Networks for Future Services in a Smart City: Lessons Learned from the Connected OFCity Challenge 2017

The drive toward ubiquitous communications has long been encompassed by the concept of a connected or smart city. The idea that data transfer and real-time data analysis can enhance the quality of life for urban inhabitants is compelling, and one can easily envision the provision of exciting new services and applications that such an information-driven city could provide. The challenge in achieving a truly smart city stems largely from communications technologies - fixed line, wireless, backhaul, and fronthaul - and how these are combined to provide fast, reliable, and secure communications coverage. Here, we report on the key observations from the Connected OFCity Challenge competition, held at OFC 2017, which addressed the fixed and wireless access network requirements for smart cities. It is shown that from a technological perspective, future optical networks will be capable of securely supporting extremely low-latency and high-bandwidth applications. However, as shown by using Networked Music Performance as a particularly challenging example application, how readily this is achieved will depend on the interplay between wired and wireless access services.