Victorian Institute of Technology: IoT in Smart Cities Research Report

This research report, prepared for the Victorian Institute of Technology, investigates the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on smart cities. The report begins with an extended abstract outlining the scope of the research, which focuses on the benefits and drawbacks of IoT applications. The introduction provides background information and frames the research questions, which examine IoT's impact on daily life, its overall implications (positive vs. negative), and the reliability of associated technologies. The report aims to identify the pros and cons of IoT through a literature review and a quantitative research methodology involving surveys of organizations using IoT. The literature review covers the growth of smart cities and IoT applications in various sectors, highlighting advantages such as automation and improved efficiency, while also addressing disadvantages like security risks and compatibility issues. The research methodology outlines the use of surveys to collect data from multiple organizations. Finally, a timeline for the research project is provided, detailing the various stages from topic selection to the completion of the final research thesis.

MITS Advanced Research Techniques
Research Report
Candidate:
Student Name
Higher Education Department
Victorian Institute of Technology
Report Title:
Pros and cons of internet of things on smart cities
Extended Abstract
People today are living in a world where a connected environment is prevalent and this can have both
positive as well as negative impact on their lifestyle. IoT refers to all those ubiquitous smart devices
that are always connected to the internet. The technology was expected to bring in improvisations in the
lives of people may it be in any spheres such as education, healthcare, entertainment, work and so on.
But though laced up with advantages the technology also has certain disadvantages and the major cost
which is being paid is compromisation with security as well as privacy. Data is at stake but with every
passing day the technology is becoming part and parcel of lives.
The paper discusses on the pros and cons of IoT and to do so first literature review has been done to get
an understanding previous versions and then quantitative research methodology has been opted so that
data can be collected from certain organizations that are making use of IoT in their operations. From
this data it is expected that the research questions set will be properly answered. Lastly, the timeline of
the research has been given.

Introduction
Internet of Things or IoT has become one of the most relevant terms in today’s world and this can be
attributed to the increasing use of the mobile devices, new concepts such as cloud computing and data
analytics. Billions of different objects are interconnected over either public or private Internet Protocol
networks. The devices are indulged in data collection, its analysis and then initiating various actions
thus giving a range of intelligence for planning, decision making as well as management. Thus IoT is
network of different objects and the technology is rapidly emerging making smart homes, smart
appliances and many things as such. Cities are becoming the incubators for IoT-dependent systems and
with every passing day the urban life can be said to be as getting attractive than before. Different
countries are making use of IoT in various ways such as in Barcelona, a Wi-Fi along with information
network that is connected to sensor software and data analytics is aiding in smart water technology [1].
But IoT as any new technology has both negative as well as positive aspects. It has the potential to
bring in significant changes in the lifestyle of human beings. Thus, in this paper the pros as well as the
cons will be discussed upon.
Research questions
The research questions in this case are as follows:
1. How is IoT impacting the lives of common people?
2. Does IoT have maximum of good implications on human life or maximum of bad implications on
human life?
3. Can technologies such as sensor and driverless cars under the purview of IoT be fully relied upon?
Research aim and objectives
The main aim of this study is find out the different pros and cons of IoT In order to understand the
same it is required that all those field where IoT is being made use extensively be researched on and
then found out as to how these organizations are getting benefitted or disrupted by making use of IoT.
The objectives of this research are as given below:
1. To find out the impact of IoT on the lives of common people.
2. To figure out whether this technology is laced with maximum of positive implications or maximum
of negative implications.
3. To analyze whether sensor, driverless cars and many such technologies coming under the purview of
IoT can be relied upon.
Rationale of the research
The research has a lot of significance as IoT has become one of the most talked of technology today.
People need to know about the pros as well as cons so that they can decide whether to adopt this
technology fully or maybe partially for some purposes.

Literature Review
As the cities are growing and expanding, innovative and smart solutions are essential to productivity,
reduce management costs and increase operational efficiencies. The citizens are equipping gradually
the homes with devices of IoT like internet box and TV. In sector of real estate, connected objects
consist of thermostats, smart door locks and smart alarms and other appliances and systems. Investment
within IoT would be essential in building smart cities, the services as the data using would generate
maximum revenue [1]. Technologies of IoT are expected as part of huge scale networks having several
devices within areas spanning many kilometers. Efficient solution of smart city should design as well
as incorporate platforms of IoT which meet requirements of IoT as well as allows management of
numerous connective devices, people and devices.
Advantages:
Every day many smart devices are tailored with several scenarios. With the help of smart
devices supported by technology of IoT, the smart education is a major element in IoT’s
implementation in the smart cities that are enabled with the help of digitalization and learning. There
are transformation educational elements with the help of IoT. IoT’s use in educational atmosphere cases
huge quantity of connections among educational objects which generates huge amount of data [2].
Recent technologies of Internet have changed structure of education.
Objects of IoT which are developed for the smart homes, gives automated and intelligent
services for homeowner. These help home owners with several daily tasks as well as help to maintain
the daily routines. Data is collected by the objects of IoT from home environment that could include
temperature, light, gas, fire events and humidity. With advanced analytics’ use comes opportunity for
making processes much more efficient. Systems and objects of IoT could automate specific task. Most
IoT devices are created by using few type of automation [3]. The automation would come often with a
great cost, however would come also with much better benefits. Home automation’s use be objects of
IoT controls schedule for TV, radio and lights for averting burglary when there is no one at home. By
interface, the homeowners could control the functionality for setting schedule or smart home could act
autonomously depending on knowledge after knowing owner’s usual behavior.
By using objects of IoT with pressure and motion sensors, the smart homes could help elderly
as well as the close ones. If elderly person becomes sick and unconscious, the motion sensors would
record the events as well as with use of algorithms of machine learning and AI, smart homes could find
out what is occurring [4]. Smart homes would analyze motion as well as compare with the old data for
detecting abnormalities. If there is detection of abnormal activity, smart homes could alert local
authorities of family for help with the help of automation.
IoT encourages communication among devices, where physical devices could be connected and
hence total transparency could be available with greater quality and lesser inefficiencies. Due to
connection of physical objects digitally with the wireless infrastructure, huge amount to control and
automation exists within workings. Without intervention of human, machines could communicate with
one another leading to timely and faster output. Interaction among machines provides much better
efficiency; accurate results could be obtained quickly [5]. It results to save valuable time. Optimum
utilization of resources and energy could be achieved through adopting the technology as well as keep
devices under observation.
Disadvantages:
With all data of IoT being transmitted, risk losing privacy increases. No international standard is

there for compatibility to tag as well as monitor equipment. As with every complex system, there are
several opportunities for failure. With IoT, failures could be a serious issue. As the devices from several
manufacturers would be interconnected, compatibility’s issue to tag as well as monitor increases.
Though this disadvantage might drop if every manufacture agrees to common standard, still technical
issue would persist. IoT is complex and divers network. Any bugs or failures in hardware or software
would have some serious consequences. Power failure could cause several inconvenience [6]. People’s
lives would be controlled increasingly by technology of IoT and would be dependent over it. Younger
generation already is addicted to this technology for all little things. Another essential issue of IoT
technology within smart cities is security breach. There are won vulnerabilities of connected objects
which are related to specific features of IoT.
Research methodology
There are types of research methodology that are qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research
methodology involves conducting secondary research that is topic related data is collected from
existing journals, published academic papers, historical records and many such things [7]. This is
mainly important when conducting literature review as this gives an idea about what the previous
authors have written and their concept helps in building the base of the research. In this research
literature review has been conducted but actual data will be collected by making use of quantitative
research methodology. Survey questionnaire will be made use of to ask questions to a sample
population and in this case the sample population will be 3-4 organizations and they can answer the
survey online. The results of this survey will be analyzed to answer to get the answers of the research
questions [8]. The quantitative research has been chosen as this will allow reaching larger sample size,
information can be collected easily as well as quickly and most importantly the results obtained can be
duplicated if required.

Timeline
0-2 3-6 7-8 9-10 14th
Research
Activities
Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Week
Research
topic
selection
Literature
Review
Data
collection
Data
analysis
Final
business
Research
thesis
Gantt chart
(Source: Created by author)

References
[1]. J. Hwang, J. An, A. Aziz, J. Kim, S. Jeong and J. Song, “Interworking Models of Smart City with
Heterogeneous Internet of Things Standards”, IEEE Communications Magazine, 57(6), pp.74-79, 2019
[2]. W. Ejaz and A. Anpalagan, “Internet of things for smart cities: overview and key challenges”,
In Internet of Things for Smart Cities (pp. 1-15), Springer, Cham, 2019
[3]. A. Ouaddah, H. Mousannif, A.A. Elkalam and A.A. Ouahman, “Access control in the Internet of
Things: Big challenges and new opportunities”, Computer Networks, 112, pp.237-262, 2017
[4]. W. Ejaz and A. Anpalagan, “Internet of Things enabled electric vehicles in smart cities”, In Internet
of things for smart cities (pp. 39-46), Springer, Cham, 2019
[5]. M. Alhefdi, A. Winchester, K. Lingasubramanian, M.M. Tanik and U.J. Tanik, “An Information
Theoretical Model Of Internet Of Things System In Smart City Setting”, In 2019 SoutheastCon (pp. 1-
5), IEEE, 2019
[6]. Y. Yuan, “Smart City-Pros And Cons: An Experiential Feeling”, (No. 2018-27-12), 2018
[7]. U. Flick. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project. Sage.
2015.
[8]. M.S. Rahman. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Qualitative and Quantitative
Approaches and Methods in Language" Testing and Assessment" Research: A Literature
Review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6(1), pp.102-112. 2017.