Smart infrastructure design for Smart Cities

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is one of the keywords to describe smart cities, aiming at efficient public transport, smart parking, enhanced road safety, intelligent traffic management, onvehicle entertainment, and so on. In ITS, Roadside Unit (RSU) deployment should be well-designed due to it serves as a service provider and a gateway to the Internet for vehicular users. In this article, we propose an RSU deployment strategy which maximizes the communication coverage and reduces the energy consumption of RSUs, simultaneously. We first formulate a multi-objective optimization RSU deployment problem and solve it by an evolutionary algorithm. Then we conduct extensive simulations and simulation results demonstrate that our proposed strategy significantly improves both the energy efficiency and the network connectivity

From MANET to people-centric networking: Milestones and open research challenges

In this paper, we discuss the state of the art of (mobile) multi-hop ad hoc networking with the aim to present the current status of the research activities and identify the consolidated research areas, with limited research opportunities, and the hot and emerging research areas for which further research is required. We start by briefly discussing the MANET paradigm, and why the research on MANET protocols is now a cold research topic. Then we analyze the active research areas. Specifically, after discussing the wireless-network technologies, we analyze four successful ad hoc networking paradigms, mesh networks, opportunistic networks, vehicular networks, and sensor networks that emerged from the MANET world. We also present an emerging research direction in the multi-hop ad hoc networking field: people centric networking, triggered by the increasing penetration of the smartphones in everyday life, which is generating a people-centric revolution in computing and communications

Social internet of vehicles for smart cities

Open Access journa

Delay-Aware Resource Management Frameworks for Intelligent Vehicular Networks

Autonomous vehicles bring great societal benefits but also potential impact and disruption to road safety, traffic congestion, and driving behaviors. One important technology that is indispensable to the success of such systems is vehicular networks. Vehicular networks provide the backbone for ensuring communication and connectivity among vehicles, all crucial to ensuring road safety and traffic control efficiency. One key requirement of such networks is low latency and high reliability, both of which needed for supporting vehicular applications that are often real-time and QoS-sensitive in nature. In this study, we designed a framework that uses integrated emerging network technologies, namely Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Deep Neural Networks (DNN), and Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN), to improve vehicular network latency and reliability. To evaluate the performance of our framework, we used two simulations. In the first simulation, we relied on different scenarios to assess the performance of continuous transmission with and without DNN. We found that while using DNN, the continuous transmissions performed more efficiently. In the second simulation, we show that DTN improves data transmissions in networks with disconnections occurring due to physical barriers. We found that DTN preserves and improves the accuracy of the DNN results. Our approach has made the infrastructure intelligent enough to handle congestion in vehicular networks, thereby improving the latency and reliability of such networks

Suporte a gerenciamento do trânsito baseado em computação na névoa para os sistemas de transporte inteligentes

Orientadores: Leandro Aparecido Villas, Daniel Ludovico GuidoniTese (doutorado) ¿ Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: O trânsito nos grandes centros urbanos contribui com problemas que vão desde diminuição da qualidade de vida e segurança da população até o aumento de custos financeiros às pessoas, cidades e empresas. Um dos motivos para um maior tráfego de veículos é o vertiginoso crescimento populacional dos centros urbanos. Além disso, o fluxo de veículos é prejudicado por situações adversas recorrentes nas vias, como o aumento súbito do tráfego durante os horários de pico, gargalos nas infraestruturas de transporte, e acidentes de trânsito. Com o avanço das tecnologias de comunicação, processamento e sensoriamento, os Sistemas de Transporte Inteligentes (ITS) surgem como uma alternativa para mitigar esses problemas. A interoperabilidade dos ITS com novas tecnologias tais como as redes veiculares (VANETs) e computação em névoa, os tornam mais promissores e eficazes. As VANETs preveem que veículos possuam poder computacional e capacidade de comunicação sem fio com outros veículos e com as infraestruturas fixa de comunicação, assim, uma nova gama de serviços de segurança e entretenimento aos motoristas e passageiros podem ser desenvolvidas. Entretanto, estes tipos de serviços, em especial o de gerenciamento de trânsito, demandam uma análise contínua das condições de fluxo de veículos nas vias e um vasto recurso de rede e processamento, tornando o desenvolvimento de soluções para ITS mais complexo e de difícil escalabilidade. A computação em névoa é uma infraestrutura de computação descentralizada na qual dados, processamento, armazenamento e aplicações são distribuídos na borda da rede, assim, aumentando a escalabilidade do sistema. Na literatura, os sistemas de gerenciamento de tráfego não tratam de maneira adequada o problema de escalabilidade, implicando em problemas relacionados ao balanceamento de carga e tempo de resposta. Esta tese de doutorado propõe um sistema de gerenciamento de tráfego baseado no paradigma de computação em névoa, para detectar, classificar e controlar o congestionamento de tráfego. O sistema proposto apresenta um framework distribuído e escalável que reduz os problemas supracitados em relação ao estado da arte. Para tanto, utilizando da natureza distribuída da computação em névoa, a solução implementa um algoritmo de roteamento probabilístico que faz o balanceamento do tráfego e evita o problema de deslocamento de congestionamentos para outras regiões. Utilizando às características da computação em névoa, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia distribuída baseada em regiões que faz a coleta de dados e classificação das vias em relação às condições do trânsito compartilhadas pelos veículos. Finalmente, foi desenvolvido um conjunto de algoritmos/protocolos de comunicação que comparado com outras soluções da literatura, reduz a perda de pacotes e o número de mensagens transmitidas. O serviço proposto foi comparado extensivamente com outras soluções da literatura em relação às métricas de trânsito, onde o sistema proposto foi capaz de reduzir em até 70% o tempo parado e em até 49% o planning time index. Considerando as métricas de comunicação, o serviço proposto é capaz de reduzir em até 12% a colisão de pacotes alcançando uma cobertura de 98% do cenário. Os resultados mostram que o framework baseado em computação em névoa desenvolvido, melhora o fluxo de veículos de forma eficiente e escalávelAbstract: Traffic in large urban centers contributes to problems that range from decreasing the population¿s quality of life and security to increasing financial costs for people, cities, and companies. One of the reasons for increased vehicle traffic is the population growth in urban centers. Moreover, vehicle flow is hampered by recurring adverse situations on roads, such as the sudden increase in vehicle traffic during peak hours, bottlenecks in transportation infrastructure, and traffic accidents. Considering the advance of communication, processing, and sensing technologies, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have emerged as an alternative to mitigate these problems. The interoperability of ITS with new technologies, such as vehicular networks (VANETs) and Fog computing, make them more promising and effective. VANETs ensure that vehicles have the computing power and wireless communication capabilities with other vehicles and with fixed communication infrastructures; therefore, a new range of security and entertainment services for drivers and passengers can be developed. However, these types of services, especially traffic management, demand a continuous analysis of vehicle flow conditions on roads and a huge network and processing resource, making the development of ITS solutions more complex and difficult to scale. Fog computing is a decentralized computing infrastructure in which data, processing, storage, and applications are distributed at the network edge, thereby increasing the system¿s scalability. In the literature, traffic management systems do not adequately address the scalability problem, resulting in load balancing and response time problems. This doctoral thesis proposes a traffic management system based on the Fog computing paradigm to detect, classify, and control traffic congestion. The proposed system presents a distributed and scalable framework that reduces the aforementioned problems in relation to state of the art. Therefore, using Fog computing¿s distributed nature, the solution implements a probabilistic routing algorithm that balances traffic and avoids the problem of congestion displacement to other regions. Using the characteristics of Fog computing, a distributed methodology was developed based on regions that collect data and classify the roads concerning the traffic conditions shared by the vehicles. Finally, a set of communication algorithms/protocols was developed which, compared with other literature solutions, reduces packet loss and the number of messages transmitted. The proposed service was compared extensively with other solutions in the literature regarding traffic metrics, where the proposed system was able to reduce downtime by up to 70% and up to 49% of the planning time index. Considering communication metrics, the proposed service can reduce packet collision by up to 12% reaching 98% coverage of the scenario. The results show that the framework based on Fog computing developed improves the vehicles¿ flow efficiently and in a scalable wayDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

Collaborative Sensing in Automotive Scenarios : Enhancement of the Vehicular Electronic Horizon through Collaboratively Sensed Knowledge

Modern vehicles are equipped with a variety of advanced driver assistance systems that increase driving comfort, economy and safety. Respective information sources for these systems are local sensors, like cameras, radar or lidar. However, the next generation of assistant systems will require information above the local sensing range. An extension of the local perception can be provided by the use of appro- priate communication mechanisms. Hence, other vehicles can serve as an informa- tion source by providing their local perception data, but also any other information source, such as cloud services. Required communication can take place directly be- tween vehicles via mobile ad-hoc communication or via a backend by the use of cellu- lar communication. The appropriate technology depends on the respective use case, that determines information content, granularity and tolerated latency. Based on liter- ature, we derived a categorization of use case dependent information demands, with respect to communication. The resulting three zones, namely safety zone, awareness zone and information zone, refer to the tolerated latency between the occurrence of an information and the point in time the information has to be processed at the receiver side. While communication mechanisms for the safety zone, i. e., the ego-vehicle’s di- rect surroundings with a remaining driving time of less than 2 − 5 seconds, have been focus in research and standardization in the past, respective mechanisms for larger distances have not been sufficiently considered. In this thesis, we examine in- formation distribution mechanisms in context of the previously mentioned use case categories. As the first key contribution, we consider the gathering of vehicular sensed data with regard to the information zone, i. e., more than 30 seconds remaining driving time to the point of the information origin. We developed a probabilistic data collection model that is able to reduce data traffic up to 85 % compared to opportunistic trans- mission and still sticks to certain quality metrics, e. g., a maximum detection latency. A central adaption of transmission probabilities to the density of transmitting vehi- cles is applicable for cellular use and copes with sparse traffic situations. Moreover, we have extended this approach by hybrid communication, i. e., the parallel use of cellular and mobile ad-hoc communication. This allows to further reduce cellular based data traffic, in particular in case of dense traffic. As the second key contribution, we examine the efficient distribution of the pre- viously gathered information. Information is structured and prioritized according to the most probable driving path, as so-called electronic horizon. The transmission towards the vehicles is performed in small data packets, according to the given pri- orities. The aim is to transmit only information relevant for road segments that will be used. Concerning this, we developed a mechanism for most probable travel path estimation and a data structure for efficient mapping of the electronic horizon. As the third key contribution, we examine the information exchange in the aware- ness zone, an area between the safety zone and the information zone with about 5 to 30 seconds remaining driving time to the point of the information origin. Derived from the respective use cases, this data is not directly safety relevant, but it is still about dynamic position information of neighboring vehicles. Due to the relatively long distance, direct vehicle to vehicle communication is not possible. Respective data has to be forwarded by intermediate vehicles. However, position beacons with- out data forwarding can already cause channel congestion in dense traffic situations. The use of cellular networks would require absolute total network coverage with permanent free channel resources. To enable forwarding of dynamic vehicle infor- mation anyhow, we developed at first a mechanism to reduce the channel load for position beacons. Next, we use the freed-up bandwidth to forward dynamic informa- tion about neighboring vehicle positions. With this mechanism, we are able to more than double the range of vehicular perception, with respect to moving objects. In extension to standardized communication mechanisms for the safety relevant direct proximity, our three mentioned contributions provide the means to complete the long range vehicular perception for future advanced driver assistance systems

Quality-aware Tasking in Mobile Opportunistic Networks - Distributed Information Retrieval and Processing utilizing Opportunistic Heterogeneous Resources.

Advances in wireless technology have facilitated direct communication among mobile devices in recent years, enabling opportunistic networks. Opportunistic networking among mobile devices is often utilized to offload and save cellular network traffic and to maintain communication in case of impaired communication infrastructure, such as in emergency situations. With a plethora of built-in capabilities, such as built-in sensors and the ability to perform even intensive operations, mobile devices in such networks can be used to provide distributed applications for other devices upon opportunistic contact. However, ensuring quality requirements for such type of distributed applications is still challenging due to uncontrolled mobility and resource constraints of devices. Addressing this problem, in this thesis, we propose a tasking methodology, which allows for assigning tasks to capable mobile devices, considering quality requirements. To this end, we tackle two fundamental types of tasks required in a distributed application, i.e., information retrieval and distributed processing. Our first contribution is a decentralized tasking concept to obtain crowd collected data through built-in sensors of participating mobile devices. Based on the Named Data Networking paradigm, we propose a naming scheme to specify the quality requirements for crowd sensing tasks. With the proposed naming scheme, we design an adaptive self-organizing approach, in which the sensing tasks will be forwarded to the right devices, satisfying specified quality requirements for requested information. In our second contribution, we develop a tasking model for distributed processing in opportunistic networks. We design a task-oriented message template, which enhances the definition of a complex processing task, which requires multiple processing stages to accomplish a predefined goal. Our tasking concept enables distributed coordination and an autonomous decision of participating device to counter uncertainty caused by the mobility of devices in the network. Based on this proposed model, we develop computation handover strategies among mobile devices for achieving quality requirements of the distributed processing. Finally, as the third contribution and to enhance information retrieval, we integrate our proposed tasking concept for distributed processing into information retrieval. Thereby, the crowd-collected data can be processed by the devices during the forwarding process in the network. As a result, relevant information can be extracted from the crowd-collected data directly within the network without being offloaded to any remote computation entity. We show that the obtained information can be disseminated to the right information consumers, without over-utilizing the resource of participating devices in the network. Overall, we demonstrate that our contributions comprise a tasking methodology for leveraging resources of participating devices to ensure quality requirement of applications built upon an opportunistic network

VANET-enabled eco-friendly road characteristics-aware routing for vehicular traffic

There is growing awareness of the dangers of climate change caused by greenhouse gases. In the coming decades this could result in numerous disasters such as heat-waves, flooding and crop failures. A major contributor to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions is the transport sector, particularly private vehicles. Traffic congestion involving private vehicles also causes a lot of wasted time and stress to commuters. At the same time new wireless technologies such as Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) are being developed which could allow vehicles to communicate with each other. These could enable a number of innovative schemes to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. 1) EcoTrec is a VANET-based system which allows vehicles to exchange messages regarding traffic congestion and road conditions, such as roughness and gradient. Each vehicle uses the messages it has received to build a model of nearby roads and the traffic on them. The EcoTrec Algorithm then recommends the most fuel efficient route for the vehicles to follow. 2) Time-Ants is a swarm based algorithm that considers not only the amount of cars in the spatial domain but also the amoumt in the time domain. This allows the system to build a model of the traffic congestion throughout the day. As traffic patterns are broadly similar for weekdays this gives us a good idea of what traffic will be like allowing us to route the vehicles more efficiently using the Time-Ants Algorithm. 3) Electric Vehicle enhanced Dedicated Bus Lanes (E-DBL) proposes allowing electric vehicles onto the bus lanes. Such an approach could allow a reduction in traffic congestion on the regular lanes without greatly impeding the buses. It would also encourage uptake of electric vehicles. 4) A comprehensive survey of issues associated with communication centred traffic management systems was carried out

Mission-Critical Communications from LMR to 5G: a Technology Assessment approach for Smart City scenarios

Radiocommunication networks are one of the main support tools of agencies that carry out actions in Public Protection & Disaster Relief (PPDR), and it is necessary to update these communications technologies from narrowband to broadband and integrated to information technologies to have an effective action before society. Understanding that this problem includes, besides the technical aspects, issues related to the social context to which these systems are inserted, this study aims to construct scenarios, using several sources of information, that helps the managers of the PPDR agencies in the technological decisionmaking process of the Digital Transformation of Mission-Critical Communication considering Smart City scenarios, guided by the methods and approaches of Technological Assessment (TA).As redes de radiocomunicações são uma das principais ferramentas de apoio dos órgãos que realizam ações de Proteção Pública e Socorro em desastres, sendo necessário atualizar essas tecnologias de comunicação de banda estreita para banda larga, e integra- las às tecnologias de informação, para se ter uma atuação efetiva perante a sociedade . Entendendo que esse problema inclui, além dos aspectos técnicos, questões relacionadas ao contexto social ao qual esses sistemas estão inseridos, este estudo tem por objetivo a construção de cenários, utilizando diversas fontes de informação que auxiliem os gestores destas agências na tomada de decisão tecnológica que envolve a transformação digital da Comunicação de Missão Crítica considerando cenários de Cidades Inteligentes, guiado pelos métodos e abordagens de Avaliação Tecnológica (TA)