IoT Systems Development Using Upcycled Mobile Phones: A Survey

The rapid advancement of technology has led to a significant increase in electronic waste, including discarded mobile phones. These old mobile phones can still be valuable resources for creating Internet of Things (IoT) systems through upcycling. In this survey we explore the use of upcycled mobile phones in IoT system development. We look at the sensors present on most mobile phones and their usage. These sensors are inbuilt, integrated, and ready for use. Using these saves efforts as compared to any system development from scratch, which involves procuring, assembling, and testing a bunch of sensors in isolation and together. We look at some efforts to create an operating system-based environment to aid application development on upcycled mobile phones. We look at some projects using mobile phone sensors and some of the applications developed as part of these efforts. We consider some successful deployments and look at these efforts' benefits. One benefit that arises is the possibility of crowd-sourcing-based data gathering using upcycled mobile phones. This is possible because of the availability of mobile phones with many participants. We look at use cases for the IoT systems using mobile phones in important fields like healthcare and agriculture. We examine the benefits, challenges, and potential avenues for future research on upcycled mobile phone use cases.