# Evolution towards Smart and Software-Defined Internet of Things  
[PERSON]  
1 School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; 11 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.A.A.); nafaqui.msit18 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.A.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.W.A.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.W.M.); bshabir.dph18 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.S.)  
[PERSON]  
1 School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; 11 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.A.A.); nafaqui.msit18 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.A.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.W.A.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.W.M.); bshabir.dph18 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.S.)  
[PERSON]  
2 Department of Computer Science, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan 23 Pakistan Academy of Sciences, G-  
of technology and use cases, the IoT has undergone a continuous cycle of evolution and upgrade. As a result, we have seen IoT architectures evolve from their traditional state to highly efficient, smart, and software-defined systems with virtualization.  
Mobile and personalized IoT-based healthcare services can be realized by using personal computing devices and mobile internet access [11]. From precision agriculture to food production, processing, storage, distribution, and consumption, IoT in the Food Supply Chain (FSC) can cover the entire farm-to-plate process. Physical objects can be monitored in real-time from origin to destination using IoT in transportation, improving efficiency, reliability, safety, and quality of goods delivered. In the mining field, IoT can help workers avoid accidents. The firefighting organization can detect hazards in real-time and prevent fire incidents by implementing IoT in firefighting scenarios.  
The capacity and capability of traditional architecture and networking techniques to cater to IoT are not promising. Hence, it gave rise to the concepts of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). SDN is a network architecture that separates the control and data planes [12]. The primary objective is to separate and operate the infrastructure layer and the application layer while centralizing control plane functions. By decoupling the control plane from the data plane, SDN performs a vertical partition in the network layer of the IoT architecture, giving the structure the flexibility and adaptability it requires to execute the functions.  
To comprehend the idea of NFV, we must first understand the concept of virtualization. Virtualization, as the term suggests, is the process of creating something logical (and virtual) from a physical source. The goal of virtualization is to separate the hardware from the software. NFV is the rationing of available bandwidth and resources into channels that can be used and allocated independently by creating virtual networks within the same network and architecture as a result of this phenomenon. Virtualization divides the network layer's decoupled controls and data plane horizontally, separating network functions from physical functions.  
Although SDN and NFV have different origins and come from different organizations, the two concepts can be combined to create a stronger, more diverse, and cost-effective architecture capable of handling the ever-increasing burden of IoT.