RIASSUNTO
This chapter provides a generic overview of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) and a contemporary perspective on machine‐to‐machine (M2M) communication. It focuses on satellite support of these important requirements for those environments where satellites can provide an optimal solution. The IoT generally utilizes low‐cost information gathering and dissemination devices that facilitate fast‐paced interactions in any place and at any time, among the objects themselves, as well as among objects and people; actuators are also part of the IoT. The IoT can be described as a new‐generation information network that enables seamless and continuous M2M and/or human‐to‐machine (H2M) communication. The chapter elaborates on the concept, definition, and a usable framework of the IoT and provides a sample of applications than can be provided with/by IoT. It surveys basic wireless technologies to support IoT/M2M applications, as it appears that many such implementations will entail wireless connectivity at the PHY/MAC layer.