Project Description:

Device-to-device communication is an aspect of the Internet of Things (IoT) which works to fulfil the envisaged perspective of the smart city. The smart trainer may communicate with the smart bin, for example, as the runner jogs past, communicating both: a) with the bin, on the number of people in the region, which may subsequently be communicated to a local waste truck informing on the need to collect rubbish from the bin, and b) with the jogger, on the proximity of the next bin.

In this vision of the smart city, devices are rapidly integratable into the network infrastructure and become interoperable with each other without significant modification required to the hardware or software already used [1]. This requires that a common approach to operation is possible across all devices which may be used, both now and in the future, regardless of the specifics of the device or the application being communicated.

The communication mechanisms commonly used to date are likely to be inappropriate in the evolving internet, given the way in which the network infrastructure is changing, the devices which are communicating with one another, the data being shared, and the requirements of the novel devices and applications which may be integrated into the IoT [2]. This places unique challenges on the protocol fabric [3]. 

It is crucial, for example, that a level of generic operation, which is not specific to any one device type or application, is provisioned. Standardised approaches to operation facilitate the rapid roll-out of applications and integration of new devices. This is an approach to communication which has not been made available in the internet infrastructure to date, and its attainment is anticipated to be challenging. Device-to-device communication is a new area of research being explored by a number of key players in the field including 3GPP, Ericsson, and ComSoc, occurring for a range of objectives such as proximity-based applications to trigger different services, local exchange of information to indicate emergency conditions in the vicinity, or applications supporting each other, such as in the case of smart vehicles for example.

The objective of this project is therefore to contribute to recent research in this area, and develop a protocol which supports interoperable operation between devices in the smart city IoT for application objectives within a chosen domain: As part of this project, the protocol solution proposed should be specific to a clearly defined domain, which can include the: Smart car [4]; Smart home [5]; Smart business/office [6]; Smart shop [7]; or Smart health [8].

It is intended that the device-to-device communication in this project will be incorporated at the application layer of the protocol stack. Definition of the application protocol will involve definition of the packet structure, including the header fields being communicated between devices. Definition of the application protocol will also involve development of the algorithm to be executed on the device for which the communication is taking place. This project also involves selecting suitable data structures using which the data may be retained efficiently on IoT devices both before and after the communication occurs. The work proposed as part of this project additionally involves the development of a discovery protocol which facilitates the identification of devices within the domain that may be communicated with.

Ideally, it will be demonstrated how the protocol is sufficiently generic to work beyond the specific application and domain chosen for this project. 

The implementation should take place within an open source network simulator such as NS-3 [9] or OMNeT++ [10]. The module developed to support device-to-device communication should be standalone in that it could be contributed to the open source simulation software using which it has been developed. This project will also require the development of device or application modules which are specific to the smart city, allowing the effectiveness of the device-to-device protocol developed to be demonstrated. 

References:
[1] The Climate Group, "Agile Cities," May 2013; Available at: http://www.theclimategroup.org/_assets/files/Agile-Cities-Report-Full-FINAL(1).pdf.
[2] Gartner, "Gartner Says 4.9 Billion Connected 'Things' Will be in Use in 2015," Nov. 2014; Available at: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2905717.
[3] ITU-T, "An Overview of Smart Sustainable Cities and the Role of Information and Communication Technologies," Oct. 2014; Available at: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/ssc/Pages/default.aspx. 
[4] Cisco, "The Smart and Connected Vehicle and the Internet of Things," 2013; Available at: http://tf.nist.gov/seminars/WSTS/PDFs/1-0_Cisco_FBonomi_ConnectedVehicles.pdf.
[5] N. Kobie, "How to Turn your Old House into a Smart Home," Jun. 2015; Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/09/old-house-smart-home.
[6] H. Davis, "Technology for Business: Smarter Office, Better Worker," Apr. 2015; Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/sme-home/11544721/technology-for-business-smart-office.html.
[7] C. Nahon, "Six Ways Technology is Changing the Way we Shop," Jun. 2014; Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/jun/25/six-ways-technology-changing-shopping.
[8] Z. D. Gonzalez, "Smart Health and Fitness Wearable Devices for 2015," Apr. 2015; Available at: https://www.wearable-technologies.com/2015/04/smart-health-and-fitness-wearable-devices-for-2015/.
[9] NS-3 Homepage; Available at: https://www.nsnam.org/.
[10] OMNeT++ Homepage; Available at: https://omnetpp.org/.
[11] Call for Paper. Elsevier Special Issue on Smart Wireless Access Networks and Systems for Smart Cities; Available at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ad-hoc-networks/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-smart-wireless-access-networks-and-systems/.
[12] Call for Paper: Hindawi Intelligent Transportation Systems; Available at: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/misy/si/724285/cfp/.