5G and D2D Communications at the Service of Smart Cities

Abstract

Typical smart city applications generally require two different communications infrastructures, a wide area cellular network to provide connectivity and long‐range communications and efficient communication strategies for transmitting short data packets, particularly in case of Internet of Things ( IoT ) devices. The cellular infrastructure is optimized for high data rates and large data sizes while IoT devices mostly exchange small data packets with high energy efficiency and low data rates. To fully exploit both communication infrastructures together, different strategies related to 5G and device‐to‐device ( D2D ) communication are proposed in the literature. In this chapter, we survey these strategies and provide useful considerations for seamless integration of smart city applications in 5G networks. Moreover, we present smart city scenarios, their communication requirements, and the potential impact on the life of citizens. Finally, we elaborate on the big data impact on smart cities with possible security and privacy concerns.