IoT in Smart Cities

IoT in Smart Cities
TOC \o "1-2" \h \z \u Chapter 1: Introduction1
Background……………………………………………………………………………………2
Impact of Solid Wastes………………………………………………………………………..3
Water Shortages……………………………………………………………………………….3
Statement of the Problem4
Research Objective……………………………………………………………………………8
Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………………………17
Research Questions19
Framework Method 20
Significance of the Problem21
Conclution23
Chapter 2: Literature Review24
Theoretical Framework 27
IoT Architeecture 29
Summary44
Chapter 3: Research Method46
Research Methodology and Design50
Population and Sample53
Research Methodology and Design………………………………………………………….57
Operational Definition of Variables………………………………………………………....62
Study Procedures…………………………………………………………………………….63
Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………………..65
Assumptions…………………………………………………………………………………67
Limitations…………………………………………………………………………………..68
Delimitations……..…………………………………………………………………………69
References…………………………………………………………………………………...72
IoT in Smart Cities
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to shape lives in various ways. As people become busier, it has also become necessary to establish ways to make life easier. IoT is a product of technology, and in the same way that it transformed the information and communication sectors, it is the same way it is changing lives. Cvar et al. (2020) show that IoT can also be used in villages because the technology is not limited to certain aspects of development but can transform to influence people's lives at a personal or household level. Basic commodities are a priority in every city as well as in the villages. Therefore, efforts to enhance urban dwellers' lives should begin by ensuring that they receive these basic commodities, including water, electricity, health services, and sanitation services, uninterrupted.
The incorporation of technology at the domestic level is also associated with the concept of smart or automated homes. Smart homes are an innovation in which common devices are used to control home features. Smart home technology has already been used to control environmental systems, including lighting and heating, and hence time is appropriate for its use to enhance other services at home. The technology has not only been useful in turning devices on and off but has also been effective at monitoring the internal environment and activities that are taking place in the house. The result of these developments is that people have created smart homes by controlling everything using their handsets. They can open the gate, switch off the television, switch off lights, and lock or unlock the doors. Users have embraced this technology and helped save energy, time, and other resources.
The technology used in smart devices applies the same assistive technology used in environmental development and can communicate with each other. This communication ability can be utilized to report major environmental developments, such as leaking pipes and improper waste management. Many people in urban areas encounter water leakages and wastes disposed of carelessly. However, they do not have a proper channel of communication. Besides, the water leakages do not only occur through delivery pipes but also occur via daily usage. Smart technology should be incorporated in meter readings, water, and power, to detect any unusual usages. In waste management, technology can be used to detect any indecomposable wastes, such as plastic bags, that can be detrimental to the environment when disposed of together with the rest of the wastes. The ability to monitor and prevent wastages using simple technology can ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
Background
As the world's population increases exponentially, people continue to scramble for scarce resources as others move to cities. Therefore, urbanization will continue in both developed and less developed countries. According to Koop and Leeuwen (2017), urban dwellers will account for 86% of the population in developed countries, and in developing regions, it will account for 64%. These city population increase projections point to a further problem of water shortages and urban pollution from wastes. As the homes continue to increase in the cities, they will be accompanied by some challenges related to increases in energy consumption and subsequent global emission. According to the UN (2013), cities accounted for approximately 2% of the land surface on Earth as of 2017 and 60-80% of energy consumption. The same statistics are likely to be applied to utilize resources, including wood, plastics, metals, and water. As consumption of these resources continues, so will the increase in the number of wastes produced. Therefore, there is a prediction that cities will have two major problems soon: water scarcity, which is already apparent in most cities around the world, and an increase in waste, especially in third-world countries.
Impact of Solid Wastes
Cities generate significant amounts of solid wastes. The problem is exacerbated by the ineffective disposal system, leading to both water and soil contamination. Most cities, especially in developing countries, have open landfills containing wastes, and rivers in such regions tend to be extremely contaminated with plastics and other solid wastes. According to Jambeck et al. (2015), 192 coastal countries generated approximately 275 million metric tons of plastic entering the ocean. These plastics are not easily bio gradable and integrate into smaller pieces that interfere with marine life. The effect of the pollution is evident in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans. The marine animals ingest them, killing them and interfering with the ecosystem balance (McFedries, 2012). These plastics also emanate from consumer products such as cosmetics, paints, cleaning agents, and coatings. All these wastes are deposited in City Rivers and washed down to large marine sources, furthering pollution.
Water Shortage
As the cities continue to grapple with the waste and pollution problem, urban dwellers also find themselves short of water. According to Walton (2019), millions of Indians and Zimbabweans in Chennai and Harare, respectively, go for several weeks or even months without water. The same scenario was evident in Sao Paulo in 2014, where the city almost drained its water reservoir while the officials lazily as the drought creped in. Cape Town almost had a similar experience in 2018 following the dry weather's exposure to its feeble water system that mainly depended on rainfall. All these experiences can be attributed to the unaddressed problem of water loss. According to Ahopelto & Vahala (2020), the world loses approximately 126 billion cubic meters annually, with an estimated value of USD 39 billion each year. Most of this water is wasted through leakages that are attributed to old infrastructure. For example, Africa, rich in resources, has some of its infrastructure constructed during the colonial periods. Some newer infrastructures have been constructed without proper urban planning measures, leading to interferences in water sources and distribution channels.
Some towns' old infrastructure and poor urban blueprint have led to water losses through background leakages and leakages from bursts. Besides background leakages, water is also lost through metering errors, unregulated public usage, and theft (El-Zahab & Zayed, 2019). Leakages account for the most significant losses of approximately 70%. As unmanaged networks continue to sprout in cities, this value is expected to increase. Petroleum pipeline networks suffer from the same fate, where huge leakages have been reported in various cities worldwide. While water leakages may be beneficial to the environment, oil leakages are harmful. Sadly, oil leakages are also accompanied by other dire consequences, including property damage. For example, according to (), the USA has reported pipeline accidents that cost around $7 billion over the past three decades, killed over 500 people, and injured several others. Therefore, solving the water leakage problem.
Problem Statement
IoT refers to a set of technologies for accessing data collected using various devices through wireless and wired internet networks. While different sources define the technologies differently, the common explanation is its potential to provide valuable information using different user devices that utilize wireless and internet networks (González-Zamar, Abad-Segura, Vázquez-Cano, & López-Meneses, 2020). The adoption of IoT began a long time ago in smart cities, and as of 2017, its adoption increased by about 39% compared to 2015 (Park, Pobil, & Kwon, 2018). However, its adoption is mainly associated with improving the quality of life in the cities (Cvar, Trilar, Kos, Volk, & Duh, 2020). Therefore, a survey on smart city use of IoT indicates various uses of the technology in improving the quality of life.
There is a need to understand the list of metrics used to characterize the quality of life in terms of availability of communal resources to most people and environmental hygiene. The communal resources will be assessed through the measurement of water quantity in cubic meters (M3), whereas environmental hygiene will be measured by determining the amount of power consumed in kilowatts (kW). The IoT benefits for the city, in this case, will be power and water conservation by allowing the users to monitor their power and water consumption, as well as reporting any instances of leakages or unfair power usage. In monitoring water usage, the device will allow users to monitor their water usage on a daily basis with a goal of the users being to use less water than the previous day and generally see how much water they will have saved after a month compared to the previous one. Similarly, in power usage, the device will also record power consumption on a daily basis and allow the users to know the amount saved for each day. Thus the overall benefit will be computed by determining the amount of each resource saved. To encourage more savings, people who will manage to spend less on each resource will receive a discount on their bills. In waste management, the device will also help monitor the quantity of waste for each month to allow the users to assess their disposition rates. A user who finds out that they will have excessive wastes for a particular month should be able to account for the increase in baggage.
The IoT application time-series will be used as the most appropriate measurement of the impact of IoT’s performance. The application’s performance will be measured using a time series by measuring the error rates and the average response time after reporting such anomalies. The error rates of water leakages and inappropriate use of power (failures per month), and the response time ((time taken to rectify), will help assess how effective the application is in rectifying such incidents. Therefore, the study targets four different units of value: water usage (M3), power consumption (kW), error rates (failures per month), and response time (time taken to rectify).
According to the Smart City Use Cases and Technology Adoption Report 2020, smart city use connected to public transport is the most preferred use of IoT around the world. For example, Skanetrafiken, the public transport body in Malmo, Sweden, installed the system to connect the public bus transport system (IoT Analytics, 2020). Another smart city use for IoT is in traffic monitoring and management, in which 72% of the cities use the technology to monitor traffic and ensure that it flows efficiently (IoT Analytics, 2020). For example, the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, constructed 380 intelligent traffic lights that helped reduce congestion in the streets by prioritizing bikes and buses. In Geneva, IoT helps develop a high-speed network and smart grid to aid in energy management (Talari, Shafie-khah, Siano, Loia, Tommasetti, & Catalão, 2017). The graph below shows the top 10 smart city use cases of IoT.
Besides the common applications, IoT can also help save lives during natural disasters. For example, they can help in the search and rescue operations by locating people trapped during floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural calamities. Similarly, the smart traffic management system, which relies on IoT, can help clear traffic and avoid rescue delays. According to Beltramo et al. (2018), the technology can also help notify people about the impending disaster. It can be used to monitor the seismic wave frequencies that are associated with earthquakes and allow people to take appropriate protective measures. Therefore, smart technology has a variety of uses, both domestic and natural.
In the study, IoT can help monitor short circuits that may result in disasters in the house as well as outside. According to Jeong and Kim (2019), electrical facilities installed outdoors are prone to impact by natural disasters. Consequently, accidents from electrical equipment have been increasing. Therefore, this study will also focus on incorporating IoT in averting such disasters. Experts will be consulted on how to identify short circuits, and areas that experience frequent blackouts or accidents because the short circuits will be identified for experimental purposes.
While IoT has been effective at improving city efficiency, there still exist several challenges that city dwellers face. Water is a scarce commodity in most cities around the world. Therefore, besides metering it, IoT can also be used to monitor its distribution and ensure that the water reaches most users. Water scarcity is also attributed to undetectable leakages and illegal connections in most cities. IoT can be used in monitoring such water flows to ensure that everybody gets sufficient water. Other than water leakages and theft culminating in its unequal distribution, cities also face hygiene challenges. These areas are prone to pollution from industrial wastes and gas emissions from motor vehicles. The technology can be used to monitor these emissions and ensure that only treated wastes are allowed into the environment. The table below summarises the overall benefits of IoT in a month.
Research Objectives
* To determine how IoT can be used to improve the quality of life in smart cities at a household level through the availability of basic community resources to most people and environmental hygiene.
* To explore other potential uses of IoT for businesses towards improving the quality of life in smart cities besides the already identified uses.
The tables below will be used to determine electricity and water consumption for a period of six months. The electricity metrics will be guided by Aanonsen’s energy monitoring charts.
Electricity Metrics
Month

Total Hours

Average kW

Max. kW

Min kW.

Total kW

January 2022






February 2022






March 2022






April 2022






May 2022






June 2022






Several studies have been conducted to assess electricity consumption. One of these is the study by Chen (2017), who sought to assess Taiwan’s electricity consumption from 1987 to 2015. The units of measurement for the study was GWh and the range was 50,000 to 300,000. The consumption graph is shown in the figure below:
Source: (Chen, 2017)
In addition, Chen (2017) also provides an analysis of electricity consumption for selected household appliances in the table below.
Source: (Chen, 2017)
These figures will guide this study in preparing similar metrics for analysis of consumption before and after IoT installation.
Water Consumption
House No

Month

Consumption in Litres

1

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


2

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


3

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


4

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


5

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


6

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022


One of the studies on water consumption is by Grafton, Ward, To, and Kompas (2011), who assessed water consumption in 10 countries. The consumption was measured in kL per year, with the highest consumer being Canada, which recorded a mean consumption of 535 kL per year and the lowest consumer being France with 129 kL per year. The table of metrics presented in the study is shown below.
Source: (Grafton et al., 2011)
Garbage Mass per Month
Sampling Month

Total Mass


Tonnes/Month


Organic

Inorganic

January 2022



February 2022



March 2022



April 2022



May 2022



June 2022



One of the examples of studies on gabbage production per month is by Addis Continental Institution of Health, who provided a summary of the selected towns and cities solid waste generation rate from households (“Study Session 7 Solid Waste”). The rate was recorded as kg/person/day with a range of 0.85 to 0.23kg/person/day.
Source of data
The data on electricity and water consumption will be obtained from six houses identified, where data sensors will be installed to help monitor and alert the users of their consumption rates. On the other hand, the garbage mass will be measured from the monthly collection based on the six houses. The metrics will be converted into dollars by obtaining the value of one unit in dollars and then using the value to calculate the entire amount. For example, to convert the electricity metrics (kW) into dollars ($), the study will obtain how much is charged for 1kW and then determine the $ value for the total and average kW by multiplying by the dollar value for 1kW. The table below elaborates a sample study with the appropriate kW to $ conversion.
Month

Total kW

Cost of 1kW in $

Total Amount of electricity in $

January 2022

815

0.138

112.47

February 2022

800

0.138

110.40

March 2022

778

0.138

107.36

April 2022

775

0.138

106.95

May 2022

776

0.138

107.09

June 2022

774

0.138

106.81

Benefits of IoT
The table below elaborates how the information will be recorded for two houses in a span of six months.
Hse No.

Month

Resource

Min. Amount Consumed/Produced

Max. Amount Consumed/Produced

Avrg. Amount Consumed/Produced

Value of 1 Unit in Dollars

Total value of the units in dollars

1

January 2021

Electricity

750kW

850kW

800kW

1kW = $0.138

$110.4


February 2021

Electricity

_kW

_kW

_kW

1kW = $0.138

$_


March 2021

Electricity

_kW

_kW

_kW

1kW = $0.138

$_


April 2021

Electricity

_kW

_kW

_kW

1kW = $0.138

$


May 2021

Electricity

_kW

_kW

_kW

1kW = $0.138

$


June 2021

Electricity

_kW

_kW

_kW

1kW = $0.138

$










January 2021

Water

42,000L

42,850L

42,425L

1L = $0.0017

$72.12


February 2021

Water

_L

_L

_L

1L = $0.0017

$_


March 2021

Water

_L

_L

_L

1L = $0.0017

$_


April 2021

Water

_L

_L

_L

1L = $0.0017

$_


May 2021

Water

_L

_L

_L

1L = $0.0017

$_


June 2021

Water

_L

_L

_L

1L = $0.0017

$_










January 2021

Garbage

70kg

80kg

75kg

1kg = $0.05372

$4.03


February 2021

Garbage

_kg

_kg

_kg

1kg = $0.05372

$_


March 2021

Garbage

_kg

_kg

_kg

1kg = $0.05372

$_


April 2021

Garbage

_kg

_kg

_kg

1kg = $0.05372