High-Density and De-Densified Smart Campus Communications

PREFACE

High‐density campus communications have traditionally been important in many environments, including airports, stadiums, convention centers, shopping malls, classrooms, hospitals, cruise ships, train and subway stations, evangelical megachurches, large multiple dwelling units, boardwalks, (special events in) parks, dense smart cities, and other venues. These communications span several domains: people‐to‐people, people‐to‐websites, people‐to‐applications, sensors‐to‐cloud analytics, and machines‐to‐machines/device‐to‐device. While the later Internet of Things (IoT) applications are generally (but not always) low speed, the former applications are typically high speed. In many settings, people access videos (a la Over The Top [OTT] mode) or websites and applications that often include short videos or other high data‐rate content. Deploying optimally performing high‐density campus communication systems is desired and required in many cases, but it can, at the same time, be a complex task to undertake successfully.

High‐density campus communications play a role in the evolution of Smart Campuses but also drive the Smart City and Smart Building use cases. Connectivity is now considered a fourth utility (in addition to gas, water, and electricity). In fact, massive‐type communication is a recognized requirement of 5G, even if just in the machine‐type communication environment. In the campus applications just cited, people‐to‐people, people‐to‐websites, and people‐to‐applications ...