Neighbor aware protocols for IoT devices in smart cities—overview, challenges and solutions

The principle of Smart Cities is the interconnection of services, based on a network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. As the number of IoT devices continue to grow, the demand to organize and maintain the IoT applications is increased. Therefore, the solutions for smart city should have the ability to efficiently utilize the resources and their associated challenges. Neighbor aware solutions can enhance the capabilities of the smart city. In this article, we briefly overview the neighbor aware solutions and challenges in smart cities. We then categorize the neighbor aware solutions and discuss the possibilities using the collaboration among neighbors to extend the lifetime of IoT devices. We also propose a new duty cycle MAC protocol with assistance from the neighbors to extend the lifetime of the nodes. Simulation results further coagulate the impact of neighbor assistance on the performance of IoT devices in smart cities.