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The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2017) | Viewed by 213357

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yuh-Shyan Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taipei University, No. 151, University Rd., San Shia District, New Taipei City 23741, Taiwan
Interests: wireless sensor networks; fog computing for sensors; software-defined sensors; sensors with 5G/6G; Internet of Things
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Chih-Yung Chang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Tamkang University, Taipei 251, Taiwan
Interests: internet of things; home care technologies; wireless sensor networks and big data analytics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Tzung-Shi Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National University of Tainan, Tainan 700, Taiwan
Interests: mobile computing; wireless networks; internet of things
Prof. Dr. Victor C.M. Leung

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
Interests: blockchain systems; telecommunication networks information systems personal communications networking cloud and edge computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Sherali Zeadally

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Communication and Information, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0224, USA
Interests: cybersecurity; privacy; Internet of Things; computer networks (including vehicular networks)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart cities are regarded as systems to promote people’s quality of life by using advanced information and communication technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents' needs in urban environments. IoT can be used to enhance quality, efficiency, and interactivity of urban services, as well as to reduce resource consumption and cost. Nowadays, telecommunication companies, IoT companies, research institutions, and universities are to deploy IoT systems across all dimensions of urban services such as smart grid, smart buildings, smart utility, healthcare, environmental monitoring, smart transportation, smart industries, etc. IoT plays an important role in developing advanced techniques and implementing intelligent systems for smart cities.

This Special Issue aims to address the architectures, systems, and applications of IoT for smart cities. It solicits the state-of-the-art theoretical, as well as practical works on a broad range of issues important on IoT for smart cities for researches, developers, and practitioners from both academia and industry.

Topics of primary interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Architecture design of IoT for smart cites

  • System design of IoT for smart cites

  • Applications of IoT for smart cites

  • Sensing technologies in IoT for smart cities

  • Embedded systems, computing, and networking technology in IoT for smart cities

  • Artificial intelligence, advanced human to machine interaction, machine to machine technologies in smart cites

  • Citizen-centric IoT for smart cities

  • Data collection, fusion and processing technology, and monitoring system design in smart cities

  • Information and communication techniques of IoT for smart cities

  • Smart grid for smart cities

  • Smart transportation and vehicles for smart cities

  • Intelligent control, signal processing technology in IoT for smart cities

  • Energy management and energy efficiency for IoT in smart cities

  • Information security technology and privacy in IoT for smart cities

  • Reliability, self-organization, self-healing, hybrid communication network in IoT for smart cities

  • Wireless rechargeable sensor networks and wireless energy transfer for smart cities

  • Fog computing for smart cities

  • Big data analysis and cloud computing of IoT for smart cities

  • IoT testbed and experiment experiences in smart cities

Prof. Dr. Yuh-Shyan Chen
Prof. Dr. Chih-Yung Chang
Prof. Dr. Tzung-Shi Chen
Prof. Dr. Victor C.M. Leung
Prof. Dr. Sherali Zeadally
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Architecture of IoT

  • System of IoT

  • Applications of IoT

  • Wireless sensor networks

  • Wireless rechargeable sensor networks

  • Security

Published Papers (22 papers)

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32 pages, 11144 KiB  
Article
An Enhanced LoRaWAN Security Protocol for Privacy Preservation in IoT with a Case Study on a Smart Factory-Enabled Parking System
by Ilsun You, Soonhyun Kwon, Gaurav Choudhary, Vishal Sharma and Jung Taek Seo
Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1888; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061888 - 08 Jun 2018
Cited by 55 | Viewed by 9116
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) utilizes algorithms to facilitate intelligent applications across cities in the form of smart-urban projects. As the majority of devices in IoT are battery operated, their applications should be facilitated with a low-power communication setup. Such facility is possible [...] Read more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) utilizes algorithms to facilitate intelligent applications across cities in the form of smart-urban projects. As the majority of devices in IoT are battery operated, their applications should be facilitated with a low-power communication setup. Such facility is possible through the Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN), but at a constrained bit rate. For long-range communication over LPWAN, several approaches and protocols are adopted. One such protocol is the Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), which is a media access layer protocol for long-range communication between the devices and the application servers via LPWAN gateways. However, LoRaWAN comes with fewer security features as a much-secured protocol consumes more battery because of the exorbitant computational overheads. The standard protocol fails to support end-to-end security and perfect forward secrecy while being vulnerable to the replay attack that makes LoRaWAN limited in supporting applications where security (especially end-to-end security) is important. Motivated by this, an enhanced LoRaWAN security protocol is proposed, which not only provides the basic functions of connectivity between the application server and the end device, but additionally averts these listed security issues. The proposed protocol is developed with two options, the Default Option (DO) and the Security-Enhanced Option (SEO). The protocol is validated through Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic and the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) tool. The proposed protocol is also analyzed for overheads through system-based and low-power device-based evaluations. Further, a case study on a smart factory-enabled parking system is considered for its practical application. The results, in terms of network latency with reliability fitting and signaling overheads, show paramount improvements and better performance for the proposed protocol compared with the two handshake options, Pre-Shared Key (PSK) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), of Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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17 pages, 5691 KiB  
Article
Smart City Pilot Projects Using LoRa and IEEE802.15.4 Technologies
by Gianni Pasolini, Chiara Buratti, Luca Feltrin, Flavio Zabini, Cristina De Castro, Roberto Verdone and Oreste Andrisano
Sensors 2018, 18(4), 1118; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041118 - 06 Apr 2018
Cited by 135 | Viewed by 12338
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), through wireless communications and the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, are the enabling keys for transforming traditional cities into smart cities, since they provide the core infrastructure behind public utilities and services. However, to be effective, IoT-based services [...] Read more.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), through wireless communications and the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, are the enabling keys for transforming traditional cities into smart cities, since they provide the core infrastructure behind public utilities and services. However, to be effective, IoT-based services could require different technologies and network topologies, even when addressing the same urban scenario. In this paper, we highlight this aspect and present two smart city testbeds developed in Italy. The first one concerns a smart infrastructure for public lighting and relies on a heterogeneous network using the IEEE 802.15.4 short-range communication technology, whereas the second one addresses smart-building applications and is based on the LoRa low-rate, long-range communication technology. The smart lighting scenario is discussed providing the technical details and the economic benefits of a large-scale (around 3000 light poles) flexible and modular implementation of a public lighting infrastructure, while the smart-building testbed is investigated, through measurement campaigns and simulations, assessing the coverage and the performance of the LoRa technology in a real urban scenario. Results show that a proper parameter setting is needed to cover large urban areas while maintaining the airtime sufficiently low to keep packet losses at satisfactory levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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30 pages, 2828 KiB  
Article
TwitterSensing: An Event-Based Approach for Wireless Sensor Networks Optimization Exploiting Social Media in Smart City Applications
by Daniel G. Costa, Cristian Duran-Faundez, Daniel C. Andrade, João B. Rocha-Junior and João Paulo Just Peixoto
Sensors 2018, 18(4), 1080; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041080 - 03 Apr 2018
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 8272
Abstract
Modern cities are subject to periodic or unexpected critical events, which may bring economic losses or even put people in danger. When some monitoring systems based on wireless sensor networks are deployed, sensing and transmission configurations of sensor nodes may be adjusted exploiting [...] Read more.
Modern cities are subject to periodic or unexpected critical events, which may bring economic losses or even put people in danger. When some monitoring systems based on wireless sensor networks are deployed, sensing and transmission configurations of sensor nodes may be adjusted exploiting the relevance of the considered events, but efficient detection and classification of events of interest may be hard to achieve. In Smart City environments, several people spontaneously post information in social media about some event that is being observed and such information may be mined and processed for detection and classification of critical events. This article proposes an integrated approach to detect and classify events of interest posted in social media, notably in Twitter, and the assignment of sensing priorities to source nodes. By doing so, wireless sensor networks deployed in Smart City scenarios can be optimized for higher efficiency when monitoring areas under the influence of the detected events. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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19 pages, 6740 KiB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of LoRa Considering Scenario Conditions
by Ramon Sanchez-Iborra, Jesus Sanchez-Gomez, Juan Ballesta-Viñas, Maria-Dolores Cano and Antonio F. Skarmeta
Sensors 2018, 18(3), 772; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18030772 - 03 Mar 2018
Cited by 213 | Viewed by 14828
Abstract
New verticals within the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm such as smart cities, smart farming, or goods monitoring, among many others, are demanding strong requirements to the Radio Access Network (RAN) in terms of coverage, end-node’s power consumption, and scalability. The technologies employed [...] Read more.
New verticals within the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm such as smart cities, smart farming, or goods monitoring, among many others, are demanding strong requirements to the Radio Access Network (RAN) in terms of coverage, end-node’s power consumption, and scalability. The technologies employed so far to provide IoT scenarios with connectivity, e.g., wireless sensor network and cellular technologies, are not able to simultaneously cope with these three requirements. Thus, a novel solution known as Low Power - Wide Area Network (LP-WAN) has emerged as a promising alternative to provide with low-cost and low-power-consumption connectivity to end-nodes spread in a wide area. Concretely, the Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology is one of the LP-WAN platforms that is receiving greater attention from both the industry and the academia. For that reason, in this work, a comprehensive performance evaluation of LoRaWAN under different environmental conditions is presented. The results are obtained from three real scenarios, namely, urban, suburban, and rural, considering both dynamic and static conditions, hence a discussion about the most proper LoRaWAN physical-layer configuration for each scenario is provided. Besides, a theoretical coverage study is also conducted by the use of a radio planning tool considering topographic maps and a precise propagation model. From the attained results, it can be concluded that it is necessary to evaluate the propagation conditions of the deployment scenario prior to the system implantation in order to reach a compromise between the robustness of the network and the transmission data-rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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28 pages, 1132 KiB  
Article
Towards an Iterated Game Model with Multiple Adversaries in Smart-World Systems
by Xiaofei He, Xinyu Yang, Wei Yu, Jie Lin and Qingyu Yang
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 674; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020674 - 24 Feb 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4009
Abstract
Diverse and varied cyber-attacks challenge the operation of the smart-world system that is supported by Internet-of-Things (IoT) (smart cities, smart grid, smart transportation, etc.) and must be carefully and thoughtfully addressed before widespread adoption of the smart-world system can be fully realized. Although [...] Read more.
Diverse and varied cyber-attacks challenge the operation of the smart-world system that is supported by Internet-of-Things (IoT) (smart cities, smart grid, smart transportation, etc.) and must be carefully and thoughtfully addressed before widespread adoption of the smart-world system can be fully realized. Although a number of research efforts have been devoted to defending against these threats, a majority of existing schemes focus on the development of a specific defensive strategy to deal with specific, often singular threats. In this paper, we address the issue of coalitional attacks, which can be launched by multiple adversaries cooperatively against the smart-world system such as smart cities. Particularly, we propose a game-theory based model to capture the interaction among multiple adversaries, and quantify the capacity of the defender based on the extended Iterated Public Goods Game (IPGG) model. In the formalized game model, in each round of the attack, a participant can either cooperate by participating in the coalitional attack, or defect by standing aside. In our work, we consider the generic defensive strategy that has a probability to detect the coalitional attack. When the coalitional attack is detected, all participating adversaries are penalized. The expected payoff of each participant is derived through the equalizer strategy that provides participants with competitive benefits. The multiple adversaries with the collusive strategy are also considered. Via a combination of theoretical analysis and experimentation, our results show that no matter which strategies the adversaries choose (random strategy, win-stay-lose-shift strategy, or even the adaptive equalizer strategy), our formalized game model is capable of enabling the defender to greatly reduce the maximum value of the expected average payoff to the adversaries via provisioning sufficient defensive resources, which is reflected by setting a proper penalty factor against the adversaries. In addition, we extend our game model and analyze the extortion strategy, which can enable one participant to obtain more payoff by extorting his/her opponents. The evaluation results show that the defender can combat this strategy by encouraging competition among the adversaries, and significantly suppress the total payoff of the adversaries via setting the proper penalty factor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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22 pages, 2367 KiB  
Article
A Dynamic Approach to Rebalancing Bike-Sharing Systems
by Federico Chiariotti, Chiara Pielli, Andrea Zanella and Michele Zorzi
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020512 - 08 Feb 2018
Cited by 94 | Viewed by 8215
Abstract
Bike-sharing services are flourishing in Smart Cities worldwide. They provide a low-cost and environment-friendly transportation alternative and help reduce traffic congestion. However, these new services are still under development, and several challenges need to be solved. A major problem is the management of [...] Read more.
Bike-sharing services are flourishing in Smart Cities worldwide. They provide a low-cost and environment-friendly transportation alternative and help reduce traffic congestion. However, these new services are still under development, and several challenges need to be solved. A major problem is the management of rebalancing trucks in order to ensure that bikes and stalls in the docking stations are always available when needed, despite the fluctuations in the service demand. In this work, we propose a dynamic rebalancing strategy that exploits historical data to predict the network conditions and promptly act in case of necessity. We use Birth-Death Processes to model the stations’ occupancy and decide when to redistribute bikes, and graph theory to select the rebalancing path and the stations involved. We validate the proposed framework on the data provided by New York City’s bike-sharing system. The numerical simulations show that a dynamic strategy able to adapt to the fluctuating nature of the network outperforms rebalancing schemes based on a static schedule. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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26 pages, 6214 KiB  
Article
A Mobility Management Using Follow-Me Cloud-Cloudlet in Fog-Computing-Based RANs for Smart Cities
by Yuh-Shyan Chen and Yi-Ting Tsai
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 489; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020489 - 06 Feb 2018
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5823
Abstract
Mobility management for supporting the location tracking and location-based service (LBS) is an important issue of smart city by providing the means for the smooth transportation of people and goods. The mobility is useful to contribute the innovation in both public and private [...] Read more.
Mobility management for supporting the location tracking and location-based service (LBS) is an important issue of smart city by providing the means for the smooth transportation of people and goods. The mobility is useful to contribute the innovation in both public and private transportation infrastructures for smart cities. With the assistance of edge/fog computing, this paper presents a fully new mobility management using the proposed follow-me cloud-cloudlet (FMCL) approach in fog-computing-based radio access networks (Fog-RANs) for smart cities. The proposed follow-me cloud-cloudlet approach is an integration strategy of follow-me cloud (FMC) and follow-me edge (FME) (or called cloudlet). A user equipment (UE) receives the data, transmitted from original cloud, into the original edge cloud before the handover operation. After the handover operation, an UE searches for a new cloud, called as a migrated cloud, and a new edge cloud, called as a migrated edge cloud near to UE, where the remaining data is migrated from the original cloud to the migrated cloud and all the remaining data are received in the new edge cloud. Existing FMC results do not have the property of the VM migration between cloudlets for the purpose of reducing the transmission latency, and existing FME results do not keep the property of the service migration between data centers for reducing the transmission latency. Our proposed FMCL approach can simultaneously keep the VM migration between cloudlets and service migration between data centers to significantly reduce the transmission latency. The new proposed mobility management using FMCL approach aims to reduce the total transmission time if some data packets are pre-scheduled and pre-stored into the cache of cloudlet if UE is switching from the previous Fog-RAN to the serving Fog-RAN. To illustrate the performance achievement, the mathematical analysis and simulation results are examined in terms of the total transmission time, the throughput, the probability of packet loss, and the number of control messages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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21 pages, 3450 KiB  
Article
Design and Implementation of Cloud-Centric Configuration Repository for DIY IoT Applications
by Shabir Ahmad, Lei Hang and Do Hyeun Kim
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020474 - 06 Feb 2018
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 6603
Abstract
The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) vision for the design of a smart and customizable IoT application demands the involvement of the general public in its development process. The general public lacks the technical knowledge for programming state-of-the-art prototyping and development kits. The latest IoT kits, [...] Read more.
The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) vision for the design of a smart and customizable IoT application demands the involvement of the general public in its development process. The general public lacks the technical knowledge for programming state-of-the-art prototyping and development kits. The latest IoT kits, for example, Raspberry Pi, are revolutionizing the DIY paradigm for IoT, and more than ever, a DIY intuitive programming interface is required to enable the masses to interact with and customize the behavior of remote IoT devices on the Internet. However, in most cases, these DIY toolkits store the resultant configuration data in local storage and, thus, cannot be accessed remotely. This paper presents the novel implementation of such a system, which not only enables the general public to customize the behavior of remote IoT devices through a visual interface, but also makes the configuration available everywhere and anytime by leveraging the power of cloud-based platforms. The interface enables the visualization of the resources exposed by remote embedded resources in the form of graphical virtual objects (VOs). These VOs are used to create the service design through simple operations like drag-and-drop and the setting of properties. The configuration created as a result is maintained as an XML document, which is ingested by the cloud platform, thus making it available to be used anywhere. We use the HTTP approach for the communication between the cloud and IoT toolbox and the cloud and real devices, but for communication between the toolbox and actual resources, CoAP is used. Finally, a smart home case study has been implemented and presented in order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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18 pages, 3874 KiB  
Article
A Total Bounded Variation Approach to Low Visibility Estimation on Expressways
by Xiaogang Cheng, Bin Yang, Guoqing Liu, Thomas Olofsson and Haibo Li
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 392; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020392 - 29 Jan 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4022
Abstract
Low visibility on expressways caused by heavy fog and haze is a main reason for traffic accidents. Real-time estimation of atmospheric visibility is an effective way to reduce traffic accident rates. With the development of computer technology, estimating atmospheric visibility via computer vision [...] Read more.
Low visibility on expressways caused by heavy fog and haze is a main reason for traffic accidents. Real-time estimation of atmospheric visibility is an effective way to reduce traffic accident rates. With the development of computer technology, estimating atmospheric visibility via computer vision becomes a research focus. However, the estimation accuracy should be enhanced since fog and haze are complex and time-varying. In this paper, a total bounded variation (TBV) approach to estimate low visibility (less than 300 m) is introduced. Surveillance images of fog and haze are processed as blurred images (pseudo-blurred images), while the surveillance images at selected road points on sunny days are handled as clear images, when considering fog and haze as noise superimposed on the clear images. By combining image spectrum and TBV, the features of foggy and hazy images can be extracted. The extraction results are compared with features of images on sunny days. Firstly, the low visibility surveillance images can be filtered out according to spectrum features of foggy and hazy images. For foggy and hazy images with visibility less than 300 m, the high-frequency coefficient ratio of Fourier (discrete cosine) transform is less than 20%, while the low-frequency coefficient ratio is between 100% and 120%. Secondly, the relationship between TBV and real visibility is established based on machine learning and piecewise stationary time series analysis. The established piecewise function can be used for visibility estimation. Finally, the visibility estimation approach proposed is validated based on real surveillance video data. The validation results are compared with the results of image contrast model. Besides, the big video data are collected from the Tongqi expressway, Jiangsu, China. A total of 1,782,000 frames were used and the relative errors of the approach proposed are less than 10%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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14 pages, 2737 KiB  
Article
Replication Strategy for Spatiotemporal Data Based on Distributed Caching System
by Lian Xiong, Liu Yang, Yang Tao, Juan Xu and Lun Zhao
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 222; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18010222 - 14 Jan 2018
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3864
Abstract
The replica strategy in distributed cache can effectively reduce user access delay and improve system performance. However, developing a replica strategy suitable for varied application scenarios is still quite challenging, owing to differences in user access behavior and preferences. In this paper, a [...] Read more.
The replica strategy in distributed cache can effectively reduce user access delay and improve system performance. However, developing a replica strategy suitable for varied application scenarios is still quite challenging, owing to differences in user access behavior and preferences. In this paper, a replication strategy for spatiotemporal data (RSSD) based on a distributed caching system is proposed. By taking advantage of the spatiotemporal locality and correlation of user access, RSSD mines high popularity and associated files from historical user access information, and then generates replicas and selects appropriate cache node for placement. Experimental results show that the RSSD algorithm is simple and efficient, and succeeds in significantly reducing user access delay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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2871 KiB  
Article
Performance Analysis of a Novel Hybrid S-ALOHA/TDMA Protocol for Beta Distributed Massive MTC Access
by Nannan Sui, Youyun Xu, Cong Wang and Wei Xie
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2875; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122875 - 15 Dec 2017
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4239
Abstract
Simultaneous random access of massive machine type communications (MTC) devices are expected to cause congestion in the radio access network. Not only the performance of MTC, but the coexisting human to human (H2H) communications would also degrade dramatically without an appropriate medium access [...] Read more.
Simultaneous random access of massive machine type communications (MTC) devices are expected to cause congestion in the radio access network. Not only the performance of MTC, but the coexisting human to human (H2H) communications would also degrade dramatically without an appropriate medium access control (MAC) protocol. However, most existing solutions focus on the random access procedure without dealing with the sunsequent data transmission procedure. In this paper, we firstly derive a packet size threshold based on the capacity analysis of slotted ALOHA (S-ALOHA) and time division multiple access (TDMA) protocols. Then a novel hybrid S-ALOHA/TDMA MAC protocol (HSTMAC) is presented for massive MTC access, in which the resources are separated for beta distributed machine to machine (M2M) traffic with small size packets and high priority H2H traffic with large size packets. Considering access class barring (ACB) scheme as an overload control method, the system equilibrium under arbitrary retransmission limit is analyzed rigorously, which can provide insights on quality of service (QoS) guarantee. Finally, a dynamic pre-backoff (DPBO) algorithm is designed for load balance by adaptively scattering the highly synchronized M2M traffic over the transmission interval. Numerical and simulation results validate our analysis and show that the HSTMAC protocol is superior to pure S-ALOHA protocol and pure TDMA protocol. The proposed DPBO algorithm can achieve a higher success probability and resource utilization ratio with a much reduced average delay than that of uniform pre-backoff (UPBO) scheme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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546 KiB  
Article
A Game-Theory Based Incentive Framework for an Intelligent Traffic System as Part of a Smart City Initiative
by Haibo Mei, Stefan Poslad and Shuang Du
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2874; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122874 - 11 Dec 2017
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6301
Abstract
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) can be applied to inform and incentivize travellers to help them make cognizant choices concerning their trip routes and transport modality use for their daily travel whilst achieving more sustainable societal and transport authority goals. However, in practice, it [...] Read more.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) can be applied to inform and incentivize travellers to help them make cognizant choices concerning their trip routes and transport modality use for their daily travel whilst achieving more sustainable societal and transport authority goals. However, in practice, it is challenging for an ITS to enable incentive generation that is context-driven and personalized, whilst supporting multi-dimensional travel goals. This is because an ITS has to address the situation where different travellers have different travel preferences and constraints for route and modality, in the face of dynamically-varying traffic conditions. Furthermore, personalized incentive generation also needs to dynamically achieve different travel goals from multiple travellers, in the face of their conducts being a mix of both competitive and cooperative behaviours. To address this challenge, a Rule-based Incentive Framework (RIF) is proposed in this paper that utilizes both decision tree and evolutionary game theory to process travel information and intelligently generate personalized incentives for travellers. The travel information processed includes travellers’ mobile patterns, travellers’ modality preferences and route traffic volume information. A series of MATLAB simulations of RIF was undertaken to validate RIF to show that it is potentially an effective way to incentivize travellers to change travel routes and modalities as an essential smart city service. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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5539 KiB  
Article
Open IoT Ecosystem for Enhanced Interoperability in Smart Cities—Example of Métropole De Lyon
by Jérémy Robert, Sylvain Kubler, Niklas Kolbe, Alessandro Cerioni, Emmanuel Gastaud and Kary Främling
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2849; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122849 - 08 Dec 2017
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 11321
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has promised a future where everything gets connected. Unfortunately, building a single global ecosystem of Things that communicate with each other seamlessly is virtually impossible today. The reason is that the IoT is essentially a collection of isolated [...] Read more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has promised a future where everything gets connected. Unfortunately, building a single global ecosystem of Things that communicate with each other seamlessly is virtually impossible today. The reason is that the IoT is essentially a collection of isolated “Intranets of Things”, also referred to as “vertical silos”, which cannot easily and efficiently interact with each other. Smart cities are perhaps the most striking examples of this problem since they comprise a wide range of stakeholders and service providers who must work together, including urban planners, financial organisations, public and private service providers, telecommunication providers, industries, citizens, and so forth. Within this context, the contribution of this paper is threefold: (i) discuss business and technological implications as well as challenges of creating successful open innovation ecosystems, (ii) present the technological building blocks underlying an IoT ecosystem developed in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, (iii) present a smart city pilot (Heat Wave Mitigation in Métropole de Lyon) for which the proposed ecosystem significantly contributes to improving interoperability between a number of system components, and reducing regulatory barriers for joint service co-creation practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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2955 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Spectrum Access for Internet of Things Service in Cognitive Radio-Enabled LPWANs
by Bongkyo Moon
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2818; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122818 - 05 Dec 2017
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 6870
Abstract
In this paper, we focus on a dynamic spectrum access strategy for Internet of Things (IoT) applications in two types of radio systems: cellular networks and cognitive radio-enabled low power wide area networks (CR-LPWANs). The spectrum channel contention between the licensed cellular networks [...] Read more.
In this paper, we focus on a dynamic spectrum access strategy for Internet of Things (IoT) applications in two types of radio systems: cellular networks and cognitive radio-enabled low power wide area networks (CR-LPWANs). The spectrum channel contention between the licensed cellular networks and the unlicensed CR-LPWANs, which work with them, only takes place within the cellular radio spectrum range. Our aim is to maximize the spectrum capacity for the unlicensed users while ensuring that it never interferes with the licensed network. Therefore, in this paper we propose a dynamic spectrum access strategy for CR-LPWANs operating in both licensed and unlicensed bands. The simulation and the numerical analysis by using a matrix geometric approach for the strategy are presented. Finally, we obtain the blocking probability of the licensed users, the mean dwell time of the unlicensed user, and the total carried traffic and combined service quality for the licensed and unlicensed users. The results show that the proposed strategy can maximize the spectrum capacity for the unlicensed users using IoT applications as well as keep the service quality of the licensed users independent of them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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1470 KiB  
Article
Energy Management in Smart Cities Based on Internet of Things: Peak Demand Reduction and Energy Savings
by Chinmaya Mahapatra, Akshaya Kumar Moharana and Victor C. M. Leung
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2812; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122812 - 05 Dec 2017
Cited by 97 | Viewed by 7892
Abstract
Around the globe, innovation with integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) with physical infrastructure is a top priority for governments in pursuing smart, green living to improve energy efficiency, protect the environment, improve the quality of life, and bolster economy competitiveness. Cities today [...] Read more.
Around the globe, innovation with integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) with physical infrastructure is a top priority for governments in pursuing smart, green living to improve energy efficiency, protect the environment, improve the quality of life, and bolster economy competitiveness. Cities today faces multifarious challenges, among which energy efficiency of homes and residential dwellings is a key requirement. Achieving it successfully with the help of intelligent sensors and contextual systems would help build smart cities of the future. In a Smart home environment Home Energy Management plays a critical role in finding a suitable and reliable solution to curtail the peak demand and achieve energy conservation. In this paper, a new method named as Home Energy Management as a Service (HEMaaS) is proposed which is based on neural network based Q-learning algorithm. Although several attempts have been made in the past to address similar problems, the models developed do not cater to maximize the user convenience and robustness of the system. In this paper, authors have proposed an advanced Neural Fitted Q-learning method which is self-learning and adaptive. The proposed method provides an agile, flexible and energy efficient decision making system for home energy management. A typical Canadian residential dwelling model has been used in this paper to test the proposed method. Based on analysis, it was found that the proposed method offers a fast and viable solution to reduce the demand and conserve energy during peak period. It also helps reducing the carbon footprint of residential dwellings. Once adopted, city blocks with significant residential dwellings can significantly reduce the total energy consumption by reducing or shifting their energy demand during peak period. This would definitely help local power distribution companies to optimize their resources and keep the tariff low due to curtailment of peak demand. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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1259 KiB  
Article
Economic Feasibility of Wireless Sensor Network-Based Service Provision in a Duopoly Setting with a Monopolist Operator
by Angel Sanchis-Cano, Julián Romero, Erwin J. Sacoto-Cabrera and Luis Guijarro
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2727; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122727 - 25 Nov 2017
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5387
Abstract
We analyze the feasibility of providing Wireless Sensor Network-data-based services in an Internet of Things scenario from an economical point of view. The scenario has two competing service providers with their own private sensor networks, a network operator and final users. The scenario [...] Read more.
We analyze the feasibility of providing Wireless Sensor Network-data-based services in an Internet of Things scenario from an economical point of view. The scenario has two competing service providers with their own private sensor networks, a network operator and final users. The scenario is analyzed as two games using game theory. In the first game, sensors decide to subscribe or not to the network operator to upload the collected sensing-data, based on a utility function related to the mean service time and the price charged by the operator. In the second game, users decide to subscribe or not to the sensor-data-based service of the service providers based on a Logit discrete choice model related to the quality of the data collected and the subscription price. The sinks and users subscription stages are analyzed using population games and discrete choice models, while network operator and service providers pricing stages are analyzed using optimization and Nash equilibrium concepts respectively. The model is shown feasible from an economic point of view for all the actors if there are enough interested final users and opens the possibility of developing more efficient models with different types of services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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13952 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive System for Monitoring Urban Accessibility in Smart Cities
by Higinio Mora, Virgilio Gilart-Iglesias, Raquel Pérez-del Hoyo and María Dolores Andújar-Montoya
Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1834; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17081834 - 09 Aug 2017
Cited by 72 | Viewed by 8470
Abstract
The present work discusses the possibilities offered by the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies with the aim of designing a system to dynamically obtain knowledge of accessibility issues in urban environments. This system is facilitated by technology to analyse the urban user [...] Read more.
The present work discusses the possibilities offered by the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies with the aim of designing a system to dynamically obtain knowledge of accessibility issues in urban environments. This system is facilitated by technology to analyse the urban user experience and movement accessibility, which enabling accurate identification of urban barriers and monitoring its effectiveness over time. Therefore, the main purpose of the system is to meet the real needs and requirements of people with movement disabilities. The information obtained can be provided as a support service for decision-making to be used by city government, institutions, researchers, professionals and other individuals of society in general to improve the liveability and quality of the lives of citizens. The proposed system is a means of social awareness that makes the most vulnerable groups of citizens visible by involving them as active participants. To perform and implement the system, the latest communication and positioning technologies for smart sensing have been used, as well as the cloud computing paradigm. Finally, to validate the proposal, a case study has been presented using the university environment as a pre-deployment step in urban environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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2111 KiB  
Article
Experimental Characterization of Close-Emitter Interference in an Optical Camera Communication System
by Patricia Chavez-Burbano, Victor Guerra, Jose Rabadan, Dionisio Rodríguez-Esparragón and Rafael Perez-Jimenez
Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1561; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071561 - 04 Jul 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5335
Abstract
Due to the massive insertion of embedded cameras in a wide variety of devices and the generalized use of LED lamps, Optical Camera Communication (OCC) has been proposed as a practical solution for future Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities applications. Influence [...] Read more.
Due to the massive insertion of embedded cameras in a wide variety of devices and the generalized use of LED lamps, Optical Camera Communication (OCC) has been proposed as a practical solution for future Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities applications. Influence of mobility, weather conditions, solar radiation interference, and external light sources over Visible Light Communication (VLC) schemes have been addressed in previous works. Some authors have studied the spatial intersymbol interference from close emitters within an OCC system; however, it has not been characterized or measured in function of the different transmitted wavelengths. In this work, this interference has been experimentally characterized and the Normalized Power Signal to Interference Ratio (NPSIR) for easily determining the interference in other implementations, independently of the selected system devices, has been also proposed. A set of experiments in a darkroom, working with RGB multi-LED transmitters and a general purpose camera, were performed in order to obtain the NPSIR values and to validate the deduced equations for 2D pixel representation of real distances. These parameters were used in the simulation of a wireless sensor network scenario in a small office, where the Bit Error Rate (BER) of the communication link was calculated. The experiments show that the interference of other close emitters in terms of the distance and the used wavelength can be easily determined with the NPSIR. Finally, the simulation validates the applicability of the deduced equations for scaling the initial results into real scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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2624 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Resource Allocation and Access Class Barring Scheme for Delay-Sensitive Devices in Machine to Machine (M2M) Communications
by Ning Li, Chao Cao and Cong Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(6), 1407; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17061407 - 15 Jun 2017
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 4681
Abstract
Supporting simultaneous access of machine-type devices is a critical challenge in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. In this paper, we propose an optimal scheme to dynamically adjust the Access Class Barring (ACB) factor and the number of random access channel (RACH) resources for clustered machine-to-machine [...] Read more.
Supporting simultaneous access of machine-type devices is a critical challenge in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. In this paper, we propose an optimal scheme to dynamically adjust the Access Class Barring (ACB) factor and the number of random access channel (RACH) resources for clustered machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, in which Delay-Sensitive (DS) devices coexist with Delay-Tolerant (DT) ones. In M2M communications, since delay-sensitive devices share random access resources with delay-tolerant devices, reducing the resources consumed by delay-sensitive devices means that there will be more resources available to delay-tolerant ones. Our goal is to optimize the random access scheme, which can not only satisfy the requirements of delay-sensitive devices, but also take the communication quality of delay-tolerant ones into consideration. We discuss this problem from the perspective of delay-sensitive services by adjusting the resource allocation and ACB scheme for these devices dynamically. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme realizes good performance in satisfying the delay-sensitive services as well as increasing the utilization rate of the random access resources allocated to them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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5705 KiB  
Article
Belief Interval of Dempster-Shafer Theory for Line-of-Sight Identification in Indoor Positioning Applications
by Jinwu Wu, Tingyu Zhao, Shang Li and Chung-Ming Own
Sensors 2017, 17(6), 1242; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17061242 - 30 May 2017
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4230
Abstract
Location data are among the most widely used contextual data in context-aware and ubiquitous computing applications. Numerous systems with distinct deployment costs and levels of positioning accuracy have been developed over the past decade for indoor positioning purposes. The most useful method focuses [...] Read more.
Location data are among the most widely used contextual data in context-aware and ubiquitous computing applications. Numerous systems with distinct deployment costs and levels of positioning accuracy have been developed over the past decade for indoor positioning purposes. The most useful method focuses on the received signal strength (RSS) and provides a set of signal transmission access points. Furthermore, most positioning systems are based on non-line-of-sight (NLOS) rather than line-of-sight (LOS) conditions, and this cause ranging errors for location predictions. Hence, manually compiling a fingerprint database measuring RSS involves high costs and is thus impractical in online prediction environments. In our proposed method, a comparison method is derived on the basis of belief intervals, as proposed in Dempster-Shafer theory, and the signal features are characterized on the LOS and NLOS conditions for different field experiments. The system performance levels were examined with different features and under different environments through robust testing and by using several widely used machine learning methods. The results showed that the proposed method can not only retain positioning accuracy but also save computation time in location predictions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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1163 KiB  
Article
Attack Classification Schema for Smart City WSNs
by Victor Garcia-Font, Carles Garrigues and Helena Rifà-Pous
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 771; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040771 - 05 Apr 2017
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 7023
Abstract
Urban areas around the world are populating their streets with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in order to feed incipient smart city IT systems with metropolitan data. In the future smart cities, WSN technology will have a massive presence in the streets, and the [...] Read more.
Urban areas around the world are populating their streets with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in order to feed incipient smart city IT systems with metropolitan data. In the future smart cities, WSN technology will have a massive presence in the streets, and the operation of municipal services will be based to a great extent on data gathered with this technology. However, from an information security point of view, WSNs can have failures and can be the target of many different types of attacks. Therefore, this raises concerns about the reliability of this technology in a smart city context. Traditionally, security measures in WSNs have been proposed to protect specific protocols in an environment with total control of a single network. This approach is not valid for smart cities, as multiple external providers deploy a plethora of WSNs with different security requirements. Hence, a new security perspective needs to be adopted to protect WSNs in smart cities. Considering security issues related to the deployment of WSNs as a main data source in smart cities, in this article, we propose an intrusion detection framework and an attack classification schema to assist smart city administrators to delimit the most plausible attacks and to point out the components and providers affected by incidents. We demonstrate the use of the classification schema providing a proof of concept based on a simulated selective forwarding attack affecting a parking and a sound WSN. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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Review

Jump to: Research

24 pages, 29183 KiB  
Review
Sensor Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems
by Juan Guerrero-Ibáñez, Sherali Zeadally and Juan Contreras-Castillo
Sensors 2018, 18(4), 1212; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041212 - 16 Apr 2018
Cited by 394 | Viewed by 62920
Abstract
Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas [...] Read more.
Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the transportation infrastructure to achieve a sustainable Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and how safety, traffic control and infotainment applications can benefit from multiple sensors deployed in different elements of an ITS. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed to enable a fully operational and cooperative ITS environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Architectures, Systems, and Applications of Internet of Things for Smart Cities)
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