The Potential Short- and Long-Term Disruptions and Transformative Impacts of 5G and Beyond Wireless Networks: Lessons Learnt from the Development of a 5G Testbed Environment

The capacity and coverage requirements for 5 th generation (5G) and beyond wireless connectivity will be significantly different from the predecessor networks. To meet these requirements, the anticipated deployment cost in the United Kingdom (UK) is predicted to be between £30bn and £50bn, whereas the current annual capital expenditure (CapEX) of the mobile network operators (MNOs) is £2.5bn. This prospect has vastly impacted and has become one of the major delaying factors for building the 5G physical infrastructure, whereas other areas of 5G are progressing at their speed. Due to the expensive and complicated nature of the network infrastructure and spectrum, the second-tier operators, widely known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), are entirely dependent on the MNOs. In this paper, an extensive study is conducted to explore the possibilities of reducing the 5G deployment cost and developing viable business models. In this regard, the potential of infrastructure, data, and spectrum sharing is thoroughly investigated. It is established that the use of existing public infrastructure (e.g., streetlights, telephone poles, etc.) has a potential to reduce the anticipated cost by about 40% to 60%. This paper also reviews the recent Ofcom initiatives to release location-based licenses of the 5G-compatible radio spectrum. Our study suggests that simplification of infrastructure and spectrum will encourage the exponential growth of scenario-specific cellular networks (e.g., private networks, community networks, micro-operators) and will potentially disrupt the current business models of telecommunication business stakeholders - specifically MNOs and TowerCos. Furthermore, the anticipated dense device connectivity in 5G will increase the resolution of traditional and non-traditional data availability significantly. This will encourage extensive data harvesting as a business opportunity and function within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as large social networks. Consequently, the rise of new infrastructures and spectrum stakeholders is anticipated. This will fuel the development of a 5G data exchange ecosystem where data transactions are deemed to be high-value business commodities. The privacy and security of such data, as well as definitions of the associated revenue models and ownership, are challenging areas - and these have yet to emerge and mature fully. In this direction, this paper proposes the development of a unified data hub with layered structured privacy and security along with blockchain and encrypted off-chain based ownership/royalty tracking. Also, a data economy-oriented business model is proposed. The study found that with the potential commodification of data and data transactions along with the low-cost physical infrastructure and spectrum, the 5G network will introduce significant disruption in the Telco business ecosystem

Communication Technologies for Smart Grid: A Comprehensive Survey

With the ongoing trends in the energy sector such as vehicular electrification and renewable energy, smart grid is clearly playing a more and more important role in the electric power system industry. One essential feature of the smart grid is the information flow over the high-speed, reliable and secure data communication network in order to manage the complex power systems effectively and intelligently. Smart grids utilize bidirectional communication to function where traditional power grids mainly only use one-way communication. The communication requirements and suitable technique differ depending on the specific environment and scenario. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date survey on the communication technologies used in the smart grid, including the communication requirements, physical layer technologies, network architectures, and research challenges. This survey aims to help the readers identify the potential research problems in the continued research on the topic of smart grid communications

The role of communication systems in smart grids: Architectures, technical solutions and research challenges

The purpose of this survey is to present a critical overview of smart grid concepts, with a special focus on the role that communication, networking and middleware technologies will have in the transformation of existing electric power systems into smart grids. First of all we elaborate on the key technological, economical and societal drivers for the development of smart grids. By adopting a data-centric perspective we present a conceptual model of communication systems for smart grids, and we identify functional components, technologies, network topologies and communication services that are needed to support smart grid communications. Then, we introduce the fundamental research challenges in this field including communication reliability and timeliness, QoS support, data management services, and autonomic behaviors. Finally, we discuss the main solutions proposed in the literature for each of them, and we identify possible future research directions

Survey on Wi-Fi and Cellular Communication Technology for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in a Developing Economy

Traditional energy meters have suffered from a lack of automated analysis and inaccuracy in reading energy consumption, which has brought about smart metering systems. Developing economies such as in Africa. still experience a setback in electricity monitoring and load distribution because of existing traditional meter systems in use. Communication technologies play an important role to improve the monitoring of energy consumption and ensure a road map toward a smart grid. This paper reviews communication technologies used for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) emphasizing Wi-Fi and Cellular technologies. Metrics used to evaluate their performance include cost, energy efficiency, coverage, deployment, latency, payload, and scalability. The review presents a benchmark for research on AMI communication technologies in developing economies. When adopted, the expected AMI benefits are reduced energy theft, cost efficiency, real-time analysis, security, and safety of energy supply in developing economies

Defining and Regulating Cryptocurrency: Fake Internet Money or Legitimate Medium of Exchange?

Digitalization makes almost everything quicker, sleeker, and more efficient. Many argue cryptocurrency is the future of money and payment transfers. This paper explores how the unique nature of cryptocurrencies creates barriers to a strict application of traditional regulatory strategies. Indeed, state and federal regulators remain uncertain if and how they can regulate this cutting-edge technology. Cryptocurrency businesses face difficulty navigating the unclear regulatory landscape, and consumers frequently fall prey to misinformation. To reconcile these concerns, this paper asserts cryptocurrency functions as “currency” or “money” and should be treated as such for regulatory purposes. It also proposes each state implement a uniform cryptocurrency-specific framework following the Uniform Regulation of Virtual-Currency Business Act. Such a harmonious approach would reduce compliance costs for cryptocurrency businesses, protect consumers, and provide satisfactory state and federal oversight

A Trust-based Cooperative System for Efficient Wi-Fi Radio Access Networks

This paper proposes a novel trust-based cooperative system to facilitate efficient Wi-Fi network access trading to solve the network congestion problem in a beneficial manner for both service providers and customers. The proposed system enables service providers to improve their users’ application performance through a novel cooperative Access Point (AP) association solution. The system is based on a Software-Defined Wireless Network (SDWN) controller, which has a global view of users’ devices, requirements, and APs. The SDWN controller is supported by Smart Contracts (SCs) as code of law, to liaise control among service providers according to the terms of their mutual agreements. Evaluation results in dense Wi-Fi network environments show how the system can significantly improve the overall performance for the cooperating network. Specifically, the results have been compared against the standard AP association approach and other centralised algorithms dealing with the same problem, in terms of the data bit rate provided to the users’ stations (STAs), Quality of Experience (QoE), bandwidth and energy consumed by the APs

The Economics of Internet of Things: An Information Market System

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the leading forces in modern-day technology. The concept has been proposed to be a new way of interconnecting a multiplicity of devices and rendering services to a variety of applications. According to the industry’s insiders, IoT will make it possible to link transport, energy, smart cities, and healthcare together. The purpose of this paper is to understand the economics of the Internet of Things. It is meant to shed light on how world IoT applications can affect the information market. When every sector and industry of the world has been connected via this technology, what will become of the ICT niche? The information economic approach is currently being adopted and presented with its possible applications in IoT. Firstly, this paper reviews the kinds of economic models that have been designed for IoT services. Secondly, it focuses on the two major subject matters of information economics that are critical to IoT. While one considers the value of the information itself, the other addresses information with good pricing. Lastly, the paper proposes a game-theoretic model to examine the price competition of IoT-based services. We take a look at how these two sectors will fare against each, both at full capacity