Traditional power grids are being transformed into smart grids (SGs) to address the issues in the existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability, and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis, and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers, and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation, and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption of energy by incorporating the IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators, and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation, and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on the IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications, and prototypes of the IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges, and future research directions for the IoT-aided SG systems.

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Internet of Things-Aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

The immense increase in multimedia-on-demand traffic that refers to audio, video, and images, has drastically shifted the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT) from scalar to Multimedia Internet of Things (M-IoT). IoT devices are constrained in terms of energy, computing, size, and storage memory. Delay-sensitive and bandwidth-hungry multimedia applications over constrained IoT networks require revision of IoT architecture for M-IoT. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of M-IoT with an emphasis on architecture, protocols, and applications. This article starts by providing a horizontal overview of the IoT. Then, we discuss the issues considering the characteristics of multimedia and provide a summary of related M-IoT architectures. Various multimedia applications supported by IoT are surveyed, and numerous use cases related to road traffic management, security, industry, and health are illustrated to show how different M-IoT applications are revolutionizing human life. We explore the importance of Quality-of-Experience (QoE) and Quality-of-Service (QoS) for multimedia transmission over IoT. Moreover, we explore the limitations of IoT for multimedia computing and present the relationship between the M-IoT and emerging technologies including event processing, feature extraction, cloud computing, Fog/Edge computing and Software-Defined-Networks (SDNs). We also present the need for better routing and Physical-Medium Access Control (PHY-MAC) protocols for M-IoT. Finally, we present a detailed discussion on the open research issues and several potential research areas related to emerging multimedia communication in IoT.

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Multimedia Internet of Things: A Comprehensive Survey

Currently, the demand for electricity is increasing day by day, which necessitates upgrading of the existing power grid system. The conventional power grid has already been replaced with modern ICT-based infrastructure, which is known as smart grid (SG). In SG, smart meters generate a huge amount of data, and it is a challenging task to store, process, and analyze the data, which varies with respect to volume, velocity, and variety. The data generated in an SG system is generally stored and analyzed using cloud computing (CC), which provides real-time response for various applications. However, to handle the latency issue during the data analytics in SG, fog computing (FC) has emerged as a new technology that provides most of the computing resources in proximity of the end users. It acts as a bridge between SG and CC to fill the gap between processing power of remote data centers and smart devices in SG systems. To handle the aforementioned issues, there is a requirement to set up advanced sensors and measurement systems having communication network backbones in the upcoming fifth generation (5G). In this article, we discuss the architecture of SG in the context of FC for making the decision about energy requirements by the smart devices at the fog layer. Moreover, the communication and computing aspects are also explored in the context of 5G network infrastructure. We examine the influence of FC on response time, transmission delay, and energy management costs for delay-sensitive applications.

Fog Computing for Smart Grid Systems in the 5G Environment: Challenges and Solutions

Social distancing plays a pivotal role in preventing the spread of viral diseases illnesses such as COVID-19. By minimizing the close physical contact among people, we can reduce the chances of catching the virus and spreading it across the community. This two-part paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey on how emerging technologies, e.g., wireless and networking, artificial intelligence (AI) can enable, encourage, and even enforce social distancing practice. In this Part I, we provide a comprehensive background of social distancing including basic concepts, measurements, models, and propose various practical social distancing scenarios. We then discuss enabling wireless technologies which are especially effect- in social distancing, e.g., symptom prediction, detection and monitoring quarantined people, and contact tracing. The companion paper Part II surveys other emerging and related technologies, such as machine learning, computer vision, thermal, ultrasound, etc., and discusses open issues and challenges (e.g., privacy-preserving, scheduling, and incentive mechanisms) in implementing social distancing in practice.

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A Comprehensive Survey of Enabling and Emerging Technologies for Social Distancing - Part I: Fundamentals and Enabling Technologies

The IEEE “Tactile Internet” (TI) Standards working group (WG), designated the numbering IEEE 1918.1, undertakes pioneering work on the development of standards for the TI. This paper describes the WG, its intentions, and its developing baseline standard and the associated reasoning behind that and touches on a further standard already initiated under its scope: IEEE 1918.1.1 on “Haptic Codecs for the TI.” IEEE 1918.1 and its baseline standard aim to set the framework and act as the foundations for the TI, thereby also serving as a basis for further standards developed on TI within the WG. This paper discusses the aspects of the framework such as its created TI architecture, including the elements, functions, interfaces, and other considerations therein, as well as the novel aspects and differentiating factors compared with, e.g., 5G Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication, where it is noted that the TI will likely operate as an overlay on other networks or combinations of networks. Key foundations of the WG and its baseline standard are also highlighted, including the intended use cases and associated requirements that the standard must serve, and the TI’s fundamental definition and assumptions as understood by the WG, among other aspects.

The IEEE 1918.1 “Tactile Internet” Standards Working Group and its Standards

The expected growth in mobile video demand over broadband cellular networks is one of the key factors driving the wireless industry to develop the fifth generation of network technology. This scenario is fueling the need for group-oriented services (i.e., multicast and broadcast) in order to efficiently manage the radio resources, and consequently grant different groups of users simultaneous access to the same multimedia content with differentiated quality of service. The evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS), standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project, is one of the technologies likely to be extended to 5G systems with the aim of addressing point-to-multipoint services. In addition, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques are also being considered as a driver to increase the efficient use of the spectrum in multi-user environments with asymmetric data delivery. The present article proposes the joint use of subgrouping multicast techniques and NOMA in an eMBMS-like scenario. Performance is evaluated in envisaged 5G environments, where different quality video services are delivered to a group of users interested in the same contents.

Multimedia Multicast Services in 5G Networks: Subgrouping and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Techniques

In Smart Grids the flow of electricity and information is strictly interrelated with the management and control of the electricity supply system. ICT is not only an extension or a modernization of the power system equipment, but a fundamental requirement for supporting the distribution network monitoring, operation and control. To enable monitoring and control of the Smart Grid and accommodate the large realtime data flow between controlled equipment and the distribution management system it is necessary the deployment of advanced sensors and measurement systems along with the communication network infrastructure. In this paper two different strategies for power network monitoring and control are compared: an LTE-based centralized management approach and a 5G-based distributed management approach. The two types of communications systems are compared considering their performances during fault management in a Smart Grid scenario.

A 5G cellular technology for distributed monitoring and control in smart grid

The next-generation network environment is expected to include the networks of diverse types, associated with heterogeneous performance. At the same time, this heterogeneous network environment will be used to deliver various services with different requirements. In order to support high quality of experience for the users' availing from these services, there is a need for a solution to the complex problem of selecting the appropriate network support for each user service type. This paper introduces the network Traffic tYpe-based DifferEntiated Reputation (TYDER) solution, which differentiates the data delivery process according to its type. TYDER considers network reputation in the context of traffic type requirements in order to increase the delivery performance for the data exchanged. The Comparative testing involving four traffic categories, including video, gaming, browsing, and the Internet of Things, showed how TYDER outperforms a classic solution in terms of major performance metrics.

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A Traffic Type-Based Differentiated Reputation Algorithm for Radio Resource Allocation During Multi-Service Content Delivery in 5G Heterogeneous Scenarios

The significant increment in the number of users that need broadband multimedia system, relative radio resources, and the evolution of the devices has encouraged to search for different methods to manage heterogeneous wireless networks. One solution to this problem is to make traffic balancing on heterogeneous networks, so that none of the available networks for a given user will be saturated avoiding performance decay. This paper proposes a novel Multiplicative Exponential Weighting (MEW) approach that manages the access network selection. MEW combines several inputs such as power of the received signal, throughput, packet delay, cost-per-user, the requested type of traffic, and type of device. The obtained results have shown an improvement of 15% in average PSNR, and 20% in terms of delay and throughput, compared to the algorithms presented in the literature.

Real-time load optimization for multimedia delivery content over heterogeneuos wireless network using a MEW approach

This paper goes beyond classic Internet of Things (IoT) and focuses on the concept of Multimedia-based Internet of Things (M-IoT). Smart heterogeneous multimedia things can interact and cooperate with each another and with other things connected to the Internet to facilitate multimedia-based services and applications that are globally available to the users. Nowadays, the access network selection for heterogeneous multimedia devices is not managed taking into account the reputation that a given network has at a given instant. In order to solve these issues ReMIoT, a Reputation-based M-IoT architecture is introduced in this paper and presented alongside a novel solution to improve multimedia content delivery quality. The solution includes three distinct operational stages: (i) multimedia service detection, (ii) network reputation detection, and (iii) M-IoT network selection. The performance of the proposed solution is compared against that of a traffic type-based differentiated reputation algorithm for radio resource allocation (TYDER). This performance was evaluated in terms of QoS parameters such as throughput, packet delay and packet loss ratio.

Cristina Desogus

Papers

Multimedia Multicast Services in 5G Networks: Subgrouping and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Techniques

A 5G cellular technology for distributed monitoring and control in smart grid

A Traffic Type-Based Differentiated Reputation Algorithm for Radio Resource Allocation During Multi-Service Content Delivery in 5G Heterogeneous Scenarios

Real-time load optimization for multimedia delivery content over heterogeneuos wireless network using a MEW approach

ReMIoT: Reputation-based Network Selection in Multimedia IoT