Ipsum An Approach to Smart Volatile ICT-Infrastructures for Smart Cities and Communities

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-infrastructures are increasingly important for enabling technology within smart society with smart cities and communities. An ICT-infrastructure handles data and information and encompasses devices and networks, protocols and procedures including Internet, Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems. The current challenges of ICT-infrastructures are delivering services and applications that are requested by users, such as residents, public organisations and institutions. These services and applications must be combined to enhance and enrich the environment and provide personalised services. This requires radical changes in technology, such as dynamic ICT-infrastructures, which should dynamically provide requested services to be able to build smart societies. This paper is about pursuing smart and connected cities and communities by creating smart volatile ICT-infrastructures for smart cities and communities, called Ipsum. The infrastructure is of multidisciplinary art and includes different kinds of hardware, software, artificial intelligence techniques depending on the available parts and the services to be delivered. The goal is to provide a powerful and smart, and cost-saving volatile ICT-infrastructure with person-centred, ubiquitous and malleable parts, i.e., devices, sensors and services. Volatile means in real-time constitute a volatile network of devices and deploying it into cities and communities. Ipsum will be smart everywhere by collaborating with several different hardware and software systems and cooperating to perform complex tasks. By including ubiquitous and malleable parts in the infrastructure, Ipsum can facilitate an informed and engaged populace. 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.