Smart cities: powered by cellular connectivity

Picture the scene. You are sitting in your connected car, navigating your way through the rush hour traffic on your way home from work. There has been an accident on your usual route home, but your car, equipped with advanced sensors and the latest connectivity technology, communicates with smart traffic systems, and seamlessly re-routes you based on real-time data, getting you home with minimal stress or time lost.

As you pull up to your apartment block, your parking assist system automatically activates and guides you into a narrow parking space without fuss. You walk through your front door and your smart home system, prompted by your wearable device, has already adjusted the lighting and temperature to your preference, and your favorite playlist duly starts playing on your home’s smart speaker system. As you sit back on your couch, your smartphone pings with a notification from your smart meter app congratulating you for your below-average water consumption.

This is not science fiction – just an ordinary day in a smart city.

Understanding smart cities

Smart city concepts have been evolving for more than a decade now. Increased urbanization – more than 55% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, with that percentage projected to grow to 68% by 2050¹ – and digitalization, as well as globalization and the urgency of climate change, have all been driving forces in turning the vision of smart cities from a future ideal to a present reality. But what exactly is a smart city?

There is no universally accepted definition. In 2012, urban strategist Boyd Cohen popularized a framework known as the Smart Cities Wheel to provide “clarity and consensus around what a smart city is and what the components of a smart city actually are.” The wheel helped define smart cities by splitting them into six categories: smart economy, smart living, smart government, smart people, smart environment, and smart mobility.

In essence, a smart city can broadly be understood as an urban environment that utilizes technology to improve the quality of life of its citizens, boost sustainability, enhance governance, provide digital services, and optimize resource management. These cities leverage interconnected sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and data analytics to collect and analyze real-time information, enabling intelligent decision-making and responsive services. By integrating digital technologies into various infrastructure systems, such as transportation, energy, and public services, smart cities aim to create more efficient, comfortable, and sustainable urban environments. All these data-centric services require secure network connectivity and trusted device identification. This is where SIM technology plays a central role.

Smart cities in action

There’s no shortage of ways smart cities can make our lives easier, and many forward-thinking cities are already taking advantage of them.

Singapore, which has been pursuing its Smart Nation policy since 2014, has long since established itself as the benchmark for smart urban development. From introducing self-driving vehicles and high-speed public internet connections², to the mass adoption of contactless payments and smart homes for the elderly³, Singapore is harnessing the power of technology to tackle a number of pressing issues like rapid urbanization, an aging population, and an increasing need to be more sustainable.

Other cities at the forefront of smart city development include London, which has the most 5G towers in Europe⁴, ensuring free Wi-Fi access in public buildings and city streets throughout the city, and Zurich, which is using sensors to adjust street lighting based on monitored traffic levels – enabling energy savings of up to 70%.⁵

These examples underscore the transformative potential of smart cities, providing a blueprint for how urban centers worldwide can leverage technology to meet the evolving needs of their citizens while promoting sustainable development.

Though the promise of smart cities is exciting, they are not without risks. The increasing connectivity and reliance on data have caused valid cybersecurity concerns. Breaches could lead to service disruptions or, worse, the misuse of sensitive personal data.

Privacy is a major concern in the age of smart cities. As more devices collect and share data, protecting individuals’ privacy becomes even more important. It’s essential that smart cities are built upon secure and reliable technology that can uphold data privacy while making the seamless operation of smart city networks possible.

Cellular connectivity plays a central role not only in enabling the sophisticated network of interconnected devices, sensors, and data platforms within the smart city ecosystem, but also in keeping it secure.

Unlike Wi-Fi or other local wireless networks, cellular networks allow for a more streamlined management of large groups of IoT devices and sensors within a city. Centralized management not only facilitates scalability and digitalization, but also bolsters security by enabling the unique identification, data signing, and encryption of IoT devices using iSIM/eSIM. The longer signal range and carrier-grade infrastructure provide additional security benefits.

Cellular networks also offer wider coverage and interoperability, enabling a vast number of IoT devices spread across the city to communicate and exchange data, thus eliminating the need for repeaters or intermediary network hubs in close proximity. The adaptability of devices via remote SIM provisioning (RSP) will also play a crucial role as IoT deployments become increasingly mobile and scaled.

Finally, cellular connectivity presents significant advantages in terms of cost. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, though free at the point of use, require manual management and installation, which results in notable operational costs. The switch to cellular connectivity in powering smart cities therefore represents not only a technological but also a cost-effective choice.

The iSIM is “the latest development in SIM technology”. Unlike its predecessors, the iSIM combines a tamper-resistant element (TRE) with a baseband chipset within a system-on-chip (SoC) to create a single, comprehensive connectivity module for IoT devices. This advanced technology carries immense potential, especially for the IoT industry, due to its small footprint and low power requirements. Moreover, the isolated, tamper-resistant hardware ensures it is as secure as other high-end SIM solutions.

Its unique characteristics enable a variety of smart city applications in narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices that have long life cycles and are used in low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN). The iSIM’s low power consumption and small size are perfect for embedding it into these devices, which are often battery powered and designed for long-term use.

The resulting real-time transfer of data facilitates better resource management across a number of use cases. For example, utility companies can remotely monitor smart meters in homes to ensure energy efficiency, while smart street lighting could help minimize power consumption and light pollution in cities. Another powerful use case is the deployment of city-wide sensors, which can provide valuable data on environmental factors such as air quality and noise levels, thus empowering us to take steps to reduce pollution.

In a rapidly urbanizing world, smart cities offer a solution for a more sustainable, efficient, and comfortable future. However, this future cannot be realized without cellular technology powering the connectivity of the millions of interconnected IoT devices within these smart cities. With that comes a great responsibility to ensure the safety of personal data, above all else. In order to realize the true potential of smart cities in the future, it is critical that all stakeholders stay abreast of the latest technological and security challenges that emerge.

Published: 23/10/2023