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5G impact On Smart Cities

Article · March 2017

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Anh Phan Shoaib Tahir Qureshi

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 5G IMPACTS ON SMART CITY 2030

• Shoaib Tahir Qureshi --------- 256248

• Phan Viet Anh --------- 256296

1. Abstraction

Smart city has become a conception that is a must for future development where living standard
will be improved in another level. There are so many initiatives aimed at analyzing the conception
process, deployment methods or outcomes of Smart City are being developed in multiple fields.
Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of this term is extremely necessary not only
for planner, manager and director of projects, but also for people who has lived in these cities.
In the report, it is important to go through benefits of Smart city which focus on some remarkable
areas such as traffic management, home automation, health and security and the challenges that
are existing in building process in developed and developing countries. After that, it is discussed
about how 5G effect on Smart City by analyzing, illustrating and giving some examples, which
help to have a clear acknowledgement about next wireless generation technology impacts in
future development.

2. Introduction
Defining “Smart City” in a basic way is, a city having a basic infrastructure and it uses smart
solutions to ensure that these infrastructure and services are better and rely on a management
based on the category of area.

Smart cities and smart homes, often referred to as a Smart Society, will be embedded with dense
wireless sensor networks. City are challenged to develop economically and environmentally
sustainable municipal entities anchored on the principal of competitiveness, economic progress
and security, social cohesion and innovation. With the integration of technology across various
functions, Smart Cities can overcome these challenges and deliver on the goals of economic
development, sustainability, innovation, and city engagement, all while utilizing an ecosystem of
the partners to fundamentally change and improve the quality of life for residents, business and
visitors as well.
As, we are moving towards a kind of World where automation is taking over most of the manual
work. This is all happening because of the evolution of technology specifically on a wireless
communication side. Similarly, 5G is a trending Wireless Technology based on the building of 4G
LTE and is about to this World. It is a high-speed wireless technology which has a capacity and
potential to transform normal cities to smart and intelligent ones. This is going to happen with
higher speed and larger capacity of 5G networks. Comparing it with 4G or 3G, it requires
hundreds of thousands of new small cells to achieve high speed connections and more number
of users at the same time. According to a research, 66% of the world population after 2030 will
be living in urban areas which clearly tells us the importance of these vibrant cities.

The concept of Smart Cities is about connecting multiple low power digital devices with each
other to efficiently run our home, offices and other places through emerging technology Internet
of Things (IoT). The communication world will a have huge shift towards machines rather than
humans. As the population of urban areas is increasing worldwide, it is becoming difficult to
manage all the stuff in an effective way saving other resources of the country as well. So, to cop
up with this much of the rise, focus has shifted towards evolving cities to be much efficient in
order to overcome this problem. The implementation of 5G will enable Internet of Things (IoT)
to come into part and make these cities more and more smarter. Billions of devices will be
connected to a very high speed mobile network by the first phase of 5G which is to be started in
2020. For these smart and vibrant cities, a lot of data needs to be collected and maintained and
it can only be possible with a technology providing higher speed and larger capacity compared
with the previous technologies. For this purpose, there is a need of 5G or something new even
after 5G.

With the help of this latest wireless technology and implementing its infrastructure, it can of
course improve the quality of life and the economic growth as well. Because with this a country
can also manage their other resources in a wise way. There will be different categories of the
networks as well including smart city networks and smart home networks in collaboration with
IoT. By deploying cognitive radio (CR) which is to be deployed under the implementation of 5G
networks then it will be able to deal with many of the main problems and issues in Smart Cities
concept in 5G.

Cognitive Radio will help using the unused spectrum and help avoiding unnecessary interferences
as it is programmed and configured dynamically to best utilize wireless channels. Implementation
of CR’s can be done using different technologies like the most common one is multicarrier
waveform like OFDM which is the most suitable one. Because we talk about resource allocation
and spectrum efficiency they are highly flexible and highly efficient.
Figure 1 - Smart City Concept in 5G

The above shown concept of 5G is the simplest one covering most of the applications. It is
fortunately a great time as most of the technologies including Cloud, Wireless, IT and social are
converging and making this great concept of 5G practically possible. Three main trends where it
will make a huge Impact with the help of IoT are Smarter everyday objects, Real-time connections
and an Automation world.

Our report discusses all the main things which needs to be mentioned and explained when we
talk about what will be the impact of 5G on smart cities concept or how it can actually change
the way of living.

3. Benefits and Challenges in Smart Cities

3.1 Benefits

When we talk about 5G and the other sectors which are associated with it, everything will go far
beyond network speeds. It is all because of the increased network efficiency. The foundation of
the building is on 4G LTE but this Smart Cities benefits will be accelerated with the help 5G.
Increasing this network efficiency means increasing high speed connections between all the
devices due to which more devices can connect with each other in an efficient way. With the
ability to communicate with each other, these smart cities and Internet of Things (IoT) will have
a much positive impact on traffic flow management, energy management and can be done a lot
to save resources for other uses.

Life will totally be changed once these systems will be implemented. Massive number of devices
will communicate with each other i.e. sensor networks providing smart facilities in urban and
most of the suburban areas. It will not stop here as some of the most common facilities provided
with Smart Cities concept are discussed below:

Smart Traffic Management:

Managing traffic in an effective way is a common application in Smart Cities project as there will
be intelligent street lights which will monitor the flow of traffic with the help of sensor networks
and help controlling the lights. For an example, there will be built-in car navigation systems to
guide drivers to know the places like parking and avoiding them to the ways which lead to traffic
jams. Most of the companies including Ericson and Nokia are working on this smart traffic
management to ensure that 5G will have its impact in making public transports and traffic system
very intelligent such that everyone can enjoy this revolution. With the help of this, traffic
congestion can be decreased and will deliver high productivity and improving the quality of life
of all the residents.

Smart Grids:
5G in smart city concept will also help improving energy systems as well. 5G will enable very low
cost connections between the devices and monitoring of these devices will be efficient such that
to manage energy needs properly. The important and the best part is that it will help in balancing
the load of the cities in a way like reducing the electricity peaks depending upon the situation of
the usage and hence reducing the cost of the energy. In case a power cuts down or fails, there
will be real time diagnosis, like shifting the load to a different transformer or device. Also, making
lights dim when there is no public around can save power and reduce energy costs as
well. According to this, a long-term energy saving plan can be made through which energy cost
can be reduced.

Smart Homes:
As 5G offer high speed connection between devices, so it will be awesome for home automation
systems as well. Our daily home usage devices including air conditioners, refrigerators, lighting,
heaters, washers, dryers etc. can be connected with each other and be controlled remotely using
a smart phone. It will save time and money both. Surveillance cameras will be very effective for
security purposes of home as we can see the complete coverage all the time and manage other
stuff as well.

Smart Healthcare and Security:

One of the most important applications and benefits of 5G impact on smart cities is the
betterment of healthcare and security system of a city as well. Different ways including remote
monitoring of patients or home caring can be used to decrease hospitalization rates. It will be
possible for Doctors to perform operations around the World with the help of video controls
Security is also a major issue which needs to be very efficient have a peaceful environment. With
the help of using high speed bandwidth, fast and reliable communication there will be a great
opportunity to minimize the crimes and fixing them. Eventually, it will lead us to big improvement
in public safety. Smart Cities having their own broadband network can operate well in accordance
with their emergency services controlling their whole city.

All of above these services will be more accessible and very cost effective so that everyone can
enjoy and fulfill their needs to optimize and automate their homes, offices and other places.

There are also some socioeconomic benefits that will take place with the help of Smart Cities in
context with the implementation of 5G Wireless Technology are:

• Economic Growth
• Improved quality of life
• Better Environment
• Excessive Job Market
• Safe Environment
• Better communication

Almost every branch will be affected with the help of implementing these systems practically.
There will be self-organizing and self-managing automated networks working without a manual
effort from a human being. With the help 5G, new opportunities will improve communication
and cooperation in every way.
3.2 Challenges
Smart city in Conception

To some extents, the term “Smart City” has not been stated yet although it is considered that it
represents innovation in city management, its infrastructure and services. Nevertheless, there
are two common trends can be clearly notable in relation with what are the main aspects that
smart cities must take into consideration. One is that gathering emphasis just on one urban
aspects leaving apart of rest of the circumstances involved in a city. The problem comes from the
misunderstanding the final target of Smart City is to afford a new method to urban management
in which all aspects are pickled with the interconnection that take place in real life of the city.
The business that improving just a portion of an urban ecosystem will not indicate that the
problem of whole is being answered.

Another one is that concentration on Smart city concept is the interconnection of all urban
aspects. From that concept, it can be defined that infrastructure are a key factor of Smart City
and that technology is that enabler that makes it possible, but it is the combination, connection
and integration of all systems what becomes fundamental for city being truly smart. Also, it can
be conditional that the Smart City concept implies a comprehensive tactic to city management
and development. These definitions show a balance of the industrial, economic and social factors
involved in an urban ecosystem. The definitions imitate a holistic approach to the urban problems
taking benefit of the new technologies so that the urban model and the associations among the
stakeholders can be redefined.

Infrastructure
It is considered that the sustainable development of cities and improving them to become smart
require a lot of effective and efficient investments. By that way, the infrastructure is dispensable
business for the evolution, but it is obvious that the necessary infrastructure for building up smart
cities in developed countries will be different from developing ones. However, although there
are so many different aspects, they still have the same core businesses which Government,
Mobility, Environment, People, Living and Economy need to be smart.

Regarding to this business, there are different level of problem concentration when the cities are
belonging to different areas. Taking a closer look at the European cities, as depicted in table 1,
 Table 1 - City challenges in developed countries

it is to see that the main challenges for making the Governance to be smart are related to the
vital prerequisite for a modification of government model. Governance models will face the
challenge of making themselves more flexible allowing to combine their top-down policies with
bottom-up initiatives and also with informality. Also, the other two challenges that they face are
demographic changes and territorial cohesion.

Next is challenges in turning the Economy to be smart, which are related to the productive of the
city. Urban regions should focus on enhancing the creation of a multisector instead of
just one economic sector that would make capitals more robust to commercial declines,
exploiting the sole conditions of each urban collection within a certain.

The general contest in Smart Mobility is that reaching a workable, comprehensive and efficient
mobility system for goods and publics. There are three sub problems need to be solved such as
implementing a multimodal public transport structure, making public transport accessible and
obtainable to all citizens, building substitute to the car-base mobility, which help reducing traffic
jam and contamination in capitals and progress connectivity.

The existence of various challenges in Smart Environment such as generating a natural

atmosphere is also considered. Sidestepping urban straggle and looking for more solid and livable
cities will enhance a mix of uses and the concentration of population, reducing the use of the car.
By that way, the demand of dropping land ingesting for extensions of cities, reducing energy
consumption polluted gas emission ecologically sustainable development are strongly evaluated.
In terms of Smart People, the main difficulties are improving social cohesion and quality of life.
However, the final goal is enriching the community life resulted from taking creativities to unravel
the high levels of joblessness in cities; as well as using the demographic activities and blend of
population as a prospect for innovation, taking into consideration all residents independently of
their age, gender, culture or social condition. By that way, supplying of housing, health conditions
and crime rate situation will make difference for a city to be able to talk about having a good
quality of life.

In contrast, the challenges that cities in developing countries are much more oriented toward to
fulfilling the basic services provision to their inhabitants.

Table 2 – City challenges in developing nations

About Governance field, development models for these cities should be revised in order to
contain the specific necessities of their societies, such as the informality as a way of urban
development, the awareness of the absence of positive basic services or the particular conditions
of the Government models.

Next, the scarcity of resources as fresh water and food supply are the core encounters which will
become bigger as the effects of climate change. Aside from that, the high infrastructure deficit
that these countries have, with their mobility, water and energy networks in bad conditions result
in the small amount of resources available not being as optimized as they could be. Furthermore,
rising the efficiency of the supply networks is so important for reducing a minimum of loss in the
distribution of the basic utilities.

In addition to these challenges, poverty urban insecurity and living conditions are difficulties,
which are less attractive to new businesses and talents than developed countries. Also,
government instability such as high level of violence and corruption, social and spatial
polarization are the common issues in these countries.

4. 5G Solution
The important attributes of 5G that will merit Smart Cities include higher speeds, more
connection, which allow wireless connectivity in extraordinary location, extending from street
light to sewer holes; quicker, more adaptive reply times that support time-sensitive applications,
such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication; and ultra-low-power connections, such as sensors for
leak detection in water mains.

It is considered that there are so many aspects which the next-generation wireless will accelerate
Smart City growth, but our report will discuss some notable areas to showcase that is possible
when municipalities welcome 5G.

Energy and Utilities

Regarding to smart grid, the next-generation wireless technology enables many unconnected
energy-consuming devices to be more accurately monitored to support better forecasting of
energy demands by allowing them to be integrated into the grid through low-cost connections.
As a result of this, demand-side management will be further improved to provision load balancing,
helping lessen electricity peaks and ultimately reduce energy prices. Moreover, capturing this
data through 5G connections will additionally enable larger cities or larger area to design
exclusive energy infrastructure spending more efficiently. Also, smart gird technology will enable
precise and real-time analysis, down to the precise pole affected by an outage, which fasten
repairs and reduce downtimes.

In terms of smart lighting, it can save power and decrease light pollution while still keeping
neighborhood safe when no pedestrians or vehicle are present by lowering public lighting.
Furthermore, smart lighting connected to a city’s broadband network can also estimate local air
quality. If it is added to smart LED lighting can also reduce the maintenance costs of lighting
system.

Transportation
Speaking of public transportation, societies with a public transit scheme can reduce rider wait
times while also enhancing bus inventory with increased wireless connectivity. Giving transit
operatives minute-by-minute information on the number of users who are currently using the
system, or who intend to use system at a specific time, will help increase system utilization, and
allow for dynamic bus routing.

In addition to this, acknowledge with 5G ultra-fast speed, cars will be able to convoy in group,
then increase the road vehicle volume, while providing substantial energy saving for vehicle
owners. Also, smart traffic management systems can support the autonomous cars, then
congestion could decline and distribute additional efficiency and quality of life enhancement to
inhabitants.

Figure 2 – Autonomous Cars 5G – future

In terms of public parking, vehicles will no longer need to circle to block with real-time
information available about empty on-street parking spaces, but instead go directly to an open
space, identified by a low cost 5G sensor on street lamp. Moreover, it is considered that the
combination with the smart metering systems would help to increase parking revenue and
reduce congestion.

Figure 3 – Smart parking and metering

Public safety
It is considered that smart city innovations in public safety are just beginning to take hold, and
wireless connectivity is the driving force behind these innovations. In fact, although current 4G
network has provided real-time video which permits responders to access a scene before arriving,
distribution of 5G in smart city will enable to integration of all video observation with access to
specific locations, point by point, with ultra-high definition. This measurement would allow
responders to use facial recognition to detect known criminals or spot missing person before
arriving on the scene.

Moreover, some large cities in USA has been to generate detailed, real-time, location base
information when a firearm is discharged, which allows authorities to be immediately alerted,
and supported to lessen gun crime in neighborhoods. Actually, when a gun is fired, the sensors
can triangulate the location, and sometimes even identify the type of guns. Those information is
sent to authorities to speed up deployment of personnel to the location.

Also, with 5G flood sensors built in emergency warning systems in smart city will help to provide
motorist with route guidance, helping reduce one of the primary causes of death during flooding
as people choosing routes that pass through flooded areas.

Conclusion:

All in all, it is discussed that our report has generally walked through Smart city which contains
its merits and demerits and how 5G will support to cities development in future. Although there
are many advantages that Smart city will bring to human being of life, it is important to
understand the challenges cities will face. And technical solution is a must tool to achieve smart
city goal, which will solve urban problems in an efficient way to improve sustainability of the city
and quality of life of its inhabitants. However, it is obvious that the business requires the
collaboration of multi-stakeholder, not individual or an organization in order to provide complex
and effective solutions.

As the work is in progress for IOT which is a basic concept for smart cities will revolutionize the
human life and it will not only benefit the city governments for managing everything but it will
range the benefits for common man. As we have discussed earlier the aim of 5G is to
revolutionize public health care, public safety, transportation, smart homes, smart traffic system
etc. In fact, by 2020 communication will be happening in a real time because of the data rates
which are expected to be delivered by 5G and due to 5G, latency rate will be approximately
minimized to 2ms. If we really want to get maximum benefits for human beings then resources
being used and devices which might be used for implementation of 5G, it should be made
 possible that sustainable and environmental friendly resources might be used. We will have a
land sliding impact on our environment if better steps have not been taken right now.
Next wireless generation technology, 5G, is key factor for city evolution, which will create the
advanced infrastructure needed for Smart Cities, has reached a very promising juncture – yet also
a critical one. The Smart City concept is real, and is starting to take shape in the number of
municipalities in the Europeans and abroad. To reach its full potential, and unlock the full benefits
of Smart Cities, communities now need to support small-cell deployments to enable a 5th
generation of communications infrastructure.
It is this evolution in the wireless technology which will create the advance infrastructure of the
Smart Cities. Next decade promises breakthrough developments in several RAN technologies and
will take a World to almost a new and a different place from where we are right now.

References:
[1] https://www.ngmn.org/5g-white-paper.html
[2] ANALYSIS Understanding 5G: Perspectives on future technological advancements in mobile,
Dec. 2014
[3] Understanding 5G Standards, SUNDEEP RANGAN, DIRECTOR, NYU WIRELESS, DEC 14, 2016
[4] M. Simsek et al. "5G-Enabled Tactile Internet," in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
Communications, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 460-473, March 2016
[5] Deploying 5G-Technologies in Smart City and Smart Home Wireless Sensor Networks with
Interferences by Per Lynggaard & Knud Erik Skouby
[6] Setting the Stage for Smart Cities in the 5G Era By Asha Keddy on September 7, 2016
[7] Enabling Smart Cities with Mobile Broadband Sponsored By Huawei, written by Bhanu
Chaddha, Ina Malatinska, Mukesh Chulani, Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, Octobor 2014.
[8] Andres Monzon, Smart Cities Concept and Challenges, Transport Research Centre,
Universidad Politécnica of Madrid
[9] Majed Al Amine, Kenneth Mathias, Thomas Dyer, How 5G Can Help Municipalities Become
Vibrant Smart Cities

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