A smart city application: A waste collection system with long range wide area network for providing green environment and cost effective and low power consumption solutions

Abstract

The trend towards cities and urbanisation, which increases the number of people living in urban areas, requires local authorities to provide services and natural resources more efficiently and effectively and develop some strategies for a sustainable environment. The more effective use of resources, growing awareness of sustainable environment, climate confidence and motivation to make cities more livable is a new concept called Smart City. In this study, the proposed system supports the garbage collection of the city government and works with low budget, low energy, and free radio frequencies. The Internet of Things (IoT) sensor node is assembled, and the network is set up based on the long range wide area network protocol to connect it to the sample garbage bin and collect data. Instant data collection by this network is carried out through the IoT and is designed based on the collected data. The goal is to build an ideal system for smart garbage collection in cities and support sustainability in cities by integrating with the city government's information systems. The data received from the sensor nodes and the efficiency of the system were demonstrated for local governments. The main outcome of this research is to develop a practical smart city application with minimal resources and support local governments in their daily work. Moreover, how a low power wide area network communication network with a frequency of 868 MHz works in Istanbul (Turkey) will be investigated further and which alternative to cellular networks is the most suitable for excellent communication in smart cities will be studied.