# Mobile Networks and Internet of Things Infrastructures to Characterize Smart Human Mobility
## 2 Fundamental Requirements of Smart Human Mobility
### Ubiquitous Networking for the Internet of Things
#### 2.1.2 Remote or Rural Scenario  
Concepts such as Smart Cities and IoT are often used together, especially when talking about next gen cities and city innovation. IoT is viewed as the underlying infrastructure that enables the realization of a Smart City. Although urban areas are often a prime example of the adoption of new and innovative technologies, rural and remote cities cannot be disregarded from this new innovation cycle. There are, in fact, use cases and needs for Smart City technology applied to remote and rural areas, and more importantly, adapted for such reality. An IoT and mobile networks framework should be developed according to rural needs. In the case of human mobility, it should be employed to assess human mobility innovations that answer the needs of the different rural contexts [26]. However, rural mobility also presents many challenges relevant to IoT application. First, remote areas tend to lack communication network infrastructure. Second, local authorities should be offered the right incentives to buy into IoT systems, whose upfront installation costs are still quite expensive. The good news is that there are entities and initiatives that have already begun to tackle these challenges. For example, [27] uses low-consumption and long-range networks called long-range (LoRa) communications to remotely monitor the health conditions and living standards of elder people, spread over large rural areas with limited to no mobile network coverage. Another example can be found in [28], where communities live in the Peru Amazon rainforest without access to communication services. In this work, a model that is based on the notion of small rural operator (SRO) is presented. The SRO directly targets the use case of communication needs of isolated communities in rural areas. In [29], the Sigfox network is used to collect messages obtained between the cities of Antwerp and Ghent granting network coverage complementing standard communication infrastructure. Figure 4 presents a map with Sigfox transmission locations. Another typical difficulty associated with using IoT and mobile networks in rural areas is security. The possibility of data breaches should be addressed before using IoT. However, solutions like Bridgera IoT [30], a custom cloud platform, provides individuals with a sense of security where the capability to locate and track people and assets in real-time is made possible with IoT technology. Additionally, there are a lot of devices with proprietary technology in the IoT which makes horizontal communication between devices hard. Lack of interoperability with increasing costs is the biggest barrier to the use of IoT in rural areas. To counter this trend, the European Union (EU) is committed to sponsoring, new developments and research and innovation (R&D) targeting rural digital ecosystems and service platforms, through a \(\xi 30\) million initiative and a new term, \"smart village\" for focusing the approach to rural and remote areas [31]. The two new large-scale pilot projects (\"OrganiCity: Co-creating smart cities of the future\" and \"IoF2020: Internet of Food & Farm 2020\") represent an example of how interoperability mechanisms can  
Figure 4: Sigfox transmission locations are indicated by red dots on the map (based on [29]). be used to link to smart villages in remote areas. Ultimately, although data protection, privacy, and cross-border data exchange are important features that can be violated with the extreme connectivity of IoT, some projects have been trying to find solutions for this challenge. One of them uses five characteristics of the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to explain the organization's IoT security strategy. The study [32] suggested that the five characteristics of the DOI theory and the awareness and security of the external factors were critical in the factors that influenced the adoption of internet banking in South African rural areas.