How 5G and IoT are fueling Smart Cities

By Gaurav Mohan, VP, SAARC & Middle East, NETSCOUT

The Middle East is home to numerous smart cities that are trailblazers for innovation and technological advancement. Our contemporary cities are on the cusp of a radical transformation. An estimated 6.4 billion people will be living in smart cities by 2050, and by 2030, the market value of these modern cities is predicted to reach approximately $7 billion. This expansion is caused by both population migration and the dynamic and rapid changes in technology, such as the transition to 5G, the enhancement of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with artificial intelligence, the adoption of cloud technologies, and the drive behind digital transformation.

Mobile Technologies at the Heart of the Smart City

As citizens continue migrating to urban areas, the digital experience will be at the heart of a more liveable future. To fulfil this promise, smart cities will have to deliver superior quality of service and experiences. This will necessitate the implementation of 5G/IoT and cloud technologies to support the expansion and maintenance of connected city networks and infrastructure.

Advanced smartphones with built-in sensors will make it simpler for users to access essential mobile applications for managing personal services while on the move. For instance, residents will appreciate convenience of receiving notifications regarding traffic density to guide travel routes, local news headlines, the availability of smart parking, prescription medication pick-up, and other personal care requirements.

5G Deployment Opens the Door to More Sophisticated IoT Innovation

The development of 5G networks enables more advanced IoT functionalities for linked devices. In 2022 alone, the number of IoT-connected devices is expected to increase by 18% to 14.4 billion. However, the introduction of 5G also adds complexity to the network ecosystem for all participants, including businesses, communications service providers, hyperscalers, and network equipment makers.

These organizations must deal with the daunting prospect of interoperability challenges associated with multi-cloud deployments, multi-vendors’ systems, open platforms, cloud-native services, network slicing domains, and multi-edge domains.

Monitoring Connectivity Will Be Key to Smart City Success 

5G/IoT will play a progressively vital role in assuring the digital expansion of smart cities, relying on a vast ecosystem of interconnected networks, and developing technologies. This necessitates that city leaders collaborate with technology partners to proactively address any obstacles posed by developing 5G/IoT use cases in terms of technology, infrastructure, and vendor partnership requirements.

• Technology: Advanced services like smart parking and environmental systems, as well as interactive kiosks that provide mass transit and visitor information, will be available in smart cities. For these connected services, municipal networks must operate at their peak efficiency. In order to sustain and extend these services, insights into usage and performance will be required.

•     Infrastructure: Smart Cities will heavily reply on infrastructure to deliver smart applications. These applications will be crucial in enhancing public services with objectives including decreasing traffic fatalities, speeding up emergency response times, minimizing the length of the average commute, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions, to mention a few. In order to prioritize important infrastructural and economic activities, city planners will need to make use of data from real-time experiences, which will offer practical insights.
•     Vendors/partnerships: When adopting next-generation application, network, and data solutions to improve business operations and service delivery, smart cities would be wise to rely on vendor-agnostic platforms. Such systems will be critical for ensuring that the results of services provided by vendors and partners are correct and timely.

5G and IoT present an enormous opportunity for smart cities in the Middle East. In order to ensure optimal results with 5G and IoT, smart cities will require routine monitoring and smart data collection on connected devices and sensors. Furthermore, these cities will require scalable and open data platforms, broadband, and wireless services in order to achieve optimal performance and to realize the benefits of real-time insights. As the region’s cities get smarter, their networks must evolve to support the growing need for pervasive wireless technologies, open data, and trusted security.