Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

The Socio-Economic Impact of Internet of Things towards Smart Cities

E. Tabane, T. Zuva, S.M. Ngwira
Computer Systems and Engineering Department
Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria
+27 822639285, Pretoria, S.A
Tabanee@tut.ac.za
ABSTRACT
The dynamic, rapidly changing and technology rich
digital environment enables the provision of added
value applications that exploited a multitude of
devices contributing service and information. With
the dawn of the Internet of Things (IoT) from the
internet as a web service, large numbers of devices
(objects) and environment are also becoming
smarter and are in the position to interact with one
another than ever before. IoT has gained substantial
attention over the preceding decades, with the
intentions of connecting Billions of sensors to the
internet, in order to effectively and efficiently utilise
them resourceful for smart cities. [1].

KEYWORDS:
Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Objects
1. INTRODUCTION
The term Internet of things (IoT) was initially
introduced by Kevin Aston in the year 1999,
and become widely adopted and used due to the
contributed work of the Auto ID Centre, a
research assembly that is specializing the field
of Networked- Radio-frequency Identification
and other related sensing technologies, however
a full and perceived definition was not yet
agreed upon at that time. ITU Reports 2005,
suggests that the world is heading towards a
Ubiquitous Network Society, where networks
and Networking objects (devices) would be
pervasive, in the near future, the whole lot
objects from spectacles to clothes will be in a
communication array, signalling the dawn of a
brand new era, one in which

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

everything and anything to be having an IP

address and being in a position to connect[2].
At present-day, the design and assembly of
physical Infrastructure is being alienated from
that
of
information
and
knowledge
Infrastructure, in such a way that computing
configurations offered by Internet capabilities
has influence and offer an attraction for smart
city inhabitants to utilize fully what the smart
cyber environment has to offer. Nonetheless,
the present socioeconomic development
requires city manager, global federal
governments and ICT professionals extend this
emerging computing capability into the
physical environment for human subsistence
and socioeconomic advancement. Therefore
IoT can be deemed relevant in addressing the
issues of urbanization and lack of
interconnected, integrated and interoperable of
smart devices in a physical environment. IoT
signifies the new inclination of near future
world of networking and Ubiquitous
computing.
In this Articles after providing the some
introduction on the concept of IoT, in section 2,
we define what is IoT, Section 3 outlines the
Architectural layers and Application domains
which are the building blocks of IoT, Section 4,
highlights Key challenges and problems related
to the development and advancement of IoT,
moreover in Section 5 we then introduce related
work in terms of the benefits and socioeconomic impact relating to the IoT. Finally, in
our conclusion, we outline the future research
direction and recommendations.

102

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

2. IOT APPROACH
2.1

What is Internet of Things (IOT)?

[3] defines The Internet of Things (IoT) as a

dynamic global information network consisting
of Internet-connected objects, such as RFIDs,
sensors, actuators ,as well as other Instruments
and smart appliances that are becoming an
integral component of the future internet. [4]
perceive the emerging of IoT as one of the
major treads shaping and influencing the
development of technology in the ICT sector at
large. This will extend Internet connectivity
beyond traditional desktop, laptop, pcs, smart
phones and tablet to diverse range of devices
and everything (objects) that uses embedded
technology to communicate and interact with
the external environment.
According to [2], The European Commission
has projected that by 2020 there will be fifty to
hundred Billion devices connected to the web,
furthermore it is envisioned that number of
connected devices or Objects will surpass seven
trillion by 2025, with an estimated of about one
thousand device per individual.
The IoT will further connect Billions of sensors
deployed around the world together. This will
create an ideal opportunity to build sensing as a
service platform. Sensors and actuators are
amongst the devices which with play a
substantial role in IoT. Some of these devices
have already been found in cars, smart phones,
home Appliances. With more development of
global/local sensors as part of advancement of
IoT, many devices will become more aware of
their context location and Activities happening
within global and local environment. Internet of
things (IoT) as a new paradigm that deals with
how things (objects) devices identifies one
another will allow space (platform) for
individuals and objects to connect anytime, any
location with something using current network
platforms and available services with the
intention of discovering new services and
solutions.

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

For a further better understanding of how

internet of things can assists in smart cities, the
above scenarios are presented.
Scenario 1: You are going down in a Malls
coffee shop, where you see that you need to
publish some documents which are part of the
meeting you having with a client which is of
important value. You use your smart devices
(gadget) to look for nearby wireless smart
printer. You get respond from a nearby wireless
smart printer. You broadcast a dictation to the
printer and it prints some text files for you at an
appropriate and realistic amount rather than
having to drive back to the office just to do
some printing.
Scenario 2: You are in a smart city and you feel
like having some Italian food. You use your
smart gadget to look nearby Italian restaurant.
You engender a response from a server from a
nearby Italian restaurant, the server allows you
to book a table and order some meal from a
range of menu 25 min before you progress to
the destiny.

Figure 1: An IoT for smart city Illustration

The above figure seeks to demonstrated how

Internet of thing (IoT) can assist in smart cites
using (IoT) technologies like sensors as a
service. In Order to enforce waste management
in smart cities, diverse types of sensors need to
be deployed in different fields such as garbage
cans and Waste management trucks, these
deployed sensors with detected wastage
information about the volume of the garbage,
type of garbage and the placement of the
garbage within the inner city. The low cost

103

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

passive sensors can be utilized to gather

information about the food waste and transport
it to the cloud based systems with the assists of
nearby communication infrastructure light poles
and the information can be passed to city
council and waste management department to
dispatch garbage trucks to collect full garbage
cans [5]
According to [2] the IoT consists of three
significant characteristics i.e. the Ordinary
Object which are instrumental, Autonomic
terminals which are interconnected and
pervasive services which are intelligent in
nature. Ordinary Objects: implies that smart
and Ordinary Objects such as tea cups, hot
seats, accessories and automobile run-flat tires
will be implanted with a small microchip, such
as RFID, sensors and barcode to enable them to
convey and be addressed individually.
Autonomic Terminals, on the one hand will
signify that somatic smart objects will be are
connected with a form of autonomic
networking terminals, e.g. a smart TV
connecting with a smart refrigerator giving
information.
Pervasive services, this deal with allowing any
object in a comprehensively-interconnected
network environment connecting and taking
part in a service discover and delivery flow
with the aim and objective of specifying the
entire service intelligent, e.g. a human wearing
a network device like an Iwatch which can
monitor his/her heart beat, the current location
he/she is at and also determine or obtain real
time information about that particular location.
[6] is of the view that objects produce data,
information or knowledge, some of which can
be used in a stand-alone events whereas other
can make available and ready be used or to
support outside world further more knowledge
can be contextualised to allow smart Objects to
act independently in some instance. Therefore,
IoT has emerged as an advanced Inclusive
Inter- disciplinary type of technology that
encompasses various fields such as Computer

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

Science, Tel-communications, microelectronics

and sensor technology.
3. ARCHITECTURAL LAYERS AND
APPLICATION DOMAINS OF IOT
The endless scenes that are offered by IoT will
create possibilities of the evolution of various
numbers of smart Applications, in which a very
little portion it is presently available and
accessible our global community. Various areas
and smart environment at which these
applications are developed will probable
advance and the impact of the tone of global
citizens lives, from the aspect of Home living,
wellness concern, environmental awareness to
the work. [7].
3.1

Application Domain

[3] states that various IoT Applications can be

classified into three main domain i.e. A)
Industrial Domain, the
smart city domain
and Health welfare domain. Regardless of their
Application area, such Application domains
ambition is to enrich the standard of everyday
life, which at a later stage can have a substantial
role in the economic and social impact at a
larger scale from aspects such as personal,
societal, medical, environmental and logistic
just to name the few.
3.2

Industrial Domain

All industrial undertakings encompassing the

profitability and financial transactions between
enterprises, large corporates and other
associated entities can be exploited using it.
Typical cases would be banking sector, service
sector, manufacturing and logistics and
intermediaries. A logistics and supply chain
attached with RFID which can be applied to
distinguish the materials and merchandise, be
they attires, smart furniture, foodstuff and
liquids can be a typical and relevant example
Industrial IoT Application. Besides IoT would
likewise offer an advantageous smart solution

104

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

in the automotive field, where by smart cars

would be diagnosed in a real-time event. All
components can then be constantly be
monitored using specific sensors attached to the
car from tire pressure, smart card data, fuel
intake, engine condition and reckless driving.
In the transportation Systems, IoT technology
application can be used in instances of
Bus/train fare collection, a safer luggage
management system which has embedded
sensors and tags to track the movement of
luggage and to root out theft and misplace.
3.3

Smart city Domain

IoT can be utilized to ameliorate the quality of

living, particularly in smart urban areas by
maintaining the environmental sustainability,
reduce crime rates and traffic congestion in the
smart inner cities, and lastly provides a path to
efficiently energy distribution.
Traditional cities will be transformed into smart
cities which will comprise of sensors, actuators,
smart cameras, and smart screens which will
collect data and information and tailor it into
useful
service
for
the
smart
city.
Communication technologies such as Vehicleto-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to- Infrastructure
(V2I) would be used to transfer gathered data to
control the information centre, giving way for
the allocation of spark parking and the detection
of vehicle which have parked illegally or are
stolen. Smart car drivers will no longer be using
the traditional way of paying for parking space
in the inner city and shopping malls using
coins, but rather they will be in a position to
pay with their smart phones which are
embedded with NFC technologies. Smart
Phones for will use smart application to guide
tourists in and around the smart cities city.[8]
According to [9] smart homes and buildings
will be close-fitted with infinite number of
sensing elements and smart devices ( e.g.,
Smart PCs, Smart TV, Audio speakers, smart
Appliances, plugs, surveillance cameras,

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

lighting
that will incorporate with
communications technology inside smart
Building and smart residential areas. In the near
future smart phones will be employed as a
central remove control to wield different types
of smart household applications.
3.4

Health welfare domain

The health and medical sector will also be

affected by IoT initiative and advancement,
where by advanced sensors will be deployed to
capture just in time data from different patients,
then transmitted the data to the relevant
Doctors, some wearable devices will also be
used to perpetually supervise the wellness of
the discharged patient and the patterns of
medication intake. Smart labels will be applied
during operation to minimize negligent of any
operation object being left inside patients body
after Operation and to clamp down on theft
relating to Hospital equipments. Furthermore
Hospital Beds will be close-fitted with smart
touch screen devices for both amusement and
education services e.g. your e-learning contents.
[2] is of the opinion that IoT systems
architecture can be divided into four layers:
Object sensing layer, Data Exchange layer,
information integration layer, and Application
Layer.
Table 1: Four-Layer Architecture of IoT

Application Service Layer

Information Integration Layer
Data Layer
Object Sensing Layer
The Objective sensing layer deals with the
sensing of the physical objects and attaining
Data: the data exchange layer on the other hand
deals with the transparent diffusion of data; the
Information integration layer role is in the
handling of recombination, filtering and the
synthesis of unclear information obtained from
the network, and integrate the unclear

105

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

information into usable knowledge lastly the

application service layer offers content services
to numerous end-users. This Architecture is a
clear indication of how the creation of IT will
move from traditional internet which lacks the
element of sensing capabilities, and has only
interconnecting intelligent devices to it which
can enable the interconnection amongst the
non-intelligent devices and scales down the
ambiguous requirements on the capabilities of
devices with its sensing ability.
Although, IoT architecture shows benefits and
comprehensiveness, it will however open new
challenges such as data exchange, information
integration and services, as well complexity in
terms of Architectural network, which requires
further study says[2].
4. THE CHALLENGES OF IoT
The IoT as a new phenomenon is also faced
with many challenges ranging from, Data
exchange within complex event Systems, the
actual integration, interaction adaptation of
ambiguous information, information privacy,
objects safety and security, data condentiality
and encryption and Network security says [10]
Challenge 1: Data exchange among Complex
event systems and various network elements:
access to enormous-scale network elements and
the interoperability for all objects and sensor
devices are all crucial for the advancement of
IoT. So the key challenge in this aspect will be:
How to figure out the current burning issues
between the extra huge-scale, heterogeneity and
the vigorous nature of its systems and
Application and the prerequisite for highly
efficient data/data exchange.
Challenge 2: Efficient integration and
interaction adaptation of uncertain information:
Several Smart devices or Object within the
physical world are sense of IoT technologies
and Application uses various sensors and
nodes, triggering some of the sensed

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

information identified as uncertain in nature.

These cases of uncertain data/information will
necessitate to be made out, filtered, purified and
be fused then they can be deemed ready to be
offered as a service. This might direct to
another key challenge in terms of: How best
can this fusion of data and information be
represented, recognized and be used effectively
and efficiently during the data / data exchange
within network elements.
Challenge 3: Service adaptation in the dynamic
systems environment. In the rapid vibrant IoT
systems environment, we must be in a position
to address issues of uncertainties, ambiguities,
anytime anywhere adaptations, complex events
handling, service discovery and context
awareness. Thus a new mechanism must be
develop and be implemented to address
challenges related to resolving self-adaptation
of its service discovery and delivery in a
complex event environment.
Challenge 4: Information Privacy: The IoT
uses diverse types of object identication
technologies e.g. 2D-barcodes, RFID, etc.
Afterwards, each type of day-to-day use of
objects will transmit these identication tags
and embed the object specic information, it is
really essential to take appropriate privacy
processes and prevent unauthorized access.
Challenge 5: Objects safety and security: It
entails of a very enormous number of
perceptual objects that drift over some
geographic
area,
it
is
consequently
indispensable to prevent the intruders access to
the objects that may cause physical impairment
to them or might alternator their operation.
Challenge 6: Data condentiality and
encryption: The sensor objects (devices) carry
out an independent sensing or dimensions and
transmit this data into the information
processing unit above the transmission system.
It is therefore very essential that the sensor

106

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

objects (devices) should devour proper

encryption mechanism to assure the data
integrity at the information processing unit. The
IoT service would regulates who is legible to
view these data, therefore, it is necessary to
safeguard the data from externals.
Challenge 7: Network security: Data coming
from sensor Objects (devices) is directed above
wired or wireless transmission network.
Furthermore the transmission system must be in
a position to handle data from enormous
quantity of sensor object (devices) without
instigating any data loss due to network
congestion, whereby it guarantee proper
security measures for the transmitted data and
avert it from external interference or observing.
5. THE BENEFITS AND IMPACT OF IOT
The Economic value allied with IoT will be
large and the ROI (Return on investment) will
be massive for example it is perceived that the
US GDP will increase by 2-5% by 2025 with
accelerated productivity growth and the
significant increase in terms of Job creation and
poverty alleviation, [11].
The economic impact and benefits of the IoT
will be enormous. According to [12],Gartner
have forecasted that the accumulated value and
economic profit of the IoT will surpass $1.9
trillion in the year 2020 alone, furthermore
forecasters at McKinsey & Company (which
anticipated in 2012 about the present, and
deteriorating, scarcity of data scientists to
accomplish and work with big data) have
observed IoT phenomenon and have manage to
acknowledge and have managed and identified
6 major benefits that the IoT will derive:

Tracing behavior for Just in -time

marketing;

Improved situational awareness;

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

Sensor-driven decision analytics;

Process optimization;

Optimized resource depletion; and

Prompt control and response in complex

self-directed systems.

IoT will be crucial in turning a traditional city

into a smart city, the fundamental and evolving
sectors such as mobility, governance, energy
and buildings will benefit a lot from it. For
example, smart mobility services will be
created with the intensions of providing an
effective and efficient tool for city dwellers to
precisely plan their destinations via public or
private transportations as motorbikes, cars, vans
or bus sharing services of new enhanced
transport systems. At the same token
information collected from different sensors
across the smart cities, will be captured and
processed to assist smart municipalities to
observe conditions (potholes, slippery, wear
and tear) of all road towards the inner smart
cities, monitor the air and noise pollutions
within the smart city and lastly information
gathered will also assist waste management on
how to manage waste within the smart cities by
using sensors to monitor trash bins levels ,
Moreover the IoT will carry palpable benefits to
the environment, the society at large,
individuals and business, with the creation of a
new intelligent Applications, services and
products. [3].
Amongst the foremost driving forces that are
pushing us at an amassed pace towards full IoT
adoption and implementation are the following
appealing smart factors say [12]:
I.

Ubiquitous networks individual Wi-Fi

on ones smart phone and on each and
every other device (objects). Everybody
(and entirety all things) will desires and
wants to be connected.

107

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

II.

III.

Connected computing everybody will

desire that all our surrounding devices
from smart phones, iPad, Smart TV,
smart Cars and within Smart cities and
Smart village could keep track of what
we are doing, what is happening around
us, although out the day, and this is
already happening with some of the
devices which are embedded with
sensor
technologies,
thanks
to
Application like Twitter that we are able
to get pushed breaking news from Arab
spring to Syrian war and global stock
markets.
Ubiquitous sensors of all things. It is
already here with us the Internet of
Things
and
everythings.wearable
devices like Google glass and Apple
Iwatch are a typical example.

IV.

Analytics-as-a-Service the API and

App frugalities are already massive and
growing at an alarming rate this
enables almost any thing to perform
something exciting and fascinating for
as extensive as it can connect to an API
or beseech an App that can execute a
network-based service. Any Thing
can be regarded as an information
generator and/or collector that can also
acquire from, generates forecasts, also
may even proceeds information-driven
actions in response to the information
that are being collected.

V.

Marketing computing smart mobile

User engagement, geolocation, Google
earth, etc. are amongst the technologies
that are generating a network of
knowledge about smart User s
whereabouts, intents, inclinations, and
purchasing patterns. No doubt, this
point of location-based knowledge
needs to strike the precise balance
between Smart user confidentiality,
Privacy and the time it takes for

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

delivery of beneficial smart packaged

products and Smart services to that
Smart user.
As mention above the IoT will carry a tangible
amount of environmental, social, economic as
well as individual benefits, this will be driven
by the development of new smart and
intelligent Application systems, smart services,
new smart products all in different domain
sphere whilst as the same time safeguarding the
security and privacy of data, information and
content shared and exchange within this various
domain sphere. [13].
6. CONCLUSION
IoT Technology and Applications have
advanced into different areas with the aim of
enhancing business, assist in creating
sustainable smart cities and improves on
peoples quality of lives, also it has contributed
in improving the relationships between human
being, environment and objects (devices)
around them. This article provided a brief
introduction approach to it, outlined the
definition of it from different scholastics,
demonstrated
Application
domain
and
architectural layers of it, discussed challenges
related to it and give the projected focused on
the socioeconomic impact of it towards solving
the challenges of urbanization. In the near
future, we will try to unpack how it can be an
enabler for smart cities, create the IoT models
for complex event services discovery and
recommender system, offer discovery into
context-ware information integration and
service discovery for smart cities. Our work
will assists in formulating IoT theoretical
framework that will be used to develop
Complex event service discovery platforms and
systems for IoT within Smart cities.

108

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

REFERENCE
[1]

[2]
[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

C. Perera, A. Zaslavsky, P. Christen, M.

Compton, and D. Georgakopoulos, "ContextAware sensor Serach, Selection and ranking
model for internet of things Middleware.,"
presented at the 2013 IEEE 14th International
Confrence on mobile Data Management.,
Australia, 2013.
H. Ma. (2011, 28-04-2015). Internet of Things:
Objectives and Scientific Challenges.
E. Borgia, "The Internet of things vision: Key
features,applications
and
open
issues,"
Computer Communicatios, pp. 1-31, 230032015 2014.
S. Mitchell, V. Nicola, S. W. Martin, and L.
Anne. (2013, 21/03/2-15). The Internet of
everything
for
cities.
Available:
www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/gov/everythi
ng-for-cities.pdf
C. Perera, A. Zaslanvsky, P. Christen, and D.
Georgakopoulos. (2014, 19-03-2015). Sensing
as a service model for Smart Cities supported by
Internet of Things.
M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, R. Bruno, and L.
Valcarenghi, "Designing and Evaluating
Activity-Based Electric Vehicle Charging in
Urban Areas " in Electric Vehicle Conference
(IEVC), 2013 IEEE International Santa Clara,
CA 2013, pp. 1-5.
L. Atzori, A. Iera, and A. Morabito, "The
Internet of Things: A survey," Computer
Networks pp. 2787-2805, 1 June 2010 2010.
M. Gharbaoui, B. Martin, R. Bruno, L.
Valcarenghi, P. Castoldi, and M. Conti,
"Designing and evaluating Avtivity-Based
electric Vehicle charging in Urban areas," in
Proceeding of IEEEE electric Vehicle
Confrence, 2013, pp. 1-5.
J. Lu, T. Sookoor, L. Srinivansan, G. Gao, B.
Holben, J. Stankovic, E. Field, and K.
Whitehouse, "The Smart thermostat,using
occupancy sensors to save energy in homes,," in
Proceedings of the 8th ACM Confrence on
Embedded Networked Sensors Systems( SenSYS
'10), 2010, pp. 211-224.
R. Khan, S. Ullah Khan, R. Zaheer, and S.
Khan, "Future Internet: The Internet of Things
Architecture, Possible Applications and Key
Challenges," in 10th International Conference
on Frontiers of Information Technology,
Abbottabad, Pakistan, 2012.
Smart Cities and Smart Goverments : Using
Information Technologies to Address Urban
Challenges, 2013.

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

[12]

[13]

K. Borne. ( 2014, 04-05-2015). 14 Benefits and

Forces That Are Driving The Internet of Things.
Available:
https://www.mapr.com/blog/14benefits-and-forces-are-driving-internetthings#.VUdLw3mJjIU
C. Garcia-Mochon, D. Kuptotsov, A. Gurtov,
and K. Wehrie, "Coporative security in
Distributed
networks.,"
Computer
Communications, vol. 36, pp. 1284-1297, 2013.

109