The concept of IoT enabled Smart City

Currently, cities consume 75% of the world’s resources and energy and generate 80% of greenhouse gases, occupying only 2% of the world’s territory.

According to the United Nations, by 2050 almost 67% of worlds' population will be living in urban areas. This increase in the rate of urbanization brings challenges like urban mobilization, waste management, clean water access, climate adaptation, energy and sustainability. Given the scenario of the rapid urban transition demands for efficient energy systems, smart infrastructure and sustainable resources and to meet these demands there is a need to replace the current operating model of cities with more reliable and smart model which could cater the increasing demand of efficiency and resources. 

Smart City

A useful definition to start to call a city "smart" is when "investments in human and social capital and traditional (transportation) and modern (ICT) infrastructure fuel sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory government" - Caragliu, 2009.

A city that utilizes IoT sensors, actuators and other forms of Information and Communication technologies by transmitting data across different components and layers of city can be defined as smart city. The concept of smart city is about the connection of all layers of city ranging from air, to material things as well as residents of the city.  Therefore the term Smart city has broad range of definitions and is open to many interpretations. In literature the term smart city is used to specify a city's ability to respond as promptly and efficiently as possible to the needs of citizens.

According to Esmeralda Swart, head of strategy and marketing of the Software Business unit at Ericsson, "It's when you can derive data from everything that is connected and utilize it to improve the lives of citizens and improve communication between citizens and the government that a city becomes a smart city".

With the right knowledge, expertise and experience any city regardless of its size can be transformed to smart city or society offering new affordable, smart and connected solutions to its citizens for a better and sustainable city environment.

Role of IoT in enabling Smart Cities 

The IoT is a network of physical connected devices, like vehicles or home appliances, that enable these ‘things’ to connect and exchange data thus transforming the traditional urban life elements to next generation intelligent systems with extended autonomous capabilities creating never-before-seen opportunities to converge and improve efficiency, drive economic benefits and improve livelihoods hence enabling smart cities. 

The building block of any smart city application is reliable, pervasive wireless connectivity. Evolving cellular and Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies are not only but the most common and well suited solutions to most smart city applications for their cost efficiency and ubiquity. To name a few ,technologies like LTE Cat M, NB-IoT, LoRa, Bluetooth contribute significantly to the fabric of connected cities. The commence of 5G by 2020 is expected to be a watershed event that propels smart city technology into the mainstream and accelerates new deployments.

For a better understanding of the scenario lets take the example of IoT based smart lightning systems (SLS). Traditional lightning system in the city consume more energy than any-other system in the city. So in order to save the energy consumption of a smart city, the lighting system is integrated with advanced sensors and communication channels to obtain the autonomous and efficient lightning management system reducing the energy consumption upto 33.33% in both indoor and outdoor settings.