the socio-economic impact of internet of things towards smart cities

The Socio-Economic Impact of Internet of Things towards Smart Cities

E. Tabane, T. Zuva, S.M. Ngwira

Computer Systems and Engineering Department

Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria

+27 822639285, Pretoria, S.A

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

The dynamic, rapidly changing and technology rich

digital environment enables the provision of added

value applications that exploited a multitude of

devices contributing service and information. With

the dawn of the Internet of Things (IoT) from the

internet as a web service, large numbers of devices

(objects) and environment are also becoming

smarter and are in the position to interact with one

another than ever before. IoT has gained substantial

attention over the preceding decades, with the

intentions of connecting Billions of sensors to the

internet, in order to effectively and efficiently utilise

them resourceful for smart cities. [1].

KEYWORDS:

Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Objects

1. INTRODUCTION

The term Internet of things (IoT) was initially

introduced by Kevin Aston in the year 1999,

and become widely adopted and used due to the

contributed work of the Auto ID Centre, a research assembly that is specializing the field

of Networked- Radio-frequency Identification

and other related sensing technologies, however

a full and perceived definition was not yet

agreed upon at that time. ITU Reports 2005,

suggests that the world is heading towards a

Ubiquitous Network Society, where networks and Networking objects (devices) would be

pervasive, in the near future, the whole lot

objects from spectacles to clothes will be in a

communication array, signalling the dawn of a

brand new era, one in which

everything and anything to be having an IP

address and being in a position to connect[2].

At present-day, the design and assembly of

physical Infrastructure is being alienated from

that of information and knowledge

Infrastructure, in such a way that computing

configurations offered by Internet capabilities

has influence and offer an attraction for smart

city inhabitants to utilize fully what the smart

cyber environment has to offer. Nonetheless,

the present socioeconomic development

requires city manager, global federal

governments and ICT professionals extend this

emerging computing capability into the

physical environment for human subsistence

and socioeconomic advancement. Therefore

IoT can be deemed relevant in addressing the

issues of urbanization and lack of

interconnected, integrated and interoperable of

smart devices in a physical environment. IoT

signifies the new inclination of near future

world of networking and Ubiquitous

computing.

In this Articles after providing the some

introduction on the concept of IoT, in section 2,

we define what is IoT, Section 3 outlines the

Architectural layers and Application domains

which are the building blocks of IoT, Section 4,

highlights Key challenges and problems related

to the development and advancement of IoT,

moreover in Section 5 we then introduce related

work in terms of the benefits and socio-

economic impact relating to the IoT. Finally, in

our conclusion, we outline the future research

direction and recommendations.

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2. IOT APPROACH

2.1 What is Internet of Things (IOT)?

[3] defines The Internet of Things (IoT) as a

dynamic global information network consisting

of Internet-connected objects, such as RFIDs,

sensors, actuators ,as well as other Instruments

and smart appliances that are becoming an

integral component of the future internet. [4]

perceive the emerging of IoT as one of the

major treads shaping and influencing the

development of technology in the ICT sector at

large. This will extend Internet connectivity

beyond traditional desktop, laptop, pcs, smart

phones and tablet to diverse range of devices

and everything (objects) that uses embedded

technology to communicate and interact with

the external environment.

According to [2], The European Commission

has projected that by 2020 there will be fifty to

hundred Billion devices connected to the web,

furthermore it is envisioned that number of

connected devices or Objects will surpass seven

trillion by 2025, with an estimated of about one

thousand device per individual.

The IoT will further connect Billions of sensors

deployed around the world together. This will

create an ideal opportunity to build sensing as a

service platform. Sensors and actuators are

amongst the devices which with play a

substantial role in IoT. Some of these devices

have already been found in cars, smart phones,

home Appliances. With more development of

global/local sensors as part of advancement of

IoT, many devices will become more aware of

their context location and Activities happening

within global and local environment. Internet of

things (IoT) as a new paradigm that deals with

how things (objects) devices identifies one

another will allow space (platform) for

individuals and objects to connect anytime, any

location with something using current network

platforms and available services with the

intention of discovering new services and

solutions.

For a further better understanding of how

internet of things can assists in smart cities, the

above scenarios are presented.

Scenario 1: You are going down in a Malls coffee shop, where you see that you need to

publish some documents which are part of the

meeting you having with a client which is of

important value. You use your smart devices

(gadget) to look for nearby wireless smart

printer. You get respond from a nearby wireless

smart printer. You broadcast a dictation to the

printer and it prints some text files for you at an

appropriate and realistic amount rather than

having to drive back to the office just to do

some printing.

Scenario 2: You are in a smart city and you feel

like having some Italian food. You use your

smart gadget to look nearby Italian restaurant.

You engender a response from a server from a

nearby Italian restaurant, the server allows you

to book a table and order some meal from a

range of menu 25 min before you progress to

the destiny.

Figure 1: An IoT for smart city Illustration

The above figure seeks to demonstrated how

Internet of thing (IoT) can assist in smart cites

using (IoT) technologies like sensors as a

service. In Order to enforce waste management

in smart cities, diverse types of sensors need to

be deployed in different fields such as garbage

cans and Waste management trucks, these

deployed sensors with detected wastage

information about the volume of the garbage,

type of garbage and the placement of the

garbage within the inner city. The low cost


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passive sensors can be utilized to gather

information about the food waste and transport

it to the cloud based systems with the assists of

nearby communication infrastructure light poles

and the information can be passed to city

council and waste management department to

dispatch garbage trucks to collect full garbage

cans [5]

According to [2] the IoT consists of three

significant characteristics i.e. the Ordinary

Object which are instrumental, Autonomic

terminals which are interconnected and

pervasive services which are intelligent in

nature. Ordinary Objects: implies that smart

and Ordinary Objects such as tea cups, hot

seats, accessories and automobile run-flat tires

will be implanted with a small microchip, such

as RFID, sensors and barcode to enable them to

convey and be addressed individually.

Autonomic Terminals, on the one hand will

signify that somatic smart objects will be are

connected with a form of autonomic

networking terminals, e.g. a smart TV

connecting with a smart refrigerator giving

information.

Pervasive services, this deal with allowing any

object in a comprehensively-interconnected

network environment connecting and taking

part in a service discover and delivery flow

with the aim and objective of specifying the

entire service intelligent, e.g. a human wearing

a network device like an Iwatch which can

monitor his/her heart beat, the current location

he/she is at and also determine or obtain real

time information about that particular location.

[6] is of the view that objects produce data,

information or knowledge, some of which can

be used in a stand-alone events whereas other

can make available and ready be used or to

support outside world further more knowledge

can be contextualised to allow smart Objects to

act independently in some instance. Therefore,

IoT has emerged as an advanced Inclusive

Inter- disciplinary type of technology that

encompasses various fields such as Computer

Science, Tel-communications, microelectronics

and sensor technology.

3. ARCHITECTURAL LAYERS AND APPLICATION DOMAINS OF IOT

The endless scenes that are offered by IoT will

create possibilities of the evolution of various

numbers of smart Applications, in which a very

little portion it is presently available and

accessible our global community. Various areas

and smart environment at which these

applications are developed will probable

advance and the impact of the tone of global

citizens lives, from the aspect of Home living, wellness concern, environmental awareness to

the work. [7].

3.1 Application Domain

[3] states that various IoT Applications can be

classified into three main domain i.e. A)

Industrial Domain, the smart city domain

and Health welfare domain. Regardless of their

Application area, such Application domains ambition is to enrich the standard of everyday

life, which at a later stage can have a substantial

role in the economic and social impact at a

larger scale from aspects such as personal,

societal, medical, environmental and logistic

just to name the few.

3.2 Industrial Domain

All industrial undertakings encompassing the

profitability and financial transactions between

enterprises, large corporates and other

associated entities can be exploited using it.

Typical cases would be banking sector, service

sector, manufacturing and logistics and

intermediaries. A logistics and supply chain

attached with RFID which can be applied to

distinguish the materials and merchandise, be

they attires, smart furniture, foodstuff and

liquids can be a typical and relevant example

Industrial IoT Application. Besides IoT would

likewise offer an advantageous smart solution


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in the automotive field, where by smart cars

would be diagnosed in a real-time event. All

components can then be constantly be

monitored using specific sensors attached to the

car from tire pressure, smart card data, fuel

intake, engine condition and reckless driving.

In the transportation Systems, IoT technology

application can be used in instances of

Bus/train fare collection, a safer luggage

management system which has embedded

sensors and tags to track the movement of

luggage and to root out theft and misplace.

3.3 Smart city Domain

IoT can be utilized to ameliorate the quality of

living, particularly in smart urban areas by

maintaining the environmental sustainability,

reduce crime rates and traffic congestion in the

smart inner cities, and lastly provides a path to

efficiently energy distribution.

Traditional cities will be transformed into smart

cities which will comprise of sensors, actuators,

smart cameras, and smart screens which will

collect data and information and tailor it into

useful service for the smart city.

Communication technologies such as Vehicle-

to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to- Infrastructure

(V2I) would be used to transfer gathered data to

control the information centre, giving way for

the allocation of spark parking and the detection

of vehicle which have parked illegally or are

stolen. Smart car drivers will no longer be using

the traditional way of paying for parking space

in the inner city and shopping malls using

coins, but rather they will be in a position to

pay with their smart phones which are

embedded with NFC technologies. Smart

Phones for will use smart application to guide

tourists in and around the smart cities city.[8]

According to [9] smart homes and buildings

will be close-fitted with infinite number of

sensing elements and smart devices ( e.g.,

Smart PCs, Smart TV, Audio speakers, smart Appliances, plugs, surveillance cameras,

lighting that will incorporate with

communications technology inside smart

Building and smart residential areas. In the near

future smart phones will be employed as a

central remove control to wield different types

of smart household applications.

3.4 Health welfare domain

The health and medical sector will also be

affected by IoT initiative and advancement,

where by advanced sensors will be deployed to

capture just in time data from different patients,

then transmitted the data to the relevant

Doctors, some wearable devices will also be

used to perpetually supervise the wellness of

the discharged patient and the patterns of

medication intake. Smart labels will be applied

during operation to minimize negligent of any

operation object being left inside patients body after Operation and to clamp down on theft

relating to Hospital equipments. Furthermore Hospital Beds will be close-fitted with smart touch screen devices for both amusement and

education services e.g. your e-learning contents.

[2] is of the opinion that IoT systems

architecture can be divided into four layers:

Object sensing layer, Data Exchange layer,

information integration layer, and Application

Layer.

Table 1: Four-Layer Architecture of IoT

Application Service Layer

Information Integration Layer

Data Layer

Object Sensing Layer

The Objective sensing layer deals with the

sensing of the physical objects and attaining

Data: the data exchange layer on the other hand

deals with the transparent diffusion of data; the

Information integration layer role is in the

handling of recombination, filtering and the

synthesis of unclear information obtained from

the network, and integrate the unclear


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information into usable knowledge lastly the

application service layer offers content services

to numerous end-users. This Architecture is a

clear indication of how the creation of IT will

move from traditional internet which lacks the

element of sensing capabilities, and has only

interconnecting intelligent devices to it which

can enable the interconnection amongst the

non-intelligent devices and scales down the

ambiguous requirements on the capabilities of

devices with its sensing ability.

Although, IoT architecture shows benefits and

comprehensiveness, it will however open new

challenges such as data exchange, information

integration and services, as well complexity in

terms of Architectural network, which requires

further study says[2].

4. THE CHALLENGES OF IoT

The IoT as a new phenomenon is also faced

with many challenges ranging from, Data

exchange within complex event Systems, the

actual integration, interaction adaptation of

ambiguous information, information privacy,

objects safety and security, data condentiality and encryption and Network security says [10]

Challenge 1: Data exchange among Complex

event systems and various network elements:

access to enormous-scale network elements and

the interoperability for all objects and sensor

devices are all crucial for the advancement of

IoT. So the key challenge in this aspect will be:

How to figure out the current burning issues

between the extra huge-scale, heterogeneity and

the vigorous nature of its systems and

Application and the prerequisite for highly

efficient data/data exchange.

Challenge 2: Efficient integration and

interaction adaptation of uncertain information:

Several Smart devices or Object within the

physical world are sense of IoT technologies

and Application uses various sensors and

nodes, triggering some of the sensed

information identified as uncertain in nature.

These cases of uncertain data/information will

necessitate to be made out, filtered, purified and

be fused then they can be deemed ready to be

offered as a service. This might direct to

another key challenge in terms of: How best

can this fusion of data and information be

represented, recognized and be used effectively

and efficiently during the data / data exchange

within network elements.

Challenge 3: Service adaptation in the dynamic

systems environment. In the rapid vibrant IoT

systems environment, we must be in a position

to address issues of uncertainties, ambiguities,

anytime anywhere adaptations, complex events

handling, service discovery and context

awareness. Thus a new mechanism must be

develop and be implemented to address

challenges related to resolving self-adaptation

of its service discovery and delivery in a

complex event environment.

Challenge 4: Information Privacy: The IoT

uses diverse types of object identication technologies e.g. 2D-barcodes, RFID, etc.

Afterwards, each type of day-to-day use of

objects will transmit these identication tags and embed the object specic information, it is really essential to take appropriate privacy

processes and prevent unauthorized access.

Challenge 5: Objects safety and security: It

entails of a very enormous number of

perceptual objects that drift over some

geographic area, it is consequently

indispensable to prevent the intruders access to the objects that may cause physical impairment

to them or might alternator their operation.

Challenge 6: Data condentiality and encryption: The sensor objects (devices) carry

out an independent sensing or dimensions and

transmit this data into the information

processing unit above the transmission system.

It is therefore very essential that the sensor


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objects (devices) should devour proper

encryption mechanism to assure the data

integrity at the information processing unit. The

IoT service would regulates who is legible to

view these data, therefore, it is necessary to

safeguard the data from externals.

Challenge 7: Network security: Data coming

from sensor Objects (devices) is directed above

wired or wireless transmission network.

Furthermore the transmission system must be in

a position to handle data from enormous

quantity of sensor object (devices) without

instigating any data loss due to network

congestion, whereby it guarantee proper

security measures for the transmitted data and

avert it from external interference or observing.

5. THE BENEFITS AND IMPACT OF IOT

The Economic value allied with IoT will be

large and the ROI (Return on investment) will

be massive for example it is perceived that the

US GDP will increase by 2-5% by 2025 with

accelerated productivity growth and the

significant increase in terms of Job creation and

poverty alleviation, [11].

The economic impact and benefits of the IoT

will be enormous. According to [12],Gartner

have forecasted that the accumulated value and

economic profit of the IoT will surpass $1.9

trillion in the year 2020 alone, furthermore

forecasters at McKinsey & Company (which

anticipated in 2012 about the present, and

deteriorating, scarcity of data scientists to

accomplish and work with big data) have

observed IoT phenomenon and have manage to

acknowledge and have managed and identified

6 major benefits that the IoT will derive:

Tracing behavior for Just in -time marketing;

Improved situational awareness;

Sensor-driven decision analytics;

Process optimization;

Optimized resource depletion; and

Prompt control and response in complex self-directed systems.

IoT will be crucial in turning a traditional city

into a smart city, the fundamental and evolving

sectors such as mobility, governance, energy

and buildings will benefit a lot from it. For

example, smart mobility services will be

created with the intensions of providing an

effective and efficient tool for city dwellers to

precisely plan their destinations via public or

private transportations as motorbikes, cars, vans

or bus sharing services of new enhanced

transport systems. At the same token

information collected from different sensors

across the smart cities, will be captured and

processed to assist smart municipalities to

observe conditions (potholes, slippery, wear

and tear) of all road towards the inner smart

cities, monitor the air and noise pollutions

within the smart city and lastly information

gathered will also assist waste management on

how to manage waste within the smart cities by

using sensors to monitor trash bins levels ,

Moreover the IoT will carry palpable benefits to

the environment, the society at large,

individuals and business, with the creation of a

new intelligent Applications, services and

products. [3].

Amongst the foremost driving forces that are

pushing us at an amassed pace towards full IoT

adoption and implementation are the following

appealing smart factors say [12]:

I. Ubiquitous networks individual Wi-Fi on ones smart phone and on each and every other device (objects). Everybody

(and entirety all things) will desires and

wants to be connected.


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II. Connected computing everybody will desire that all our surrounding devices

from smart phones, iPad, Smart TV,

smart Cars and within Smart cities and

Smart village could keep track of what

we are doing, what is happening around

us, although out the day, and this is

already happening with some of the

devices which are embedded with

sensor technologies, thanks to

Application like Twitter that we are able

to get pushed breaking news from Arab

spring to Syrian war and global stock

markets.

III. Ubiquitous sensors of all things. It is already here with us the Internet of Things and everythings.wearable

devices like Google glass and Apple

Iwatch are a typical example.

IV. Analytics-as-a-Service the API and App frugalities are already massive and

growing at an alarming rate this enables almost any thing to perform something exciting and fascinating for as extensive as it can connect to an API

or beseech an App that can execute a

network-based service. Any Thing can be regarded as an information

generator and/or collector that can also

acquire from, generates forecasts, also

may even proceeds information-driven

actions in response to the information

that are being collected.

V. Marketing computing smart mobile User engagement, geolocation, Google

earth, etc. are amongst the technologies

that are generating a network of

knowledge about smart User s whereabouts, intents, inclinations, and

purchasing patterns. No doubt, this

point of location-based knowledge

needs to strike the precise balance

between Smart user confidentiality,

Privacy and the time it takes for

delivery of beneficial smart packaged

products and Smart services to that

Smart user.

As mention above the IoT will carry a tangible

amount of environmental, social, economic as

well as individual benefits, this will be driven

by the development of new smart and

intelligent Application systems, smart services,

new smart products all in different domain

sphere whilst as the same time safeguarding the

security and privacy of data, information and

content shared and exchange within this various

domain sphere. [13].

6. CONCLUSION

IoT Technology and Applications have

advanced into different areas with the aim of

enhancing business, assist in creating

sustainable smart cities and improves on

peoples quality of lives, also it has contributed in improving the relationships between human

being, environment and objects (devices)

around them. This article provided a brief

introduction approach to it, outlined the

definition of it from different scholastics,

demonstrated Application domain and

architectural layers of it, discussed challenges

related to it and give the projected focused on

the socioeconomic impact of it towards solving

the challenges of urbanization. In the near

future, we will try to unpack how it can be an

enabler for smart cities, create the IoT models

for complex event services discovery and

recommender system, offer discovery into

context-ware information integration and

service discovery for smart cities. Our work

will assists in formulating IoT theoretical

framework that will be used to develop

Complex event service discovery platforms and

systems for IoT within Smart cities.


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