PhD Work - The challenge of new communications for Smart Cities

Abstract 

We are attending a paradigm shift in the requirements and solutions adopted for cities regarding mobility, connectivity, and security. These changes are driven by the implementation of 5G communications, the development of autonomous vehicles, and Smart Cities projects. Smart cities (SC) have needs in terms of integrated traffic control and rapid transport systems. Traffic control systems are expected to enable road safety and communicate efficiently with vehicles, other equipment, and people sharing the road (V2X). Vehicles must communicate with each other(V2V), communicate with the infrastructure (V2I), and the vehicle’s position in the city context must be known. In this scenario, the need arises to study new communication models to ensure more latency, bandwidth, and positioning information. The new communication models require an interdisciplinary and concerted effort from the research community. This paper aims to contribute to the presentation of innovative proposals in the context of communications in SC.

Introduction

The implementation of 5G communications started in 2020, and the three principal axes of innovation for this communication are improved mobile broadband (MBB), reliable and low-latency communications (RLLC), and massive machine-type communications (MTC). Still, at an early stage of implementation, it is already clear that new technological advances in communications (in addition to 5G) will be necessary to obtain a capable response to the demands of society, which is increasingly digitized and more global. The quest for higher data rates, more spectrum, and more significant network densification means driving the future of wireless services to provide at least a terabit-per-second aggregate bit rate in small regions [1]. A new cycle of communication development began with

implementing 5G technology. Over approximately ten years of studies for implementing 5G, many other needs emerged, new use cases, new equipment, and materials. Society has realized that a new impulse in communications will be necessary to guarantee the dreamed features. As usual, each technological cycle has been implemented in approximately ten years, so it is expected that 6G will provide a solution to the use cases presented by society today and be implemented around 2030.

One of the unavoidable issues in the discussion of SC is traffic management, especially for private vehicles.

More in the link.

Author: Manuel Robalinho and my coordinator Dr. Pedro Fernandes