Abstract
The future of wireless network generations is revolving toward unlocking
the opportunities offered by virtualization and digitization services in
smart city applications, with the aim to realize improved
quality-of-experience (QoE) and bring several advantages to modern
cities. According to the rapid development in the field of network
virtualization, we envision that future smart cities will run over
ubiquitous deployment of virtualized components that are controlled by
artificial intelligence (AI), i.e., the conceptualization of the Digital
Twin (DT) paradigm. The key principle of the DT relies on creating a
holistic representation of wireless network elements, in addition to
decoupling the information pertaining to physical objects and dynamics,
into a cyber twin. The cyber twin will then leverage this information
for AI models training, and then reasoning and decision making
operations, which will be then reflected to the physical environment,
for improved sustainability. Motivated by this, in this article, we put
a forward-looking vision to the integration of DT in smart city
applications, and the intertwined role of wireless technologies as being
enablers and enabled by the DT. Moreover, we sketch the roadmap toward
identifying the limitations of the DT in 6G-enabled smart cities, and
open new horizons for further developments in different design aspects.