Abstract:
In a world where resources are scarce and urban areas consume the vast majority
of these resources, it is vital to make cities greener and more sustainable. Advanced
systems to improve and automate processes within a city will play a leading role in smart
cities. From smart design of buildings, which capture rain water for later use, to intelligent
control systems, which can monitor infrastructures autonomously, the possible
improvements enabled by sensing technologies are immense. Ubiquitous sensing poses
numerous challenges, which are of a technological or social nature. This paper presents an
overview of the state of the art with regards to sensing in smart cities. Topics include
sensing applications in smart cities, sensing platforms and technical challenges associated
with these technologies. In an effort to provide a holistic view of how sensing technologies
play a role in smart cities, a range of applications and technical challenges associated with
these applications are discussed. As some of these applications and technologies belong to
different disciplines, the material presented in this paper attempts to bridge these to provide
a broad overview, which can be of help to researchers and developers in understanding
how advanced sensing can play a role in smart cities.
