Smart mobile technologies for the city of the future

Abstract

The Smart City concept is gaining popularity due to involving various technologies in public places in order to satisfy the citizens' needs. However, the success of the smart city paradigm is linked to the treatment and management of the amount of real time data, which can be at the moment most effectively approached with the help of cloud platforms. In this paper, we aim at discussing the most promising mobile cloud and data transmission technologies that are expected to make the city more “smart” and more affordable for the end-users. Hence, we also discuss Li-Fi as a future transmission of data through illumination that can enhance further the communication in a smart city as well as guarantee a wireless connectivity that meets the requirements of the citizens. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of these new technologies for the scientific community and suggest the future research directions that should go hand in hand with their deployment.