Key Technologies for 6G-Enabled Smart Sustainable City

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

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Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents the latest trends and key features of smart sustainable city (SSC) standardization, highlights the key role of information technology in sustainable urban development, analyzes the latest trends in smart cities, including the challenges posed by increasing global greenhouse gas emissions, urban population growth, etc., and the smart city policies developed by countries. Then the standardization of smart sustainable cities is elaborated in depth, including ICT standardization for smart sustainable cities and the standardization of candidate ICT technologies for smart sustainable cities. To build the SSC of the future, the paper also discusses in detail key 6G candidate technologies such as non-terrestrial networks, advanced mobile edge computing, vision-assisted wireless communication, artificial intelligence (AI) -based wireless communication, and integrated sensing and communication, and analyzes the issues and key challenges to be solved by these key candidates. The paper then discusses the potential benefits of these key technologies in realizing smart sustainable cities that support 6G, and looks forward to the positive effects of these technologies on the quality of human life and the efficiency of urban services in the future.

In general, this paper systematically introduces the development status and future trends of smart sustainable cities and related technologies, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding and understanding. At the same time, through the detailed analysis of key technologies, the paper points out the direction for the future development of smart cities, which has certain reference value. The overall structure of the article is clear, and the discussion part is in-depth and reasonable. Possible areas for improvement are:

1. In the analysis of the latest trend, it can provide such as urban practice cases to support the views, so as to enhance the credibility and persuasiveness;

2. The introduction section can be further expanded to provide more background information on smart sustainable cities and their importance to help readers better understand the topic of the article.

it is ok

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper first provides the recent trends and key features of standardization in the smart sustainable city, and further illustrate and discuss the potential benefits of prime technologies for SSC. This paper is easy to follow and is generally well-written. Some concerns need to be addressed as follows.

1.     Main contributions and novelty should be provided in the abstract and introduction.

2.     The full name of abbreviations, such as 6G, should be provided in abstract.

3.     Authors should update state-of-the-art high-quality references on advanced mobile edge computing, vision-aided wireless communication, AI-based wireless communication, such as [R1] Short-term and long-term throughput maximization in mobile wireless-powered Internet of Things, IEEE IoTJ, 2023; [R2] Throughput maximization of wireless-powered communication network with mobile access points, IEEE TWC, 2023. The contribution of R1 on AI-based wireless communication and that of R2 on wireless communication should be referred.

4.     Some minor issues should be checked throughout this manuscript. “ITU-SG 20[14] focuses on the standardization of key performance indicators (KPI) to evaluate the use of ICT” should be revised as “ITU-SG 20 [14] focuses on the standardization of key performance indicators (KPI) to evaluate the use of ICT”. “that specify the requirements, frameworks, operations, and management systems” in page 5 should be not indented.

5.     In section 4.1, authors introduce the evolution of mobile communication systems, which has been introduced by many references, and is suggested to be simplified.

6.     The logic of introducing technologies for future SSC should be clearly provided.

7.     More vital performances of AI-based wireless communication should be introduced except throughput and efficiency.

8.     A more detailed explanation of how ISAC system achieves its advantages and capabilities should be provided.

9.    Some images should be reduced, such as Figures 1, 3, and 8.

10. Important results and insights should be provided in conclusions.

Minor editing of English language is required for this manuscript.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear authors, it was a pleasure to read this well structured paper.

I suggest a couple of corrections to make the paper clearer and to increase its impact on the scientific community.

1. Please, add more references. The ones You cited are good and recent ones, but a review paper, not having a significant scientific contribution, should contain more references connecting more articles on this topic.

2. Have You considered linking these results with AHP (or some of its variants). Maybe You could rank the importance of Key candidate technologies for future smart cities? Or at least, some of its parts, say benefits of AI-based wireless communication.

Maybe You could use ideas presented in  https://doi.org/10.3390/axioms11030105

and https://doi.org/10.3390/math9040304 

3. Coud You give some conclusions related to the managerial aspect?

This is considered as a minor revision, and in my opinion, paper could be accepted after You address all my comments.

Kind regards.

English is good.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 5 Report

This paper examines the potential of 6G technologies to facilitate the development of smart sustainable cities. It provides a review of the recent trends and key features of standardization in smart sustainable cities, and then highlights key candidate technologies of 6G such as non-terrestrial networks, advanced mobile edge computing, vision-aided wireless communication, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based wireless communication. It then discusses the potential benefits of these prime technologies and provides open issues and future research directions for the efficient development of smart sustainable cities. I read this paper with great interest and this paper is well written and organized. I have a few comments and hope can improve the paper.

1.      The paper discusses various potential benefits of 6G technology in smart sustainable cities, I do not see it provides any concrete examples of how 6G technology can be used in urban settings. Is it lacking focus on practical applications of 6G technology?  I am thinking is it better to give any detailed information on potential costs of implementing 6G or the potential challenges that may arise when using the technology?

2.      The paper seems not to consider the security implications of using 6G technology or potential privacy issues that could arise from its usage.

3.      I would suggest adding more detailed discussion on technical challenges and issues associated with the key candidate technologies of 6G as well as potential solutions for implementation and more extensive discussion on the potential impact of 6G technologies on the SSC, such as increased service availability, improved QoS, and reduced energy consumption.

4.      A comparison between different key technologies of 6G, such as non-terrestrial networks, edge computing, and AI-based wireless communication, to determine which ones are most beneficial for SSCs may be needed.

5.      How can the proposed candidate technologies of 6G contribute to the sustainability of the smart sustainable city?

6.      To what extent can the integration of AI-based wireless communication enhance the existing urban operations and services?

7.      What advantages and challenges are associated with the adoption of non-terrestrial networks in the SSC?

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 6 Report

Please find the comments and suggestions in the attached pdf

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors have appropriatley addressed my previous comments. 

Reviewer 5 Report

No further comment from me.  Good luck!

Reviewer 6 Report

Thank you for your revised review.

I am glad that the comments and suggestions helped.

Also, I appreciate the substantial improvements that have been made to the manuscript.

Good luck.