| Abstract |
A large portion of the human population now lives in cities and by 2050 even a larger fraction of people will be urban dwellers. Many metropolitan areas have seen tremendous real estate development in recent years, yet the roads, water mains, sewers, and power grids have seen no, or extremely limited, upgrades. Whatever infrastructure is in place is aging and, unfortunately, may experience temporary use rationing as upgrades are made, as often one reads in the local press and/or experiences personally. It is clear that technological solutions are needed to manage the increasingly-scarce infrastructure resources under the limitations imposed by population growth, limited financial resources, and, in many instances, local political inertia. The Internet of Things (IoT) offers the promise of improving the resource management of many assets related to city life - including the flow of goods, people, and vehicles, and the greening of the environment - by optimizing energy consumption and maximizing life-activity efficiency. This review article assesses some of the application issues, the technical requirements, and some of the technical solutions, including the use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and Mobile IPv6 Protocols (MIPv6), associated with a broad-based deployment of IoT capabilities in urban settings; these IoT-based solutions enables city administrations to approach a desired state where citizens can reliably enjoy the Quality of Life benefits afforded by a Smart City paradigm. |