The fifth generation (5G) wireless network technology is to be standardized by 2020, where main goals are to improve capacity, reliability, and energy efficiency, while reducing latency and massively increasing connection density. An integral part of 5G is the capability to transmit touch perception type real-time communication empowered by applicable robotics and haptics equipment at the network edge. In this regard, we need drastic changes in network architecture including core and radio access network (RAN) for achieving end-to-end latency on the order of 1 ms. In this paper, we present a detailed survey on the emerging technologies to achieve low latency communications considering three different solution domains: 1) RAN; 2) core network; and 3) caching. We also present a general overview of major 5G cellular network elements such as software defined network, network function virtualization, caching, and mobile edge computing capable of meeting latency and other 5G requirements.

A Survey on Low Latency Towards 5G: RAN, Core Network and Caching Solutions

Integrating the various embedded devices and systems in our environment enables an Internet of Things (IoT) for a smart city. The IoT will generate tremendous amount of data that can be leveraged for safety, efficiency, and infotainment applications and services for city residents. The management of this voluminous data through its lifecycle is fundamental to the realization of smart cities. Therefore, in contrast to existing surveys on smart cities we provide a data-centric perspective, describing the fundamental data management techniques employed to ensure consistency, interoperability, granularity, and reusability of the data generated by the underlying IoT for smart cities. Essentially, the data lifecycle in a smart city is dependent on tightly coupled data management with cross-cutting layers of data security and privacy, and supporting infrastructure. Therefore, we further identify techniques employed for data security and privacy, and discuss the networking and computing technologies that enable smart cities. We highlight the achievements in realizing various aspects of smart cities, present the lessons learned, and identify limitations and research challenges.

Smart Cities: A Survey on Data Management, Security, and Enabling Technologies

Many network applications, eg, industrial control, demand ultra-low latency (ULL) However, traditional packet networks can only reduce the end-to-end latencies to the order of tens of milliseconds The IEEE 8021 time sensitive networking (TSN) standard and related research studies have sought to provide link layer support for ULL networking, while the emerging IETF deterministic networking (DetNet) standards seek to provide the complementary network layer ULL support This paper provides an up-to-date comprehensive survey of the IEEE TSN and IETF DetNet standards and the related research studies The survey of these standards and research studies is organized according to the main categories of flow concept, flow synchronization, flow management, flow control, and flow integrity ULL networking mechanisms play a critical role in the emerging fifth generation (5G) network access chain from wireless devices via access, backhaul, and core networks We survey the studies that specifically target the support of ULL in 5G networks, with the main categories of fronthaul, backhaul, and network management Throughout, we identify the pitfalls and limitations of the existing standards and research studies This survey can thus serve as a basis for the development of standards enhancements and future ULL research studies that address the identified pitfalls and limitations

Ultra-Low Latency (ULL) Networks: The IEEE TSN and IETF DetNet Standards and Related 5G ULL Research

Internet of Things (IoT) is a connection of people and things at any time, in any place, with anyone and anything, using any network and any service. Thus, IoT is a huge dynamic global network infrastructure of Internet-enabled entities with web services. One of the most important applications of IoT is the Smart Grid (SG). SG is a data communications network which is integrated with the power grid to collect and analyze data that are acquired from transmission lines, distribution substations, and consumers. In this paper, we talk about IoT and SG and their relationship. Some IoT architectures in SG, requirements for using IoT in SG, IoT applications and services in SG, and challenges and future work are discussed.

https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5134/4/1/22/pdf

Internet of Things in Smart Grid: Architecture, Applications, Services, Key Technologies, and Challenges

To satisfy the increasing demand of mobile data traffic and meet the stringent requirements of the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications such as smart city, healthcare, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), the fifth-generation (5G) enabling technologies are proposed and utilized in networks As an emerging key technology of 5G and a key enabler of IoT, multiaccess edge computing (MEC), which integrates telecommunication and IT services, offers cloud computing capabilities at the edge of the radio access network (RAN) By providing computational and storage resources at the edge, MEC can reduce latency for end users Hence, this article investigates MEC for 5G and IoT comprehensively It analyzes the main features of MEC in the context of 5G and IoT and presents several fundamental key technologies which enable MEC to be applied in 5G and IoT, such as cloud computing, software-defined networking/network function virtualization, information-centric networks, virtual machine (VM) and containers, smart devices, network slicing, and computation offloading In addition, this article provides an overview of the role of MEC in 5G and IoT, bringing light into the different MEC-enabled 5G and IoT applications as well as the promising future directions of integrating MEC with 5G and IoT Moreover, this article further elaborates research challenges and open issues of MEC for 5G and IoT Last but not least, we propose a use case that utilizes MEC to achieve edge intelligence in IoT scenarios

Toward Edge Intelligence: Multiaccess Edge Computing for 5G and Internet of Things

Communication failure due to a power outage and infrastructure breakdown is a common phenomenon during the hurricane scenario, which hampers the post-disaster rescue operation. For this, an alternative and effective communication infrastructure are needed which can be deployed instantly with limited resources. As such, this paper proposes a ZigBee based ad-hock communication infrastructure for hurricane and post-hurricane scenarios. In this architecture, ZigBee based hop-to-hop communication will be used to communicate among the rescue team and victims, which can be powered by energy sources such as car batteries. Since each message will contain a geo-tagging, the rescue team can track the location of victims along with the normal communication with them. In addition, the performance of the communication infrastructure is further evaluated during and after the hurricane scenarios as well. Since the ZigBee is a low power device and can use power from energy sources such as a car battery, the proposed communication architecture can be a potential solution for a hurricane scenario.

A ZigBee Based Architecture for Public Safety Communication in Hurricane Scenario

This research paper proposes a straight-line approximation-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm using open circuit voltage of Photovoltaic (PV) module and then employs an iterative based optimization technique for determining the optimum step-size to extract maximum energy from PV-module. The proposed algorithm is compared with the conventional P&O method in terms of maximum energy extraction at different step sizes. The results obtained show that the proposed algorithm extracts more energy at optimized step size and at other different step sizes during fast and slow varying global horizontal irradiance (GHI) parameter. The simulation results also show that the proposed method is much faster than the conventional P&O algorithm in finding the MPP for same step size. The fast-finding maximum power point (MPP) by the proposed algorithm not only allows increasing the overall system efficiency but also helps by extracting more energy from PV module especially for rapid changing weather parameters.

Step-size Optimization of New Straight Line approximation-based MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) of smart grid requires bidirectional communication for transferring data to billing center, for which WiFi is an attractive choice. However, WiFi operates in the unlicensed bands and LTE needs to offload data in the same unlicensed band. Recent release of 3.5 GHz (also termed as citizen broadband radio service (CBRS)) can be an attractive shared band where LTE and WiFi can coexist. In our study, we propose a fixed duty cycled LTE-U and WiFi based smart grid metering infrastructure where smart meter uses WiFi and data collector (termed as Access Point (AP)) of smart meters uses LTE for transferring data. We investigate the coexistence performance of LTE-WiFi in the 3.5 GHz band using a time division duplexing (TDD) LTE confederated by WiFi along with FTP traffic model for system level simulation. The simulation results demonstrate a good neighboring coexistence between LTE and WiFi resulting a candidate AMI architecture for smart grid in the 3.5 GHz band.

LAA LTE and WiFi based Smart Grid Metering Infrastructure in 3.5 GHz Band

The use of PVs and storage systems behind-the-meter provides backup power supply to owners as well as capable of providing ancillary services to the power grid such as peak load shifting, demand response, energy arbitrage amongst others. This paper proposes a binary-search based optimization algorithm determines the size of photovoltaic (PV) plus battery standalone system in order to meet a defined load profile. The objective function formulation minimizes the overall system cost and makes sure that the total load rejection is zero by the PV-plus-battery (PPB) system for the load profile considered throughout the year. The optimization variable set in the proposed formulation are the number of the PVs and the batteries. The battery state-of-charge, the number of PVs and batteries are set as the optimization constraints. The proposed algorithm is fed with a year-long actual irradiance and load profile data for facility located in Miami FL. The cost factors for the PV and battery are also input to the proposed algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve a zero load deficit for the period and the load profile considered.

A Binary Search Algorithm based Optimal Sizing of Photovoltaic and Energy Storage Systems

Increased investments into renewable energy as distributed energy sources throughout the distribution grid are a driving force behind the need to adopt smart grid advances. Issues such as intermittency of generation from these renewables have been studied concerning the stability of the grid at higher penetration levels. One need that industry meetings have pointed out is the need for forecasting models and advanced controls that mitigate the intermittency effects. Wide-scale adoption of computing nodes into the power grid such as smart meters and smart inverters have transformed the traditional grid into a cyber-physical system (CPS), as well as independent CPS nodes such as microgrids. Centralized command and control are necessary to maintain visibility over resources and management of them. With developments in cyber-physical-systems integrations more distributed controllers are potential. Data collection becomes a more challenging task as the number of intelligent devices in the field that generates data increases. New key-store based database technologies could be utilized in highly heterogeneous data environments. One of the potential distributed CPS controllers are demonstrated in this paper is a case study of a forecasting based economic dispatch controller for large scale PV power plant that is part of the energy mix. The cost in this scenario is found to be lower when the controller is used.

Imtiaz Parvez

Papers

A ZigBee Based Architecture for Public Safety Communication in Hurricane Scenario

Step-size Optimization of New Straight Line approximation-based MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems

LAA LTE and WiFi based Smart Grid Metering Infrastructure in 3.5 GHz Band

A Binary Search Algorithm based Optimal Sizing of Photovoltaic and Energy Storage Systems

Cyber Physical Systems Applications with a Case Study of Intelligent Dispatch of PV