reducing operational costs.
- Easy access - IoT devices access real-time information from their location or environment with the help of sensors. All you require is a smart device connected to the internet.
- Enhanced security - Compared to normal devices, IoT devices have better security thanks to their connectivity with the internet. With your smartphone or computer, you can lock IoT devices to prevent any third party from accessing any collected and analyzed information. Moreover, there are several security mechanisms in place that will alert you if something suspicious takes place.
- Improved customer experience - IoT devices are capable of automatically detecting issues and notifying the user. This provides a better customer experience.
- Optimized performance - Any normal household appliance ranging from coffee machines and microwaves to washing machines can become smart with IoT. With IoT technology, devices become more efficient and capable of communicating with other devices and sending data over the internet.
- Saves a lot of time - The internet of things helps you save a lot of time. It is one of the biggest advantages of IoT.
6: What are sensors? List the various types of sensors used in IoT devices.
Sensors are one of the most important components of IoT-enabled devices. These are responsible for detecting changes in the environment and allowing IoT devices to act accordingly. A sensor measures the magnitude of distance, heat, pressure, sound, or some other parameter and then generates an electrical signal whose intensity depends on the magnitude of the measured parameter. Various sensors used in IoT are as follows:
- Gas
- Infrared
- Motion detection
- Pressure
- Proximity
- Smoke
- Temperature
There are many other types of sensors in addition to these mentioned above.
7: Explain the different risks associated with IoT.
Like other technologies, there are several risks associated with the internet of things. These are:
- Continuous Power Supply - IoT devices demand a continuous power supply, which might not be practical in all scenarios.
- Little Knowledge - Since IoT is a new technology, not many people have adequate awareness and knowledge about IoT devices.
- Network Connectivity - Being connected to a network is a must for IoT devices. However, it might not be that easy in all the cases. It can be challenging if the bandwidth is limited or the IoT devices are scattered across remote locations.
- New and Inadequate Testing - The internet of things is a new market that is evolving at a fast pace. As it is still in its infancy, many firms and manufacturers are in a rush to release their products and services without sufficient testing. Moreover, most of them don’t provide regular updates, which makes them vulnerable to security threats and increases the risk of data theft.
- Privacy - Data security and privacy are important concerns with IoT devices. An IoT system is a collection of many smart devices that send data and are connected to the internet. Hence, they are vulnerable to hacking. IoT devices that collect and transmit data over an open network are soft targets for hackers. Also, hackers might use cloud endpoints to attack servers.
- Reliability - Reliability is an important concern of IoT. It is difficult to ensure the reliability of IoT systems as they are highly distributed. Disruptions in cloud services, natural disasters, power outages, and system failures can affect the components of IoT devices.
8: Give some of the most common applications of IoT.
More and more applications are emerging with the advancement in IoT technology. Some of the most common applications of IoT as of now are:
- Activity Tracking - Activity trackers help to record activity levels, body temperature, calorie expenditure, heart rate, sleep patterns, and more.
- Connected Healthcare - Enables real-time health monitoring.
- Parking Sensors - Allows users to check the real-time availability of parking spaces via their phones.
- Smart Thermostats - Automatically adjusts the temperature based on usage patterns.
9: What is Pulse Width Modulation? Why do we use PWM in IoT?
PWM is a technique used in the internet of things. In this technique, the electrical signal is divided into discrete parts to reduce the average power delivered by the same. It is also called pulse-duration modulation or PDM. We use pulse width modulation in IoT for accomplishing many tasks such as dimming LED lights and controlling the speed of a DC motor.
10: What challenges do IoT face today?
Although IoT is in active development, it is still in its early stages of development. Hence, it faces many challenges today, including the ones listed below:
- Constant power supply required by the IoT devices
- Data security and privacy concerns
- High costs
- Inadequate testing
- Short-range communication
- Software complexity
Intermediate-Level IoT Interview Questions
11: Can you compare IoT and IIoT?
| Parameter | IoT | IIoT |
| Full form | Internet of things | Industrial internet of things |
| Used for | It is used in home appliances and customer-oriented applications. | IIoT finds use in industrial applications. |
| Orientation | IoT is human-centric. | It is machine-centric. |
| Communication type | Internet of Things uses wireless devices for communication. | It uses both wireless and wired devices for connectivity. |
| Quality of data | In IoT, the data quality ranges from medium to high. | Data quality ranges from high to very high in IIoT. |
12: Explain Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi is an SBC (single-board computer) that is roughly the size of a credit card. Upon plugging in a computer monitor or TV, and connecting a keyboard and a mouse, you can use it as a normal computer. In addition to that, it comes with features like Bluetooth connectivity, GPIO pins, and onboard Wi-fi that facilitates communication with other electronic devices.
13: What are the various layers of the IoT protocol stack?
Following are the various layers of the IoT protocol stack:
- Physical layer
- Datalink layer
- Network layer
- Transport layer
- Application layer
14: List down some of the most popular IoT protocols.
IoT protocols offer a secure way to exchange data between devices via the internet. These define the way data is transmitted via the internet. There are many IoT protocols used by the different layers of the IoT protocol stack. Some of the most popular ones are:
- AMQP (Advanced Message Queueing Protocol) - Application layer
- BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) - Physical layer
- DDS (Data Distribution Service) - Application layer
- MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) - Application layer
- STOMP (Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol) - Application layer
- XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) - Application layer
- UDP (User Datagram Protocol) - Datalink layer
- VSCP (Very Simple Control Protocol) - Application layer
- Zigbee - Multiple layers
15: What is Arduino?
Arduino is a popular open-source platform for digital devices. It includes both hardware and software. It designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits.
16: What are the wireless communications boards available in Raspberry Pi?
Wi-Fi and BLE/Bluetooth are the wireless communications boards available in Raspberry Pi.
17: Can you name the functions used for reading and writing digital data in Arduino?
digitalRead() is used to read digital data from a sensor, while the digitalWrite() function helps to write a LOW or HIGH value to a digital pin in Arduino.
18: What is the difference between Arduino and Raspberry Pi?
| Parameter | Arduino | Raspberry Pi |
| Program Execution | Arduino executes only one program at a time. | Raspberry Pi can run multiple programs simultaneously. |
| Type | It is an open-source programmable USB microcontroller. | It is a single-board computer. |
| Power consumption | It requires less power. | Raspberry Pi needs more power. |
| Control unit | Arduino has ATmega-based control units. | It has ARM-based control units. |
| CPU architecture | It follows an 8-bit CPU architecture. | Raspberry Pi works on a 64-bit CPU architecture . |
| RAM consumption | Arduino requires less RAM. | It necessitates more RAM. |
| Use | Arduino allows controlling all the electrical components connecting to a system’s circuit board. | It works like a conventional computer. Thus, it can be used for gaming, learning, and professional uses. |
| Structure of hardware and software | It follows a simple structure. | The software and hardware structure in Raspberry Pi is complex. |
19: Explain Bluetooth Low Energy.
Bluetooth Low Energy or BLE is a wireless PAN technology. It uses less power than Bluetooth technology to transmit data.
20: What is MicroPython?
MicroPython is a Python implementation that can be optimized to run on the ModeMCU microcontroller. It can be understood as Raspberry Pi's take on Arduino. Its library is a small subset of the standard Python library.
21: What are some of the best database systems for the Internet of Things?
There are many database systems available to use with IoT. Apache Cassandra, influx DB, MongoDB, RethinkDB, and Sqlite are some of the most popular ones.
22: Explain sharding.
A shard is a small database that is a part of a larger database. Sharding is the process in which a huge database is split into many small, fast, and more manageable databases. These are called shards. In order to enhance the efficiency of storing large databases, sharding is used to split a logical dataset into smaller multiple databases.
Advanced-Level IoT Interview Questions
23: Explain IoT publishers.
IoT publishers are sensors responsible for sending real-time data to intermediate devices or middleware.
24: Enumerate some wearable Arduino boards.
- Lilypad Arduino main board
- Arduino simple
- Lilypad Arduino simple snap
- Lilypad Arduino USB
25: What is Thingworx?
Thingworx is a set of IoT development tools that facilitates the analysis and production of IoT development. It is a platform that helps in the fast development and deployment of connected devices.
26: Explain Bluegiga APX4 protocol.
The Bluegiga APX4 is a protocol based on a 450MHz ARM9 processor. It supports BLE and Wi-Fi and is used by IoT devices for communication.
27: What is a IoT communication protocol?
It is essential to connect to the internet for IoT devices to work ideally. Different IoT devices provide support for different network communication models. This means there are many ways to connect with the internet.
27: Explain the various communication models used in IoT.
Following are the four most common communication models used in the internet of things:
1. Exclusive-Pair Model
Exclusive-Pair model is a full-duplex, bidirectional communication model that facilitates continuous connections between a client and a server. The connection remains open until a client doesn’t send a request to close the connection. Once the connection is established, the clients and servers can exchange messages. The server takes care of all open connections. The Exclusive-Pair model is the most efficient model for quick communication.
2. Publisher-Subscriber Communication Model
This IoT communication model involves publishers, brokers, and consumers. Each of them has different roles. In the Publisher-Subscriber communication model, publishers and consumers are not directly related. Instead, publishers send data to topics, brokers manage the topics, and consumers subscribe to the topics. This means brokers are responsible for receiving data from publishers and then sending it to the customers.
3. Push-Pull Communication Model
The Push-Pull communication model involves queues. While data producers push data into the queues, consumers pull the data from them. In this IoT communication model, neither the producer nor the consumer knows about each other. The queues act as a buffer in case there is any discrepancy between the rates at which producers push the data and consumers pull it. The queues are also responsible for decoupling the messages between the consumers and the producers.
4. Request-Response Communication Model
In this IoT communication model, the client makes requests, and the server responds to them accordingly. The server, upon receiving a request from a client, fetches the requested data, prepares the response, and sends it back to the client. Each request is handled independently as the model doesn’t retain the data between requests. Because of this reason, the request-response communication model is also known as a stateless model.
28: Can you explain Salesforce IoT Cloud?
Salesforce IoT Cloud is an online cloud computing platform specifically designed for processing and storing IoT data. It is a collection of many application development elements that are called lightning. It collects information from customers, devices, partners, and websites, and triggers actions for period responses.
29: Explain the thermocouple sensor.
A thermocouple is a sensor that measures temperature by coupling two metal pieces together. The two metal pieces are joined at one end, and the temperature is measured at a junction. The metal conductors generate a little voltage that is interpreted for measuring the temperature. It is an economical and robust temperature measuring device that comes in many types and sizes. A thermocouple has a good temperature range and finds use in home appliances, industrial applications, scientific research, and so on.
30: Explain the difference between floating CPU and fixed-point CPU.
A floating-point CPU can accept floating-point values. On the other hand, a fixed-point CPU converts floating-point values to integer values. This leads to the loss of some resolution in fixed-point CPUs.
31: What is Shodan?
Shodan stands for S entient H yper- O ptimized D ata A ccess N etwork. It is a search engine like Google Search for mapping and providing information on internet-connected devices and systems. It is an IoT tool that is used for identifying internet-connected devices and tracking machines with direct internet access. Shodan lets you search for any internet-connected device and check if it is publicly available. Cybersecurity professionals leverage Shodan to protect IoT systems against cyber threats.
32: Compare M2M and IoT.
| Parameter | IoT | M2M |
| Communication | Multiple machines communicate with one another over the internet. Communication is done for full-scale projects. | A machine can communicate with one machine at a given time. Communication happens within an embedded software at the client site. |
| Connectivity | IoT requires an active internet connection. | M2M uses a cellular network or wired network. |
| Scalability | It is more scalable. | It has limited options for scalability. |
| Systems and Devices | IoT uses integrated devices, data, and applications of varying standards. | It uses isolated systems of devices with the same standards. |
Conclusion
That completes our list of the best IoT interview questions. Remember that IoT is a concept that is currently being explored. The recent developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning , and other technologies have given a push to IoT. Hence, it is a good option as a career avenue. There are already multiple openings in various capacities in the IoT market, and more are yet to come.
So, if you are interested in IoT, get started with learning the internet of things today. We hope that you find this list of the best IoT interview questions helpful. Although only a few of them might come your way during your interview, going through them will give you a good idea of IoT concepts you need to work on. All the best!
Do tell the IoT interview questions that were asked to you by an interviewer during you interview session via the comment section below. Else, you can also ask your IoT questions there too. We will try our best to answer them!
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