5G Networks Towards Smart and Sustainable Cities: A Review of Recent Developments, Applications and Future Perspectives

5G wireless communication systems provide massive system capacity with high data rates, very short low-latency, and ultra-high reliability, in addition to high connection density with a positive experience on smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT). Future networks are anticipated to revolutionize typical applications such as the enhanced mobile broadband services (EMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) anywhere and everywhere. This rationalizes the need to investigate the sustainable elements of 5G networks in smart cities to understand how 5G networks can be more environmentally- friendly and energy-efficient. This paper aims to investigate how 5G networks can act as key enablers in achieving sustainability in smart cities, using a macroscopic review. An overview of 5G communication networks and several 5G technologies used in smart city applications to enhance sustainability is presented. This is followed by investigating the indicators that measure sustainability in 5G networks across the environmental, social, and economic dimensions; and sub-dimensions such as energy efficiency, power consumption, carbon footprint, pollution, cost, health, safety, and security. The results show that the majority of research papers focus on the environmental dimensions of sustainability (42%) when attempting to address sustainability in 5G systems and smart cities. The findings also showed a huge interest in the economic (37%) and social (21%) dimensions as well. Further, when examining the sub-dimensions, it was found that most of the studies focused on energy efficiency (20%), power consumption (17%), and cost (15%).

Automated summary

This paper investigates the role of 5G networks in achieving sustainability in smart cities through a macroscopic review. It provides an overview of 5G communication networks and several technologies used to enhance sustainability in smart city applications. The majority of research focuses on the environmental dimension of sustainability, with significant interest in the economic and social dimensions as well.