Internet of Bikes: A DTN Protocol with Data Aggregation for Urban Data Collection.

Area of Science:

• Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Wireless Sensor Networks

Background:

• Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are crucial for addressing urban challenges like traffic congestion, accidents, and pollution.
• Public bike-sharing systems, integrated within ITS, offer a platform for mobile data collection.
• Existing data collection methods may lack efficiency in dynamic urban environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an efficient routing protocol for urban bike-sharing sensor networks using the Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) paradigm.
• To introduce the "Internet of Bikes" (IoB-DTN) protocol with data aggregation capabilities.
• To evaluate the performance of different IoB-DTN variants for data collection.

Main Methods:

• Development of three IoB-DTN variants: spatial aggregation (IoB-SA), temporal aggregation (IoB-TA), and spatiotemporal aggregation (IoB-STA).
• Application of the Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) paradigm to an urban bike-sharing sensor network.
• Comparative simulation analysis against a non-aggregated IoB-DTN and LoRa technology.

Main Results:

• All three IoB-DTN variants demonstrated superior performance across multiple metrics compared to the baseline IoB-DTN.
• The proposed aggregation methods significantly improved data collection efficiency.
• Performance varied among the variants, suggesting context-dependent applicability.

Conclusions:

• The IoB-DTN protocol, particularly with data aggregation, offers an efficient solution for data collection in urban bike-sharing systems.
• The choice between IoB-SA, IoB-TA, and IoB-STA depends on the specific urban application and the nature of the sensed data.
• This approach enhances the utility of ITS and IoT in smart city initiatives.