Workshop organisers and contact details

Ikram Rehman, University of West London, UK (Ikram.Rehman@uwl.ac.uk)
Moustafa Mazin Nasralla, Prince Sultan University, KSA (mnasralla@psu.edu.sa )
Drishty Sobnath, Solent University, UK (Drishty.Sobnath@solent.ac.uk )
Sundus Ali, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan (sundus@neduet.edu.pk)
Sara Paiva, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal (sara.paiva@estg.ipvc.pt)

Workshop Summary

The 5G-enabled smart cities will enable people with handheld devices to experience high Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) down at the street level where it really matters. Therefore, 5G will greatly impact how future smart cities are being designed both at the technological and infrastructure level. It is also time that such a significant breakthrough in wireless communication is also reflected in the smart cities context and introduced as “5G-enabled Smart Cities”. This novel concept is defined as “The transformation of smart cities and its applications towards user-centric, personalised intelligent systems with high capacity, seamless functionalities and compatibility with the 5G networks anyhow, anytime and anywhere”. With a rise in 5G-enabled smartphones, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT), the surge in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR)/(AR) have provided aspiration for people to lead a better Quality of Life (QoL). Some of the sectors that can benefit from 5G-enabled smart cities are public areas, transportation systems, home systems, to name a few.

Scope and aim

Today, 3.6 billion people are connected to mobile and wireless networks worldwide, which is equivalent to 85% of the world’s population. The influx of traffic generated by these many connected people will be a setback for smart cities services, as they will often use the same wireless resources as those of other popular high bandwidth-demanding applications (e.g. interactive video streaming, serious gaming, social networking, etc.) in a shared environment. Therefore, further innovation in wireless technologies in smart cities is essential to cope with the high levels of data traffic and the increasing demands for spectral efficiency, energy consumption, high mobility, seamless coverage, and the varying requirements of Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE). One innovation that offers a possible solution to the above challenges is ‘5G Networks’.

5G networks, compared to previous generations, offer enhanced attributes in terms of high capacity to tackle high throughput and an increase in the usage of the IoT devices; device-to-device links; data rates ranging from several hundred Mbps in urban and suburban environments, at least 10 Mbps in rural areas and developing countries, and +10 Gbps indoors; security; and very low latency, etc.

Through the use of artificial intelligence, availability of data, high bandwidth, a large number of connected devices supported by 5G networks, and the collaboration of the citizens in a smart city, citizens’ lives can be improved by providing them with more independence and safety. Moreover, smart cities also support the concept of sustainable economic growth and the well-being of their citizens. They include, for example, more efficient ways of lighting up buildings, leading towards a greener environment, safer public spaces as well as more interaction for the physically disabled. Their development relies on robust network infrastructure (e.g. 5G networks), the Internet, and their success depends upon the collective intelligent workforce designing initiative and cost-effective solutions. It is worth mentioning that the European Commission is investing up to €1 billion in supporting the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) that helps bring together industries and citizens in at least 300 cities.

The three fields that drive the evolution of emerging 5G applications include URLLC (Ultra-reliable low-latency communication), eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband), and mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications). IoT communications are classified as scenarios under mMTC in 5G, where significant features such as density, low bandwidth, and high availability should be considered. The eMBB is, in contrast, a bandwidth-hungry category that can accommodate virtual reality, gaming, UHD real-time online media and conferencing, and 4K video streaming in a smart city setting. URLLC hosts scenarios where mobility and a high rate of channel state variations are considered. However, fractions of milliseconds should be guaranteed, for example, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X) communications. For these emerging communications to fulfil their QoS requirements, the physical layer (i.e. tightly related to MAC) is greatly redefined and upgraded with the so-called 5G-New Radio (NR). Hence, new spectrum ranges are introduced, and Radio Resource Management (RRM) is then needed to be enriched with more sophisticated modules to support sustainable smart cities.

The adoption of the smart city is still in its infancy as far as the implementation of 5G networks and its services is concerned. Besides, user acceptance in terms of accessibility, privacy and security are pre-requisites for 5G deployment to find sustainable success in the context of smart cities.

This workshop aims to present state-of-the-art papers in the domain of 5G-enabled smart applications and their impact in smart cities. We invite researchers to contribute with innovative and original research papers or insightful review papers. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

Topics of Interest

• Security, privacy and trust in 5G-enabled smart cities
• Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)
• The role of 5G in Smart Cities
• 5G-enabled Smart Transportation
• 5G-enabled Smart Homes
• 5G-enabled Smart Living
• 5G-enabled Smart Health
• 5G digital health smart application for COVID prevention and control
• 5G-enabled Smart Education
• Smart users experience using 5G network
• QoS and QoE assessment of multimedia communications over 5G networks in smart cities
• Resource Management for Edge Computing in IoT in smart cities
• Role of IoT in the smart grid technology for smart cities
• Cross-layer design for bandwidth-demanding smart applications over 5G networks
• Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and deep learning for data communications over 5G in smart cities
• Wireless smart power transfer for sustainable smart cities

List of keynotes planned and invited speakers

1. Dr Metin Ozturk

• Metin Ozturk

  Lecturer, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey

  

Metin Ozturk

Lecturer, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey

Bio: Metin Ozturk received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey, in 2013, the M.Sc. degree in electronics and communication engineering from Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Turkey, in 2016, and the Ph.D. degree from the Communications, Sensing, and Imaging Research Group, James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, U.K., in 2020. From 2013 to 2016, he worked as a Research Assistant with Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, where he is currently a Lecturer. His research interests include intelligent networking for wireless communication networks, with a focus on energy efficiency, mobility management, and radio resource management in cellular networks.

Topic: Intelligent Wireless Connectivity in 5G-enabled Smart Cities

2. Dr Ajaz Ali

• Ajaz Ali

  Course Director at Ravensbourne University, London

  

Ajaz Ali

Course Director at Ravensbourne University, London

Biography: Dr Ajaz is working with Ravensbourne University London as a Course Director for Digital Television Technology and Computing courses such as Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing and Creative Computing. His special area of interest is emerging technologies, especially the use of 5G in broadcasting, healthcare, drones and autonomous vehicles. Ajaz has won numerous awards during his career and participated in various TV shows, seminars, talks and conferences as a panel member.

Topic: The use of 5G in broadcasting, healthcare, drones and autonomous vehicles.

WORKSHOP DYNAMICS

The detailed program of 5G-enabled Smart Cities workshop is shown below:

Technical Programme Committee (TPC) Members

Bilyaminu Auwal Romo, University of East London, UK
Ikechukwu Maduka, Coventry University, UK
Ijaz Ul Haq, University De Lleida, Spain
Bilal Qureshi, University of Lakki Marwat, Pakistan
Danish Mehmood, SZABIST, Pakistan
Muhammad Imran Aslam, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan
Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir, University of West Scotland, UK
Muhammad Khurram, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan
Naveed-ul-Hassan, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
Sunila Akbar, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan
Abdullah Alsharif, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia
Nasser Matoorianpour, University of West London, UK
Sama Aleshaiker, University of West London, UK
Aamir Anwar, University of West London, UK
Waqar Asif, University of West London, UK
Parisa Saadati, University of West London, UK
Nagham Saeed, University of West London, UK
Maged Abdullah Esmail, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia
Sagar Mahajan, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia
Umashankar Subramaniam, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia
Zeeshan Sattar, Ericsson, Canada
Muhammad Kamran Naeem, Research Fellow, University of Wolverhampton, UK
Shakeel Ahmad, Associate Professor, Solent University, UK
Sérgio Lopes, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Sponsorship

The workshop will be sponsored by MDPI Electronics.

Awards

The best paper and the best presentation will be awarded 300 CHF each.

Important Dates

Paper Submission Deadline – June 25, 2021
Acceptance Notification – July 16, 2021
Camera-ready Deadline – July 31, 2021
Workshop Date – September 7, 2021

Submission Instructions

Prospective authors are invited to submit high quality original Full or Short papers via the EDAS submission site (link). Full papers should describe novel research contributions with evaluation results and are limited to 7 pages. Short papers, limited in length to four (4) pages, should be more visionary in nature and are meant to discuss new challenges and visions, highlight early research results, and explore novel research directions.

All submitted papers must be unpublished and not considered elsewhere for publication should be written in English and formatted according to IEEE Template. Each submitted paper will pass through the standard IEEE peer-review process and, if accepted and presented at the Workshop, will appear in the IEEE ISC2 2021 conference proceedings, and will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore digital library.