Technologies and solutions for location-based services in smart cities: past, present, and future

Location-based services (LBS) in smart cities have drastically altered the way cities operate, giving a new dimension to the life of citizens. LBS rely on location of a device, where proximity estimation remains at its core. The applications of LBS range from social networking and marketing to vehicle-toeverything communications. In many of these applications, there is an increasing need and trend to learn the physical distance between nearby devices. This paper elaborates upon the current needs of proximity estimation in LBS and compares them against the available Localization and Proximity (LP) finding technologies (LP technologies in short). These technologies are compared for their accuracies and performance based on various different parameters, including latency, energy consumption, security, complexity, and throughput. Hereafter, a classification of these technologies, based on various different smart city applications, is presented. Finally, we discuss some emerging LP technologies that enable proximity estimation in LBS and present some future research areas

Microservices: Granularity vs. Performance

Microservice Architectures (MA) have the potential to increase the agility of software development. In an era where businesses require software applications to evolve to support software emerging requirements, particularly for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, we examine the issue of microservice granularity and explore its effect upon application latency. Two approaches to microservice deployment are simulated; the first with microservices in a single container, and the second with microservices partitioned across separate containers. We observed a neglibible increase in service latency for the multiple container deployment over a single container.Comment: 6 pages, conferenc

Benefits of a Fog-to-Cloud Approach in Proximity Marketing

The EC H2020 mF2C Project is working to the development of a software framework that enables the orchestration of resources and communication at fog level, as an extension of cloud computing and interacting with the IoT. In order to show the project functionalities and added-values three real world use cases have been chosen. This paper introduces one of the mF2C use cases: Smart Fog Hub Service (SFHS) use case, in the context of an airport, with the objective of proving that the adoption of the fog-to-cloud approach brings relevant benefits in terms of performance and optimization of resource usage, thus giving an objective evidence of the impact of the mF2C framework.This work is supported by the H2020 mF2C project (730929)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A privacy gap around the internet of things for open-source projects

The Internet of Things (IoT) is having a more important role in the everyday lives of people. The distribution of connectivity across social and personal interaction discloses personalised information and gives access to a sphere of sensitivities that were previously masked. Privacy measures and security to protect personal sensitivities are weak and in their infancy. In this paper we review the issue of privacy in the context of IoT open-source projects, and the IoT security concerns. A proposal is made to create a privacy bubble around the interoperability of devices and systems and a filter layer to mitigate the exploitation of personal and private information by marketing companies

Towards the Internet of Behaviors in Smart Cities through a Fog-To-Cloud Approach

Recent advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rise of the Internet of Behavior (IoB) have made it possible to develop real-time improved traveler assistance tools for mobile phones, assisted by cloud-based machine learning and using fog computing in between the IoT and the Cloud. Within the Horizon2020-funded mF2C project, an Android app has been developed exploiting the proximity marketing concept and covers the essential path through the airport onto the flight, from the least busy security queue through to the time to walk to the gate, gate changes, and other obstacles that airports tend to entertain travelers with. It gives travelers a chance to discover the facilities of the airport, aided by a recommender system using machine learning that can make recommendations and offer vouchers based on the traveler’s preferences or on similarities to other travelers. The system provides obvious benefits to airport planners, not only people tracking in the shops area, but also aggregated and anonymized view, like heat maps that can highlight bottlenecks in the infrastructure, or suggest situations that require intervention, such as emergencies. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tool could be adapted to help in social distancing to guarantee safety. The use of the fog-to-cloud platform and the fulfillment of all centricity and privacy requirements of the IoB give evidence of the impact of the solution. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-04-01 Full Text: PD

Expand reality in-company project: A proximity technology business model research in support of healthcare management

The in-company project takes place in the 20s pandemic atmosphere, where the Customer-Journey has undergone various modifications, and investigates how the proximity-digital technology, proposed differently after 8 years1 of existence, could take off yet again in a new industry, in support of the healthcare one. Accordingly, this prospect of re-proposing proximity technology channels in the market raises a range of challenges to be faced, such as the citizen’s scepticism about the probable storage and theft of personal data. Yet, it offers unique stimulating opportunities for the project success, in terms of Customer Service, Administrative and Building Management – multiple types of studies to establish a definitive strategy aimed at disrupting and enhancing the market. For instance, leveraging the new Tech-Customer path may be complex on one hand, but it may also be a source of new value development on the other. Finally, the research will be mean for shaping a strategic Business Model Canvas for ExpandReality®. As a result, the Final Research aims to assist the start-up in understanding how the launch of the Beacons-based products and platform can work and be marketed, as well as ensuring an overcome of initial consumer’s scepticism. In conclusion the investigation will outbreak in an ultimate Business Model Canvas for the start-up, first analysed by a group of professionals and then re-shaped. “The innovation and entrepreneurship journey is about turning ideas into value propositions that customers care about and business models that can scale”. (Osterwalder, 2020)O projeto in-company ocorre na atmosfera pandémica do ano de 2020 e seguintes, em que o “Customer Journey” sofreu algumas alterações, e desta forma investiga como a tecnologia digital de proximidade, proposta de maneira diferente depois de 8 anos2 de existência, pode desenvolver-se mais uma vez numa nova indústria e numa nova realidade. Nesse sentido, a possível proposta de canais de tecnologia de proximidade no mercado, levanta alguns desafios. Como por exemplo, o ceticismo do cidadão quanto ao provável armazenamento e roubo de dados pessoais. Ainda assim, oferece possibilidades estimulantes de sucesso do projecto, em apoio ao cliente, gestão administrativa e arquitetónica - diferentes tipos de estudos direcionados no sentido de desenvolver uma estratégia com o objetivo de agitar o mercado e lucrar com ele. Por exemplo, pode ser arriscado explorar o novo caminho do cliente técnico, mas ao mesmo tempo pode ser uma possibilidade de criação de novo valor. Finalmente, a própria pesquisa será um meio para a intenção final de moldar um Modelo de Negócios estratégico para a start-up ExpandReality®. Desta forma, a Pesquisa Final tem como objetivo ajudar os conselheiros a perceber como o lançamento de produtos baseados em Beacons pode funcionar e como estes podem ser comercializados, com um uso seguro dos dados extraídos.. Concluindo a investigação surgirá no formato de um plano de modelo de negócios final para a start-up, primeiramente analisado por um grupo de profissionais e posteriormente reformulado. “Inovação e empreendedorismo consiste em transformar ideias em propostas de valor com as quais os clientes se preocupam, e modelos de negócios que podem ser escalados”. (Osterwalder, 2020

The dark side of consumer-smart object relationship: A non-user perspective

4noopenSmart Objects promise to become an essential presence in consumer life and routines. Due to their abilities, these devices can be perceived as a social entity and also able to play different kinds of social roles. However, the diffusion of Smart Objects is not meeting the expectation. Pivoting on Smart Object social roles, the relational approach, already used in the marketing literature, can be an appropriate tool to understand the non-user resistance toward these innovative devices with anthropomorphic features. Thirty-three non-users participated in ZMET interviews. Four types of fears emerged from the coding of the interviews. Each fear is associated with a specific social role played by the Smart Object: Fear of Being Controlled (the Smart Object as a Stalker); Fear of Being Dominated (the Smart Object as a Captor); Fear of Being Subordinated (the Smart Object as a Master); Fear of Losing Self-Control (the Smart Object as a Seducer).openAccademicoMonsurrò Luigi, Querci Ilaria, Peverini Paolo, Romani SimonaMonsurrò, Luigi; Querci, Ilaria; Peverini, Paolo; Romani, Simon