**5. The smart cities scenario**

The QoS testbed is currently being applied to Smart Cities scenarios, a class of applications which are gaining an increasing attention.

As described by William J. Mitchell (MIT, Smart Cities Group, http://cities.media.mit.edu/): "Our cities are fast transforming into artificial ecosystems of interconnected, interdependent intelligent digital organisms. Emerging applications in the ICT field are poised to reshape our urban environments".

In this context, wireless architectures and QoS infrastructures become nodes of a TLC network, which collects information from the surrounding areas and consequently supplies citizens with advanced infomobility services.

A very diffused and challenging problem to face is where hardware can be installed, since many areas and city centers are protected and regulated by severe rules by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

A possible solution is to place the whole hardware within preexistent structures, such as electricity posts, properly adapted in order to host the required technology.

A testbed based on this approach adopts "Intelligent Posts" hosting both hardware and software (Fig. 13). Such posts were installed by the WiLab group, in cooperation with Fondazione Almamater and Ghisamestieri within Villa Gandolfi Pallavicini (Bologna, Italy).

Fig. 13. Posts by Ghisamestieri for Smart Cities.

The QoS testbed is currently being applied to Smart Cities scenarios, a class of applications

As described by William J. Mitchell (MIT, Smart Cities Group, http://cities.media.mit.edu/): "Our cities are fast transforming into artificial ecosystems of interconnected, interdependent intelligent digital organisms. Emerging applications in the

In this context, wireless architectures and QoS infrastructures become nodes of a TLC network, which collects information from the surrounding areas and consequently supplies

A very diffused and challenging problem to face is where hardware can be installed, since many areas and city centers are protected and regulated by severe rules by the Ministry of

A possible solution is to place the whole hardware within preexistent structures, such as

A testbed based on this approach adopts "Intelligent Posts" hosting both hardware and software (Fig. 13). Such posts were installed by the WiLab group, in cooperation with Fondazione Almamater and Ghisamestieri within Villa Gandolfi Pallavicini (Bologna, Italy).

electricity posts, properly adapted in order to host the required technology.

**5. The smart cities scenario** 

which are gaining an increasing attention.

citizens with advanced infomobility services.

Fig. 13. Posts by Ghisamestieri for Smart Cities.

Culture and Heritage.

ICT field are poised to reshape our urban environments".

In this case, the effective management of QoS is tested in order to supply citizens with several services, such as video surveillance (both wired and wireless data transmission involved), integrated image analysis, Internet connection within urban environments, RFID services for tourists, emergency calls, radiodiffusion, fire prevention, parking management, localization, diagnostics and control by television. In addition, sensor network data collection, traffic information, access control, mobile payments, vehicle tracking, usergenerated contents, energy management, etc.

Through QoS management, such services will be configured dynamically on the basis of bandwidth availability. According to the throughput actually available in a specific temporal slot and thanks to a constant monitoring of radio resources on each route, both services to be offered to the user and applications to be kept active can be chosen.

More specifically, the testbed is addressed to transport improvement and traffic reduction through smart navigators.
