Resources on the Move for Smart City: A Disruptive Perspective on the Grand Convergence of Sensing, Communications, Computing, Storage, and Intelligence

TL;DR

This paper proposes leveraging vehicles equipped with sensing, communication, computing, storage, and AI capabilities to create a dynamic, resourceful SCCSI network that enhances smart city development in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of SCCSI-empowered vehicles forming a mobile service network to address resource demands in smart cities, integrating multiple technologies for a disruptive approach.

Findings

Conceptual framework for SCCSI vehicle networks

Potential for cost-effective, sustainable smart city solutions

Enabling resources and capabilities to move with vehicles

Abstract

The most commonly seen things on streets in any city are vehicles. However, most of them are used to transport people or goods. What if they also carry resources and capabilities for sensing, communications, computing, storage, and intelligence (SCCSI)? We will have a web of sensors to monitor the city, a network of powerful communicators to transport data around, a grid of computing power to conduct data analytics and machine learning (ML), a network of distributed storage to buffer/cache data/job for optimization, and a set of movable AI/ML toolboxes made available for specialized smart applications. This perspective article presents how to leverage SCCSI-empowered vehicles to design such a service network, simply called SCCSI network, to help build a smart city with a cost-effective and sustainable solution. It showcases how multi-dimensional technologies, namely, sensing, communications, computing, storage, and intelligence, converge to a unifying technology to solve grand challenges for resource demands from emerging large-scale applications. Thus, with SCCSI-empowered vehicles on the ground, over the air, and on the sea, SCCSI network can make resources and capabilities on the move, practically pushing SCCSI services to the edge! We hope this article serves as a spark to stimulate more disruptive thinking to address grand challenges of paramount importance.