Book review: IoT and Big Data Analytics for Smart Cities: A Global Perspective

Sathiyaraj Rajendran, Munish Sabharwal and Gheorghita Ghinea et al., IoT and Big Data Analytics for Smart Cities: A Global Perspective, Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, 2022; 214 pp.: ISBN: 9781032108551, £110.00 (hbk)

The era of big data analytics (BDA), computing and Internet of Things (IoT) techniques has brought significant changes in the context of smart cities. IoT and Big Data Analytics for Smart Cities: A Global Perspective is a book consisting of nine chapters written by 38 academics in the field of technology who are all Indians. The book was edited by Sathiyaraj Rajendran, Munish Sabharwal, Gheorghita Ghinea, Rajesh Kumar Dhanaraj and Balamurugan Balusamy. It provides an explanation of current IoT and big data analytics (IoT-BDA) developments and identifies various energy-efficient strategies to advance smart-city applications. The authors detail the use of BDA, computing and IoT techniques in smart-city applications, highlighting the difficulties in implementing them.

The first chapter is the most basic part because it provides a brief review of research results on how integration and synergy between IoT and BDA can help the development of smart cities in various sectors. The sectors discussed are IoT-5G, timing error assessment on IoT networks, cloud security, microcontroller technology, heterogamy data processing in the healthcare industry, railway engineering, BDA applications and leakage of privacy information on mobile phones. The concept explanation in this chapter includes five main points, specifically BDA in concepts and layers, IoT concepts and usage protocols, big data and IoT challenges, smart-city applications and challenges and the importance of big data and IoT integration in smart cities.

Chapter 2 briefly reviews IoT and public relations and the urgency of using it in life. This chapter presents the integration between the cloud and the internet, its relationship with big data solutions and the challenges of its use. The authors convey their thoughts through six images of: the smart home, cloud computing categories, an existing study of predictive analytics, the architecture of BDA, processing based on predictive study and the application situations driven by the cloud–IoT paradigm. The images are accompanied by full explanations. The symbols in the images make it easier for readers to understand the writers’ train of thought. These visual images can help readers understand IoT, the cloud and big data even if they do not have a background in internet networking. However, one drawback of this chapter is that the literature lists are not arranged alphabetically.

Chapter 3 discusses the challenges of security systems and solutions offered in the use of IoT in smart cities, the framework of IoT data analysis concepts and conclusions. The image displayed is inefficient because its shape is too large (p. 53), but what is presented is the result of the authors’ conceptualisation, as evidence of the power of thinking. The advantage of this chapter is that the authors provide IoT security system solutions for smart-city applications in seven points that are presented straightforwardly and informatively, namely: securing IoT systems and networks, authentication for IoT systems, IoT encryption technology, IoT analysis for security, testing hardware, developing secure IoT applications and following the latest security threats.

Chapter 4 discusses the IoT–BDA architecture for smart cities. The authors present visuals of the importance of IoT–BDA involvement in daily human life activities, such as the use of lights, parking sensors, vehicle-position tracking, environmental security, waste disposal management, as well as smart learning and teaching in the field of education. In addition, the authors carefully point out the limitations of the analysis carried out, opening up opportunities for further research in enriching IoT–BDA analysis from different and the same sides.

Chapter 5 provides the most complete and thorough discussion compared to the other chapters. It discusses the framework of a smart traffic management system. The authors present theories, practices and ideal protocols on smart traffic management systems in India through case studies, including an emergency ambulance management system and the design of an Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) to monitor traffic, prevent pollution, identify potential collisions, optimise lanes and avoid traffic jams. They have also designed techniques centred on IoT to collect and manage data. At the end of the chapter, it is hoped that future research on e.g. transportation processes and rapid transit will adopt a smoother, gradual but progressive approach. The question that arises on reading this chapter is whether all the ideal schemes presented can be applied in India, which is known for its congested vehicle environment.

Reading Chapter 6 requires concentration because pp. 101–110 are in the form of a full explanation and one paragraph even has 28 sentences. This writing style could be onerous for the reader. It would have been better to interrupt the long narrative with relevant images. Chapter 6 is on one of the research projects with a combined qualitative and quantitative approach, and the data analysis makes the results of this research more valid and measurable.

Chapter 7 reviews the improvement of emergency vehicles with the help of IoT from various perspectives. Some images help readers interpret the comparative studies on traffic, patient and vehicle monitoring. The authors prove that emergency vehicle communication systems can connect with smart-city systems to obtain information on road conditions, traffic, weather and other factors that affect the security and safety of road users. With the COVID-19 outbreak, the use of IoT in patient health detection has brought its own innovation, where the patient’s condition can be read through various technologies that are automatically connected to devices in the hospital so as to help handle patients more quickly and accurately. After reading this chapter, readers get the impression that they are working as emergency vehicle monitors who are helping patients in emergency vehicles.

Chapter 8 has a similar topic to Chapter 7, discussing the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the use of IoT in maintaining the confidential data of patients exposed to the virus. The system leverages data from multiple sources, such as temperature measurement, face detection and location tracking, to help identify and control the spread of the virus. However, security- and privacy-related issues need attention, such as personal data protection, cyberattacks, network security and data errors and inaccuracies. To solve the problem of being able to use data encryption to protect personal information, strict security policies have been implemented to protect IoT networks from cyberattacks and secure security protocols for sending and receiving data are used. This research adds insight when the authors discuss how some countries, especially Spain and China, are facing the pandemic through IoT, especially the use of telephones to detect citizens’ travel activities during the pandemic.

Chapter 9 seeks to assess the impact of smart-farming concepts that combine advanced technologies such as IoT, big data and analytics systems to improve production efficiency, product quality and farmer profits. Case studies in Andhra Pradesh show how this technology can help farmers increase productivity and reduce production costs. Solutions for smart agriculture implemented in Andhra Pradesh include the use of weather and soil monitoring technology, IoT-based irrigation systems, IoT-based harvesting and BDA.

This book is a valuable reference for academics and researchers in the field of computer science and information technology, for policy makers in government and for IT professionals. It provides an explanation of the challenges and roles of IoT and BDA in smart-city applications, explains the need for convergence of BDA and IoT approaches and describes BDA and IoT intelligent systems from a global point of view. Suggestions and solutions for the development of smart transportation in smart cities provide a brief overview of the algorithms and approaches of BDA and IoT that are now accessible and offer guidance for creating solutions for applications related to smart cities. Just like other books, this book also has its shortcomings; among others, it is not as technical as some other works on the subject (Pyne et al., 2016; Tripathy and Anuradha, 2018; Tyagi et al., 2022), and it does not cover all elements of IoT and BDA in smart cities.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank to Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) for supporting this study and Indonesaian Researchers for Language Learning and Teaching (iRecall) for support the publication.

References

Pyne S, Prakasa Rao BLS and Rao SB (eds) (2016) Big data analytics: Methods and applications. New Delhi: Springer, p.276. Google Scholar

Tripathy BK and Anuradha J (2018) Internet of Things (IoT): Technologies, Applications, Challenges, and Solutions. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Google Scholar

Tyagi AK, Abraham A and Hussain FK, et al. (2022) Machine Learning, Blockchain Technologies and Big Data Analytics for IoTs: Methods, Technologies and Applications. Stevenage: The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Crossref | Google Scholar

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