The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to sensors or actuators, combined with communication and processing capabilities, thus enabling them perform smart tasks and processes. The IoT market in the Middle East and Africa is worth around $8.5 billion and expected to grow to $17.63 billion by 2023.

In this article, I delve into the building blocks of IoT systems.

The IoT system is represented below as

Device – Connectivity – Backend system – Application 

Devices: this refer to the sensors or hardware or actuators, combined with power source (e.g. batteries, mains etc.), communication hardware (e.g. esim, chips, isims, sims etc.) ana/or a user interface system (e.g. screen, buttons, keyboard) etc.

Connectivity – This refers to the network responsible for transporting packets to the internet. This could be via cellular networks, fixed or satellites systems. The choice of connectivity, to a large extent, depends on the application of the IoT devices.

For example, high latency applications like health care, rapid response etc., favour the use of cellular networks like NB-IoT, LTE-M, other cellular connections, WiFi etc. whereas low latency applications typically favour the use of networks like Sigfox, LoRa etc. The use of networks like Sigfox, LoRa etc. equally lead to a conservation of energy and power, a critical asset for IoT devices, whereas the use of cellular connections and WiFi lead to a greater power consumption.

For indoor applications, fixed, WiFi and cellular connections are the preferred options, whereas when deploying outdoors, the use of networks like Sigfox, Lora, cellular, satellites networks etc. are preferred.

As highlighted above, the choice of connectivity option could come down to coverage or no coverage, low latency or high latency, low battery life or high battery life, indoor or outdoor, static application or mobile application, good quality of service or poor quality of service etc. Whatever the case, one may need to make some compromise, when selecting the desired connectivity network for a chosen IoT application.

Backend systems – This refers to the servers which collect and analyse data from the sensors and other external sources. These servers reside either within the private or public cloud.

Application – This refers to the system integrators, application development, and software platforms, open APIs etc., which helps in analysing, storing and managing the data.

If well harnessed, the IoT industry could help revolutionise the hardware sector in Nigeria and Africa.

A few days after Pfizer announced its anti-COVID vaccine with over 90% effectiveness, Moderna Inc announced its experimental drug with 94.5% prevention efficacy on COVID-19. The two drug makers have announced drugs that far exceed expectations.

The new vaccine has offered hope to the world ravaged by pandemic, especially Africa; where hot temperature would not be a barrier for its storage. The vaccine remains stable in conventional refrigerators for a month and an ordinary freezer for six months, under temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 48?F).

Unlike Moderna, Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at -70c before delivery, making it difficult to be administered in countries with hotter climes.

Both vaccines were developed with new technology known as messenger RNA (mRNA), and showed more than expected results in clinical trials.

“The results of this trial are truly striking,” says Anthony Fauci, the director of US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and the vaccines co-developer. He told reporters several months ago that he would be satisfied with a vaccine that was 70% or 75% effective, and one that prevented 95% of cases would be “aspirational”.

Moderna was one of the first developers to announce that it was working on a COVID-19 vaccine and to move testing to clinical trials in humans. It began a phase III trial that enrolled roughly 30,000 people in July, according to scientific magazine Nature.

At the news of its trial success, Moderna’s shares jumped 8% while the Dow climed 1.6%, the S&P 500 rose 1.17% and Nasdaq gained 0.8%. European markets rose too.

Pfizer and BioNTech shares plunged 4.3% and 16.4% respectively, following the news that Moderna doesn’t need colder temperatures to be preserved.

The tumultuous crisis of COVID-19 is taking a higher toll in the US and Europe, spiking the desperation of the Western countries to have as much of the vaccine as possible.

Moderna is part of the US government’s Operation Warp speed program. The company is expected to produce about 20 million doses for the United States this year. The company said it has already made millions of doses and would ship it if it gets FDA’s approval.

“Assuming we get an emergency use authorization, we’ll be ready to ship through Warp Speed almost in hours so it could start being distributed instantly,” Moderna president Stephen Hoge said.

In Europe, Britain has secured 5 million doses of Moderna according to a statement issued by health minister Matt Hancock on Monday.

“We have today secured an initial agreement for 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine,” he said.

While many countries are yet to indicate interest in the vaccine, economies around the world could heave a sigh of relief as the availability of the vaccine would mean that the most affected businesses, such as the aviation and hospitality would spring back to life.

But there are still unanswered questions and uncertainties about the vaccine. It is not clear how long the vaccine’s protective effects last; whether it can block people from transmitting the virus; or whether the vaccine works as well in higher-risk groups such as older adults. Moderna reported that, of the 95 cases, 15 were in people over 65, but it didn’t say which arm of the trial these participants were in.

However, the percentage of success in the trials offered hope beyond expectation, and started a vehicle of recovery for ravaged economies and the disrupted global supply chain.

China and Russia have already begun to vaccinate, and with the availability of Pfizer, Sputnik and Moderna vaccines, a large part of the world’s population could be covered by mid next year, if less affluent countries are given access to the vaccines.

While concentration lies on the US and Europe, where the pandemic is still much active, other countries with quite a record of high numbers will become a setback to the total elimination of the virus if they don’t have access to vaccines.

With over 55 million infected around the world, global access to vaccine is necessary to contain the spread of the virus.

Moderna has the capacity to produce more than one billion doses, which will serve the 330 million US population with leftovers of over 700 million. Pfizer vaccine’s storage limitation has made it exclusive to countries with temperate weather, which means, Africa is excluded. So far, a combination of Moderna, Russia’s Sputnik which is said to be also over 90% effective offers hope to disadvantaged countries.

While there is hope that many vaccines under trial will be approved in the near future, a global synergy is required for strategic distribution of the available vaccines, especially for dependent countries with enormous populations like Nigeria.