Achieving sustainability through smart city applications: protocols, systems and solutions using IoT and wireless sensor network

Smart city applications is not just limited to the use of technology in building better cities and improving the citizens’ quality of lives. In reality, it is capable of building comprehensive solutions for the development of sustainable communities, irrespective of being urban or rural. Different communities will have their own dynamics and complexity, some communities are widespread and distributed, while some are more dense and concentrated. Each of these characteristics can either become an advantage or a barrier while developing solutions for these communities, which can be addressed with the proper use of technology. Internet of things (IoT) and wireless sensor networks (WSN), are the technologies in particular that can help in building comprehensive solutions for creating sustainable communities as they have a wide variety of applications such as disaster management, healthcare, energy, water, surveillance, structural health monitoring and environmental monitoring. This paper describes about four major research works in smart city application areas such as (a) design and deployment of an IoT system for early warning of landslides, (b) heterogeneous wireless communication design and optimization for enabling real-time management of interoperation of heterogeneous devices and data services in a hybrid electrical network, (c) development of (low-cost) IoT sensors for remote patient monitoring and (d) design and deployment of systems and solution for providing mobile offshore connectivity for fishing vessels—internet over sea. This paper details the current state of the art, challenges to be solved, and the methodology that we have adapted for developing solutions in all these research areas. The extensive research in IoT, WSN and its applications has resulted in receiving the award, titled “World Center of Excellence in Landslide Risk Reduction” and five patents, namely (a) network-based system for predicting landslides and providing early warnings (b) mobile infrastructure for coastal region offshore communications and networks (c) wearable wireless tongue controlled devices (d) Systems, methods, and devices for remote health monitoring and management (e) Systems, methods, and devices for remote health monitoring and management using internet of things sensors