Autonomous Radios and Open Spectrum in Smart Cities

This chapter discusses the needs and challenges of future smart cities and the critical role wireless devices play in conveying the information needed to operate the smart cities. It shows that the open spectrum regime provides a compelling solution to the demands of having a connected city, that cognitive radio (CR) is the solution to exploit this free spectrum, and that the frequency envelope modulation (FEM) and network organization scheme provides a way for CRs to effectively form ad hoc networks in an efficient manner. Smart cities essentially require augmenting a city's existing infrastructure with an advanced command and control network to control the flow of resources. The issues relating to resource sharing have been studied extensively in the literature. At the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers, spectrum sensing, spectrum handoff, and spectrum management are fundamental issues.