Wireless Sensor Networks for Smart Cities

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Every day more computer-based devices are connected to the internet. Most of these devices have at least one sensing unit, creating opportunities for direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems. This is the idea behind Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities - a development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data. Imagine a city where the street lights follows the traffic requirements in real-time and the air pollution form factories and cars is controlled with the use of data coming from tiny, cheap and energy efficient sensors. In the near future, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are expected to be integrated into the IoT and consequently to smart cities. The sensing infrastructures have a major role in smart environment and great research opportunities. Sensor nodes can join the Internet dynamically and use it to collaborate and accomplish their tasks. The future Internet, designed as an IoT is foreseen to be a world-wide network of interconnected objects uniquely addressable, based on standard communication protocols. Sensors will have a crucial role in smart cities. Green cities, which span from urban wildlife initiatives to city agriculture and green transport networks, citizen sensing and smart cities projects are emerging that attempt to realize improved sustainability through greater urban connectivity. At the same time, the sensor node market continues to grow rapidly, as the cost to build custom nodes decreases due to technology scaling. Moreover, the use of embedded sensors in smartphones, phablets, tablets and mobile devices has enabled a number of popular applications. Advances in technology, engineering, and materials science have opened the door for increasingly sophisticated sensors and sensor integration to be used in environmental and urban monitoring research. Beyond improving sensor integration, the concept of sensor in smart cities opens the door to as yet unexplored applications that cannot be conceived using specific/ devoted hardware, especially in the field of mobile devices. A flexible embedded sensor framework can be programmed and re-programmed in real-time, based on application needs, a unique characteristic that can be exploited for varied purposes, including improving application speed, power and cost. However, the security challenges of this new research area should be examined as well. I propose a research program to comfort these gaps and challenges through the development of a general framework for smart cities, starting from smart buildings. My long-term objective is to develop a multi-sensor dynamic system framework for energy efficient and secure components of the smart cities, through interdisciplinary collaborations in academia and industry. Also, I will train high- quality personnel who can satiate industry's growing demand for network engineers.