IoT Technology Applications-Based Smart Cities: Research Analysis

Smart tourism destinations and sustainability: evidence from the tourism industry

Purpose

This research aims to reveal the role of sustainability in tourism in terms of smart technologies by addressing the relationship between smart tourism and sustainability through a thematic literature analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on examining the role of smart tourism in terms of sustainability within the studies in the literature.

Findings

Tourism is a mass-movement industry that uses natural and artificial resources intensively. For this reason, intensive studies are carried out on this industry in sustainable studies. Based on smart cities, smart destinations have started to be created to focus on specific tourism activities, balance the use of resources in this field, ensure the welfare of tourists and local people, and, most importantly, create sustainable activities. These technology-based cities can save many resources that people need to consider. In addition, thanks to its integration with technological devices, it enables people to be much more effective in social and business life and to act more practically in terms of time, distance, and communication. Besides the stakeholders within the destination, tourists visiting the destination can have a more comfortable and resource-efficient holiday experience thanks to the technological applications and systems created here.

Originality/value

The research presents a thematic literature review on the importance of sustainability in the sector within the framework of smart tourism practices.

Smart Contract-Based Access Control Framework for Internet of Things Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently attracted much interest from researchers due to its diverse IoT applications. However, IoT systems encounter additional security and privacy threats. Developing an efficient IoT system is challenging because of its sophisticated network topology. Effective access control is required to ensure user privacy in the Internet of Things. Traditional access control methods are inappropriate for IoT systems because most conventional access control approaches are designed for centralized systems. This paper proposes a decentralized access control framework based on smart contracts with three parts: initialization, an access control protocol, and an inspection. Smart contracts are used in the proposed framework to store access control policies safely on the blockchain. The framework also penalizes users for attempting unauthorized access to the IoT resources. The smart contract was developed using Remix and deployed on the Ropsten Ethereum testnet. We analyze the performance of the smart contract-based access policies based on the gas consumption of blockchain transactions. Further, we analyze the system’s security, usability, scalability, and interoperability performance.

Transforming Future Cities: Smart City

The primitive elements of city transformation include the integration of urban infrastructure and artificial intelligence and cutting edge IoT technologies [...]

NRTAS: Non-redundant traffic authentication scheme for strengthening privacy in 5 G communication networks

End-to-end authentication in 5G communication networks is a prominent requirement due to the growing application demands and autonomously shared user data. The lack of data-related attributes and the communicating platform serves as a challenging issue in securing the shared content. Besides, administering security for the generated data is less feasible due to un-traceability and handoff experienced in the network. A Non-Redundant Traffic Authentication Scheme (NRTAS) is presented and the main objective of this proposed work provide a reliable authentication based on classifying the traffic. A traffic classification model is developed to categorize the traffic generated by the user equipment. A tree-based process is employed for linear and discrete authentication to enhance network performances. To succeed high connectivity secure 5G communication and information sharing in a heterogeneous platform is presented. The effectiveness of proposed NRTAS-5G communication network approach is executed in Opportunistic network environment (ONE) simulator version: 1.2. The NRTAS achieves 8.09% less access time, reduces the traffic load by 13.69%, and improves the success ratio by 5.36% for 150 UEs (User Equipment’s).

Population economic function model based on data mining algorithm

Population structure changes interact with economic development, moderate population and reasonable population structure are important guarantees for sustainable social and economic development. The research ignores the specific impact of the change of population age structure on economic growth, and proposes and establishes a population economic function model based on data mining algorithm. Based on the changes of population structure in Liaoning Province in the past 20 years, Grey correlation analysis method is selected. The analysis shows that there is a close relationship between population structure and economic growth. Based on this research, the econometric method is used to construct a multiple linear regression model to further analyze the specific impact of population structure changes on economic growth. The analysis results show that the total population of urban areas, the total number of employed people in the primary industry, the number of middle school students per 10,000 people, and the total number of employed people in the tertiary industry are the four most significant demographic indicators for the per capita GDP of the study area. There is a significant positive correlation between the total number of employed people in the tertiary industry and per capita GDP and there is a significant negative correlation between the total number of employed people in the primary industry and the number of middle school students per capita and per capita GDP. The impact of other indicators on per capita GDP is not significant. According to the conclusion, countermeasures and suggestions to ease population structure change and promote the coordinated development of population and economy in the study area are put forward.

Exploring the convergence patterns of PM2.5 in Chinese cities

Economic development and ongoing urbanization are usually accompanied by severe haze pollution. Revealing the spatial and temporal evolution of haze pollution can provide a powerful tool for formulating sustainable development policies. Previous studies mostly discuss the differences in the level of PM2.5 among regions, but have paid little attention to the change rules of such differences and their clustering patterns over long periods. Therefore, from the perspective of club convergence, this study employs the log t regression test and club clustering algorithm proposed by Phillips and Sul (Econometrica 75(6):1771-1855, 2007. 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2007.00811.x) to empirically examine the convergence characteristics of PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities from 1998 to 2016. This study found that there was no evidence of full panel convergence, but supported one divergent group and eleven convergence clubs with large differences in mean PM2.5 concentrations and growth rates. The geographical distribution of these clubs showed significant spatial dependence. In addition, certain meteorological and socio-economic factors predominantly determined the convergence club for each city.

Experimental Application of Bluetooth Low Energy Connectionless in Smart Cities

Communication networks are a key element in the development of Smart Cities. This field is a constantly evolving environment, for which new protocols are constantly appearing. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the technologies, the most appropriate candidate must be selected in order to get the best performance to satisfy the application requirements. One of these protocols is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), particularly with the upgrades introduced in version 5.x. Its new features are focused on providing increased range, improving robustness, and expanding beaconing capabilities. Connectionless applications such as information broadcasting in Smart Cities could take advantage of this protocol. Furthermore, the wide availability on common devices (mobile phones, car infotainment, etc.), the deployment of these applications can be carried out easily and at low cost. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the new robust, long-range radio mode of BLE over a set of Smart Cities scenarios, taking into account different conditions such as wireless interference, distances, dynamicity, etc. The results show a promising performance of the protocol even with these constraints.

Cloud-Based IoT Applications and Their Roles in Smart Cities

A smart city is an urbanization region that collects data using several digital and physical devices. The information collected from such devices is used efficiently to manage revenues, resources, and assets, etc., while the information obtained from such devices is utilized to boost performance throughout the city. Cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications could help smart cities that contain information gathered from citizens, devices, homes, and other things. This information is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage transportation networks, electric utilities, resources management, water supply systems, waste management, crime detection, security mechanisms, proficiency, digital library, healthcare facilities, and other opportunities. A cloud service provider offers public cloud services that can update the IoT environment, enabling third-party activities to embed IoT data within electronic devices executing on the IoT. In this paper, the author explored cloud-based IoT applications and their roles in smart cities.

State-of-the-Art Review on IoT Threats and Attacks: Taxonomy, Challenges and Solutions

The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a vital role in interconnecting physical and virtual objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies intending to connect and exchange data with devices and systems around the globe over the Internet. With a multitude of features to offer, IoT is a boon to mankind, but just as two sides of a coin, the technology, with its lack of securing information, may result in a big bane. It is estimated that by the year 2030, there will be nearly 25.44 billion IoT devices connected worldwide. Due to the unprecedented growth, IoT is endangered by numerous attacks, impairments, and misuses due to challenges such as resource limitations, heterogeneity, lack of standardization, architecture, etc. It is known that almost 98% of IoT traffic is not encrypted, exposing confidential and personal information on the network. To implement such a technology in the near future, a comprehensive implementation of security, privacy, authentication, and recovery is required. Therefore, in this paper, the comprehensive taxonomy of security and threats within the IoT paradigm is discussed. We also provide insightful findings, presumptions, and outcomes of the challenges to assist IoT developers to address risks and security flaws for better protection. A five-layer and a seven-layer IoT architecture are presented in addition to the existing three-layer architecture. The communication standards and the protocols, along with the threats and attacks corresponding to these three architectures, are discussed. In addition, the impact of different threats and attacks along with their detection, mitigation, and prevention are comprehensively presented. The state-of-the-art solutions to enhance security features in IoT devices are proposed based on Blockchain (BC) technology, Fog Computing (FC), Edge Computing (EC), and Machine Learning (ML), along with some open research problems.

A Survey of Technologies and Recent Developments for Sustainable Smart Cycling

Among the problems resulted from the continuous urbanization process, inefficient urban mobility and high pollution levels have been complex challenges that have demanded a lot of public investments and research efforts. Recently, some alternative transportation means have been leveraged as sustainable options for such challenges, which has brought bicycles to a more relevant setting. Besides the sometimes obvious benefits of adopting bikes for transportation, technologies around the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm have been advocated as important supportive tools to boost smart cycling initiatives. Actually, new technologies can be exploited to improve the efficiency of bike paths and parking spots, while reducing accidents and enhancing the cycling experience of the users. Therefore, in this highly vibrating scenario, this article facilitates the understating of current research trends and promising developments, surveying and classing recent works. Since there is a global interest for the promotion of cleaner and more sustainable solutions in large cities, this survey can be valuable when supporting new developments in this highly relevant research area.

Techno-managerial implications towards communication in internet of things for smart cities

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the internet of things (IoT) system for smart cities and deliberate on the technological aspects involved in developing smart cities along with the framework, impact and benefits of IoT for smart cities.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is based on the review and synthesis of the papers on the broader areas of IoT for the application and implication towards the smart cities. The prime focus of this paper is to realize the IoT systems for smart city’s development and implementation of various technologies in the context of the Indian environment.

Findings

The outcome of the paper explores the highlights of the importance of the IoT system, including the technological framework, impact and benefits for smart cities. The outcome also highlights the application of IoT for smart cities. This paper provides direction regarding future degrees, potential conceivable outcomes and issues concerning the technological side of smart cities. IoT can change the lives of the people and support evolving urban areas for developing smart cities in India.

Originality/value

The paper deliberates on the novel techno-managerial approach towards the endeavour of smart cities using the IoT.

TSCH Multiple Slotframe Scheduling for Ensuring Timeliness in TS-SWIPT-Enabled IoT Networks

This paper presents a time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) multiple slotframe scheduling (TMSS) protocol to ensure the timeliness of energy harvesting and data transmission for sensor devices with different transmission periods in Internet of Things (IoT) networks enabled with time-switching simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (TS-SWIPT). The TMSS uses a modified three-step 6P transaction to allocate power and data cells within the slotframe. The sensor device sets the slotframe length equal to the transmission period and estimates the number of power and data cells for allocation in the configured slotframe and requests cell allocation to the hybrid access point (HAP). Upon request from a sensor device, the HAP executes a cell-overlapping prevention (COP) algorithm to resolve the cell-overlapping problem and responds to the sensor device with a candidate cell list. Upon receiving the response from HAP, the sensor device determines its power and data cells by referring to the cell list. We conducted experimental simulations and compared the TMSS performance to that of the legacy TSCH medium access control (MAC) with a single slotframe and the harvest-then-transmit-based modified enhanced distributed coordination function (EDCF) MAC protocol (HE-MAC). The results showed that TMSS outperforms legacy TSCH MAC and HE-MAC in terms of delay, effective throughput and energy utilization.

Managing ICT for Sustainable Education: Research Analysis in the Context of Higher Education

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of the environment favors the development of a sustainable education, which will help to train more responsible and aware students. The management of educational technology in the context of a sustainable higher education must achieve the internalization of ethics and the sustainable development of humanity. The main objective of this study is to, at a global level, examine the research during the period 2000–2019 on the management of ICTs for sustainable education in the context of higher education. Global research trends on this topic during the period 2000–2019 have been analyzed. Consequently, bibliometric techniques have been applied to a sample of 1814 articles selected from the Scopus database. The results provided data on the scientific productivity of the journal, authors, research institutions, and countries that contribute to the development of this topic. The evidence reveals an exponential trend, mainly in the last five years. In addition, current and future lines of research have been identified. Research at an international level presents a growing trend of publication that allows determination of the relevance of research on ICT management to achieve sustainable education in the context of higher education. This study makes it possible to establish the relationship between science, sustainability, and technology in higher education institutions, and to base the decision-making process for the driving agents of this area of knowledge.

Research Analysis on Emerging Technologies in Corporate Accounting

The technological transformation has directly affected the functional areas of companies. This circumstance has been a challenge for corporate accounting, since the emerging technology allows handling a large volume of data, and providing valuable information for operational management, managerial control, and strategic planning. The aim of this study is to analyze current and future lines of research globally, during the period 1961–2019, on emerging technologies in corporate accounting. For this, bibliometric techniques were applied to 1126 articles on this subject to obtain findings on scientific production and the main subject areas. Scientific production has increased annually, so that in the last decade de 60.66% of all articles have been published. The main subject areas in which more articles were linked were business, management and accounting, social sciences, and economics, econometrics, and finance. Six lines of research have been identified that generate contributions on this topic. Furthermore, the analysis of the relevance of the keywords has detected the main future directions of research. The increasing worldwide trend of scientific production shows interest in developing aspects of this field of study. This study contributes to the academic, scientific, and professional discussion to improve decision-making based on the available information.