Role of Electronics Devices for E-Health in Smart Cities

As the world's population ages, those suffering from diseases will increase. Researchers in electronics, computer, networking, and medical fields need to work more seriously to make the broad vision of smart healthcare/e-health system. To achieve the objectives of e-healthcare in smart cities, there is a need to create new system that allows the acquisition of health information smartly, automatically, and transparently in order to take efficient decisions provided by the supporting system. Such systems may be designed technically by embedded together communication, smart signals, internet of things, network of sensors.

Fog Removal Algorithms for Real-Time Video Footage in Smart Cities for Safe Driving

In this chapter, different approaches are presented for removal of fog from video footage taken in moving cars. The methodology uses different approaches, namely dark channel prior, contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE), the combination of two approaches (dark channel prior and CLAHE), and RETINEX algorithm combined with DWT. The algorithms are implemented in MATLAB R2015a. Moreover, the algorithms are compared based on their computational complexity and a visibility metric which is used for computing the CNR of video frames before and after the application of the algorithm. The chapter discusses which algorithm would provide better performance during night fog and daylight fog. Finally, the safe speed of the driver is calculated based on the time complexity of the algorithm used.

Technological and Gamified Solutions for Pollution Control in Cognitive Cities

This chapter presents an idea in the contribution to the concept of smart cities is to build a place which provides clean air to breathe. Advancements in the technology is acting as a bane to environmental balance leading to global warming, irregular rain cycles, increasing pollution, disturbed rainfalls. The need of the hour is to find a solution to the issue of increasing pollution that may lead to disastrous consequences. This chapter builds a framework of a cognitive city with attention to the impact and burden over environmental resources. This chapter is a perfect integration of traditional approaches, technological methods, and gamified solution as a remedy to growing pollution that can be and should be deployed in the project of smart city.

Impact of Dust for Solar PV in Indian Scenario

The facile conversion of sunlight into electricity of a solar-energy system is predominantly associated with the sun's irradiance as well as myriad environmental/climatic factors and photoactive material employed. However, the impact of other external factors associated with solar-rich geographical location (India) can be more influential on system performance. Among these, dust is oft-times an overlooked or understated issue that can be a major stumbling block in a solar panel's output performance. This chapter provides an insight of dust's impact on photovoltaic modules and evaluates mitigation of power loss and other performance parameters due to dust accumulation. In addition, this chapter analyzes dust's impact on the real-time data collected for 46 inverters with total 114819.30 kWh productions in a month with an average of 4416.13 kWh/day. The research further reviews key contributions to the understanding and performance effects of dust on solar module and presents an inclusive literature survey/assessment.

Cyber Security Challenges for Smart Cities

Smart cities are composed of interlinked components with constant data transfer and services targeted at increasing the life style of the people. The chapter focuses on diverged smart city components as well as the security models designed to be implemented. The four major paradigms discussed in this chapter are smart grids, building automation system (BAS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and smart vehicles. Apart from addressing the security concerns of every component, the major highlights of this chapter are architecture, smart environment, industry, lifestyle, services, and digital lifestyle quality. Finally, the chapter focuses on privacy preserving mechanisms, its essence over smart cities, strong architecture related to privacy, preserving mechanism, and various approaches available that can retaliate these issues in a smart city environment.

A Framework to Develop a Zero-Carbon Emission Sustainable Cognitive City

To develop a sustainable zero-carbon cognitive city, a setup is required that will lessen outflows of ozone-depleting substances to zero and all practices that discharge ozone-harming substances. This progress incorporates de-carbonizing power and zero-emanation transport for environmental change. Zero-carbon urban areas keep up ideal living conditions while wiping out natural effect. Rather than utilizing set up urban communities, numerous engineers are beginning sans preparation with a specific end goal to make a zero-carbon city. While keeping this in view, the authors propose a framework for zero-carbon emission sustainable cognitive cities. They ensure that each part of a city adds to its being without carbon. They integrate large and small-scale energy initiatives and solutions along with citywide improvements in energy efficiency, low carbon transportation, and distributed energy resources. The cities will become clusters of smart energy communities, which can exploit the benefits of new energy systems.

Intelligent Anomaly Detection Video Surveillance Systems for Smart Cities

With the growing demands of safety for people and their properties, video surveillance has drawn much attention. These requirements have led to the positioning of cameras almost every corner. Smart video surveillance systems can interpret the situation and automatically recognize abnormal situations, which plays a vital role in intelligence monitoring systems. One vital aspect is to detect and alert generation of suspicious events then to notify operators or users automatically. A long time may pass before an event of interest to take place. In such situations, human attention may get diverted and an event of interest may get missed. In such case, video surveillance systems can effectively improve safety and security for the control and management of public areas or personal life. Independent surveillance systems to replace the traditional (human observer-oriented) systems also can relieve the workload of relative personnel.

Innovative Ideas to Manage Urban Traffic Congestion in Cognitive Cities

The cognitive city transport plays a vital role in setting the targets of monetary similarity and aggressiveness, social harmony, and reasonable significant development. As per the principle of urban development and versatility, the urban communities and their formative experts, which are dynamic in their considerations, are supporting neighborhood governments in handling portability issues, which shape basic examples over all subjective and dynamic populated urban areas. Interest for traveler and cargo transport is continually expanding in urban communities and towns, adding to movement clog, contamination, and car crashes. Understanding the movement clog is a typical test for governments and transport experts in all these urban formative specialists. As per them, putting the current versatility inclines on a maintainable cutting-edge way requires an aggregate rejig of urban portability.

Ontological Design for Cognitive Cities

Based on the advancements of a smart city, the cognitive city focuses on the communication between the city's stakeholders and cognitive systems to create a human-machine symbiosis in which human and machine can interact directly with each other. To develop the cognitive city means to design this sociotechnical relationship. This requires a variety of approaches, methods, and tools. To this purpose, the authors of this chapter suggest the concept of ontological design. This principle helps to develop a research methodology toolbox that can be applied to create research and development strategies suitable for shaping the relationship between human and environment. This chapter is an essay with the aim to encourage the reader to reflect. Ontological design means that it is necessary to become aware of the influences of today's actions on the future. With the help of an illustrative use case, this chapter wants to demonstrate why and to what extent the concept of ontological design can support urban development.

Green Communication for Cognitive Cities

To meet the explosive data rate requirements of future cognitive cities, mobile and wireless technologies are evolving at a very fast pace. With the faster adoption of bandwidth-hungry applications in our daily lives, the energy consumption in wireless networks has increased. Higher energy consumption has imposed some serious health concerns such as exposure to harmful radiation and increase in carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. To overcome the ecological and health issues and to meet the end user's high data rate requirements for the successful deployment of the cognitive cities, the most important technology is green communication. Taking into consideration the importance of green communication technologies, this chapter presents an intense survey on energy-efficient technologies developed for green communication. Some key research challenges pertaining to the use and deployment of these technologies for green communication are discussed. In the end of this chapter, the worldwide standardization efforts for cognitive cities are also highlighted.