Internet of Things technology: the power of smart cities

Smart cities can create a utopia with unimpeded infrastructure and improved efficiency, improve the quality of life in urban areas, and promote local economic development. The impact is so profound that smart city infrastructure is expected to exceed $100 billion in revenue by 2024.

 From improving public transportation to fighting crime and improving energy efficiency, smart cities can do everything imaginable. The Internet of Things is at the heart of smart city technology and powers many of such projects. This paper will explore the role of the Internet of Things in smart cities, and its various impressive applications.
 What is a smart city?
 Smart city refers to a city that uses digital solutions such as the Internet of Things technology to optimize various forms of infrastructure. It uses connected devices, such as lights, meters, sensors, and other technologies that use wireless and cloud technologies to collect and analyze data in real time.
 These data are used for decision-making to improve public infrastructure, services, public transport, utilities, etc. Citizens can actively participate through smartphones or other mobile devices, connected cars and smart homes.

 Some examples of smart city applications include:

·  Smart home utilities, such as water, gas, and energy smart metering, enable citizens to control and reduce consumption, and allow utilities to balance supply and demand.

·  By monitoring environmental conditions, such as water conditions that may be harmful to humans.

·  Using real-time monitoring to strengthen public safety, sensors and CCTV cameras are distributed throughout the city, and their data are combined to predict the crime scene.

·  Intelligent transportation, connected vehicles can communicate with the parking timer, can guide electric car drivers to the nearest empty charging terminal, car sharing, smart cars, etc.

·  Street lighting, connected traffic lights, receiving sensor data, can adjust the rhythm and timing of light in response to real-time traffic and reduce congestion.

What is the role of the Internet of Things in smart cities?

 Smart technologies optimize urban life, including mobility, infrastructure, utilities, and municipal and public services. IoT technology is the backbone of smart cities, enabling these goals by sharing information across devices that can be used to improve city-wide infrastructure and functionality.

 IoT sensors play a central role in most smart city technologies, such as:

·  Humidity sensor for automatically adjusting the heating system or predicting the weather.

·  Pressure sensor, used to detect changes in the water system.

· Close proximity sensors used to optimize parking or implement traffic management solutions.

Which IoT technologies are the most suitable technologies for smart cities?
 While the Internet of Things has a wide variety of applications, some solutions can meet specific needs. WiFi and WiFi, for example, Bluetooth are more effective in small-scale or even private use, such as smart appliances or wearables such as fitness trackers and heart monitors.
 Smart cities need technology designed specifically to meet municipal needs, which are usually larger than the largest businesses. Addressing these needs means that the technology must meet specific requirements, including high range and low energy consumption.
 Smart city sensors are distributed over larger surface areas and are often not quickly accessible, making regular maintenance such as battery replacement impractical. It also serves many people, increasing the risk of potential consequences of power or connection. If the home device runs out of power, replacing the battery is easy, and only a few people will be affected. But smart-city devices could affect the lives of millions of people.
 With these factors in mind, here are some iot technologies suitable for smart cities:

·  LPWAN

LPWAN (low-power WAN) is a type of technology explicitly used in smart cities. LPWAN provides remote communication, powered by small, cheap batteries that can last for years. The LPWAN is designed to support large-scale IoT networks across vast spaces that can be connected to all types of IoT sensors, making them suitable for a variety of applications ranging from environmental monitoring to resource management.

 Some important things to note are that LPWAN can only send small amounts of data at a low rate and therefore is not suitable for time-sensitive applications or applications that require high bandwidth. The performance of LPWAN varies among different factors, including power consumption, scalability, and range.
 To ensure maximum reliability, security, and interoperability, select the best LPWAN technology for the use case and remain standardized in each project. NB-IoT and LTE-M, for example, are cellular LPWAN technologies that can reliably power a variety of smart city applications, such as smart metering, lightning, or asset tracking.

· cellular network

 Cellular network is one of the most widely recognized and widely used forms of IoT technology. It is fast and efficient, provides reliable broadband, and supports a variety of communication modes.
 Cellular technology is also a rapidly evolving technology.5G is its latest iteration, offering the advantage of high-speed and ultra-low latency.5G is the future of cellular connectivity and is crucial to developing technologies such as self-driving cars and augmented reality. On the scale of smart city, cellular networks, especially 5G, can realize real-time transmission of medical data in the health industry, support real-time surveillance video of public security, as well as various industrial automation applications.

 The Internet of Things applications in smart cities

The Internet of Things is very versatile. Some future applications include environmental and health initiatives such as energy asset management, intelligent transportation, smart waste management, and air quality management. All of these technologies rely on the functionality of the IoT sensors.
 Taipei City, for example, is about to achieve its ambition to become one of the most innovative cities in the world. Its initiatives include incorporating data analytics and IoT sensors into smart buildings with day-to-day operations to reduce carbon emissions and government spending.
 Another example of the smart technology implemented in cities today is the SmartPark project in London. SmartPark The solution includes more than 3,400 ground-level vehicle detection sensors that provide drivers with real-time information on free parking Spaces. With smart technology already in play, fully connected iot cities will not be too far away in the future.

The importance of cyber security to the smart cities of the Internet of Things

While smart cities have many benefits, new technologies often pose new dangers. The increase in connections means that devices can communicate with each other, but it also means that cybercriminals only need to destroy one device to access the entire network. The consequences of this attack will also be more serious than ever before, given its ability to damage public infrastructure and halt municipal operations.

 This is why smart cities must remain awareness and implement the steps necessary to protect every device and network.
 According to a United Nations study, 68% of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2050. Smart city technologies can meet the growing needs of the population and address the challenges that cities face from the start. While sensors, cellular, and connected devices are critical to the functionality of smart cities, they may also put them at risk.
 Therefore, faced with such large-scale projects, enterprises must do their best to prevent cyber attackers from damaging networks or connections.