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Network and Infrastructure

IoT on CityU Wi-Fi

by S K Tsui

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to billions of network devices, sensors and actuators around the world capable of gathering data (e.g. temperature, location, etc.) from the environment and sharing the data across the Internet. The data collected will then be analyzed, processed and utilized for various purposes.

Applications of IoT​​

IoT can be applied to a wide range of fields such as city management, healthcare, environment monitoring, manufacturing and agriculture to improve efficiency, productivity and to improve the quality of our life. Below are some examples of IoT applications:

  • ​​Smart cities to monitor and control the followings:
    • Street and traffic lights
    • Transportation
    • Traffic flow
    • Parking
    • Infrastructure and maintenance
    • Waste management
    • Air quality
    • Energy usage and distribution
  • Wearable healthcare & fitness devices to monitor our heart rate, blood pressure, daily activities, and other metrics that help us keep in shape.
  • Smart buildings, offices and homes to monitor and adjust temperature controls, energy usage, cyber security, as well as to implement smart facility services, building automation, etc.
  • Factory and industry to monitor and control the followings:
    • Production flow
    • Inventory management
    • Quality control
    • Packaging optimization
    • Logistics and supply chain optimization
  • Smart farming to monitor the crop fields with various sensors such as light, humidity, temperature and soil moisture as well as automating the irrigation system to reduce waste and enhance productivity.
  • Almost all fields that one can think of can benefit from the IoT technology. 

IoT Wi-Fi network in CityU

To facilitate departments to run IoT applications and setup IoT devices within the CityU campus, the Computing Services Centre (CSC) has established an IoT wireless network to enable Wi-Fi IoT devices such as temperature sensor and smart security camera to connect to the CityU WLAN. 

Most of the Wi-Fi IoT devices can connect to the CityU WLAN.  The followings are the basic requirements:   
  • Support 802.11a/b/g/n/ac connection
  • Support WPA2-PSK
  • Support hidden / non-broadcast SSID
  • Support DHCP 

To secure and protect the IoT devices from unauthorized access, the devices have to be registered with the CSC. Private IPs will then be assigned and NAT applied to enable the devices to access the Internet.

You may refer to the web page

http://www.cityu.edu.hk/csc/deptweb/about/policies/CityU_IoT_Wi-Fi.pdf
for the deployment guide.

IoT network for devices using ethernet (wired) connection is currently under construction and will be available soon.

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