The European Union is actively promoting the idea of “smart villages”. The increased uptake of new technology and in particular, the use of the internet, is seen as a vital part of strategies to combat rural decline. It is evident that those areas most poorly connected to the internet are those confronted by the greatest decline. The analysis in this paper is based on Poland, which at the time of EU accession had many deeply disadvantaged rural areas. Using fine-grained socio-economic data, an association can be found between weak internet access and rural decline in Poland. The preliminary conclusions about the utility of the smart village concept as a revitalisation tool for rural Poland point to theoretical and methodological dilemmas. Barriers to the concept’s implementation are also observed, although there is a chance they may be overcome with the continued spread of information and communication technologies in rural areas.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/5/151/pdf

Smart Villages: Where Can They Happen?

201 DOI: 10.37398/JSR.2021.650126 Abstract: The escalating demand for wireless data traffic has prompted the need to explore the area of spectrum suitable for meeting the expected requirement. Sub 6 GHz is highly occupied so the researchers are moving towards mm-wave where a spectrum range from 30-300 GHz is available. Channel modeling and hybrid beam-forming has become integral part to realize a system in mmwave frequency band. In this paper we trace the advances in hybrid beam-forming for mm-wave Massive MIMO communication in the context of hybrid beam-forming architectures, and pre-coding techniques in different channel environment. We have also compared the spectral efficiency of different pre-coding techniques employing different antenna array size at the Base Station.

/pdf/a-survey-on-hybrid-beamforming-in-mmwave-massive-mimo-system-4dcj9bvw47.pdf

A Survey on Hybrid Beamforming in MmWave Massive MIMO System

Industry 4.0 is a new paradigm of digitalization and automation that demands high data rates and real-time ultra-reliable agile communication. Industrial communication at sub-6 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands has some serious impediments, such as interference, spectral congestion, and limited bandwidth. These limitations hinder the high throughput and reliability requirements of modern industrial applications and mission-critical scenarios. In this paper, we critically assess the potential of the 60 GHz millimeter-wave (mmWave) ISM band as an enabler for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) in smart manufacturing, smart factories, and mission-critical operations in Industry 4.0 and beyond. A holistic overview of 60 GHz wireless standards and key performance indicators are discussed. Then the review of 60 GHz smart antenna systems facilitating agile communication for Industry 4.0 and beyond is presented. We envisage that the use of 60 GHz communication and smart antenna systems are crucial for modern industrial communication so that URLLC in Industry 4.0 and beyond could soar to its full potential.

Millimeter-Wave Smart Antenna Solutions for URLLC in Industry 4.0 and Beyond

Free space optical communication (FSOC) has emerged as a potential candidate for providing huge bandwidth and solving the problem of spectrum congestion. But the atmospheric conditions limit the performance of FSOC link as the laser signal propagates through the atmospheric channel. This work aims to investigate the performance of FSOC link under average and heavy rainfall weather conditions of India. The meteorological data related to rainfall, over a duration of 4 years, was obtained from the Indian Meteorological Department for six different locations of India, representing the inland and coastal areas. The attenuation coefficient due to rain for all the locations has been calculated using mathematical models. The performance analysis of Wavelength Division Multiplexing based free space optical communication system has been analyzed by incorporating the attenuation due to rain for all considered locations. The inland location of Hyderabad has recorded the minimum attenuation coefficient of 1.91 dB/km due to rain and can support a link range of 5.43 km, corresponding to bit error rate of order of 10−9 under average rain weather conditions. On the other hand, the average rainfall is maximum for the coastal area of Mumbai, resulting in maximum attenuation coefficient of 4.08 dB/km. Moreover, the maximum link range for Mumbai is limited to 3.48 km, corresponding to bit error rate of order of 10–9 under average conditions of rain weather. Similarly, the inland locations of India have delivered a better link performance as compared to coastal areas under heavy rainfall weather conditions also.

/pdf/performance-analysis-of-free-space-optical-communication-4s4lkgld3q.pdf

Performance analysis of free space optical communication system under rain weather conditions: a case study for inland and coastal locations of India

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes in everyone's life Villages and rural areas are among the places where people have sought refuge in order to stay away from others and to be able to comply with government regulations during an emergency Crisis conditions require the choice of means of communication, remote employment and self-help and self-support Smart and strong communities or villages - this means more than only technologically and economically advanced communities - can be more successful in overcoming the crisis This study analyses the characteristics of smart communities, the external factors influencing the functioning of these communities, as well as the specific circumstances caused by the first wave period of the Covid-19 pandemic (from March 2020 till June 2020) Collecting basic information on smart communities, external factors and special circumstances, and using the methods of analysis, comparison and drawing conclusions, the most important factors that have positively affected communities in the pandemic conditions have been taken into account within the framework of this study, clearly indicating the sustainability and development advantages of smart communities in Latvia Nobody knows what will be "new normal" after COVID-19, but some benefits of smart thinking are noticed

https://llufb.llu.lv/Raksti/Landscape_Architecture_Art/2020/LLU_Landscape_Architect_Art_Vol_17_2020-78-88.pdf

Smart and Sustainable Local Communities in Global Covid-19 Pandemic Conditions

This research work focused on transmission channel characterization of Free-Space-Optical (FSO) communications technology for deploying in the developing country like Bangladesh. To meet the tremendous amount of data traffic, mobile operators and ISPs need better solution than the existing RF and fiber optic communications. Moreover, Bangladesh is entering in the era of satellite communications by launching its own satellite.  So, Bangladesh needs such communication technology that provides higher channel bandwidth, sophisticated transmission security and can cope channel dispersion. FSO is a good candidate that can meet all these features. The transmission channel characterization plays a significant role in optimizing the performance of FSO link.  In this work, the channel characterization of FSO technology from the weather perspective of Bangladesh has been investigated thoroughly. The obtained results show that the atmospheric scattering effect does not hamper the short range FSO link performance, whereas, the atmospheric turbulence effect is not favorable to deploy FSO technology with reasonable quality signal unless it is optimized properly using antenna aperture averaging technique.

/pdf/terrestrial-free-space-optical-communications-in-bangladesh-1471qcv0cn.pdf

Terrestrial free space optical communications in Bangladesh: transmission channel characterization

This paper proposes a novel antenna design suitable for unlicensed frequency spectrum (57–66 GHz) of mmWave communication systems. The proposed coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed V-shaped slit antenna demonstrates high gain and radiation efficiency, which are essential to be favorable for mmWave communications. Moreover, the proposed antenna shape is unique in design and would be suitable for antenna array application in implementing mmWave-MIMO communication systems. The common feeding technique and the dimensions of antenna parts will enable fabrication with standard PCB technology. The simulation results for return loss, radiation patterns and other antenna performance indicators promise the use of such antenna in mmWave communication systems.

V-Shaped Patch Antenna for 60 GHz mmWave Communications

http://www.pphmj.com/article.php?act=art_download&art_id=11571

An approach to implement free space optical (fso) technology for smart village energy autonomous systems

To cope with soaring users demand an appropriate multiple access technique becomes crucial in 5G and beyond wire-less communications. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique is superior to the existing orthogonal multiple access (OMA) technique utilizing the limited resources, though NOMA grants manageable interferences by non-orthogonal resource allocation. Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) can efficiently mitigate the impact of interference when implemented massively, but it raises computational complexity significantly, hence, reduces energy efficiency. This paper focuses on comparative performance analysis among hybrid NOMA schemes such as MIMO-NOMA, NOMA-GSSK and STBC-CNOMA in terms of bit error probability, energy and spectral efficiency and number of SIC occurrence. The closed form expression to compute channel capacity for STBC-CNOMA scheme has been derived and less complex expression to calculate bit error probability for NOMA-GSSK scheme has been suggested. Numerical analysis and simulation results validate the superiority of the NOMA-GSSK scheme in terms of bit error probability and spectral efficiency than the other two promising schemes. The findings also demonstrate that STBC-CNOMA certainly outweighs the other two schemes considering system complexity and energy efficiency.

Analyzing Hybrid NOMA Schemes Underlining Energy-Spectral Efficiency and SIC Tradeoff

This study aims to perceive the potential security threats in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) assisted communication networks and to determine the feasible and effective security solutions in order to ensure secured UAV assisted cyber physical system (CPS) (UAV-a-CPS). Fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless technology is capable to provide support for a plethora of data hungry and time sensitive applications. UAV is one of the vital features of 5G and beyond cellular technology to be deployed in a wide gamut of applications. Since the application domain of UAV networks includes civilian, aviation, and military sectors, thus it can be a prime target to the hackers. This work emphasizes the security issues that require to be prioritized and addressed with appropriate security measures to make UAV-a-CPS secured and safe enough for commercial applications. Moreover, we provide several innovative, scalable, and insightful design considerations to encounter security threats inherent to UAV networks. It is shown that the multi-layer based adaptive security approaches would be beneficial to protect UAV-a-CPS from the potential and emerging security threats effectively. Finally, we provide probable futuristic research directions to add newer dimensions in these arena.

Majumder F. Haider

Papers

Terrestrial free space optical communications in Bangladesh: transmission channel characterization

V-Shaped Patch Antenna for 60 GHz mmWave Communications

An approach to implement free space optical (fso) technology for smart village energy autonomous systems

Analyzing Hybrid NOMA Schemes Underlining Energy-Spectral Efficiency and SIC Tradeoff

Cyber Threats and Cybersecurity Reassessed in UAV-assisted Cyber Physical Systems