# Using Delay Tolerant Networks as a Backbone for Low-cost Smart Cities

## TL;DR

This paper proposes using delay tolerant networks as a cost-effective backbone for smart city IoT connectivity, enabling resource-efficient urban monitoring especially in developing regions.

## Contribution

It introduces a model for designing and evaluating DTN-based smart city networks, demonstrating potential with real transit data and discussing performance improvements.

## Key findings

- Preliminary results show feasibility with Chapel Hill transit data.
- DTNs can significantly reduce smart city deployment costs.
- Discussion of strategies to enhance network performance.

## Abstract

Rapid urbanization burdens city infrastructure and creates the need for local governments to maximize the usage of resources to serve its citizens. Smart city projects aim to alleviate the urbanization problem by deploying a vast amount of Internet-of-things (IoT) devices to monitor and manage environmental conditions and infrastructure. However, smart city projects can be extremely expensive to deploy and manage. A significant portion of the expense is a result of providing Internet connectivity via 5G or WiFi to IoT devices. This paper proposes the use of delay tolerant networks (DTNs) as a backbone for smart city communication; enabling developing communities to become smart cities at a fraction of the cost. A model is introduced to aid policy makers in designing and evaluating the expected performance of such networks. Preliminary results are presented based on a public transit network data-set from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Finally, innovative ways of improving network performance in a low-cost smart city is discussed.