Page 57 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

adaptation processes with the telecommunications network and guarantee the security and
reliability of the data. There are different approaches to the design of this layer, also called a “city
platform”, as it is a key element in the development of IT solutions for SSCs. Although there are
different approaches that will be discussed in successive chapters, the guidelines emanating
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from the Recommendations ITU-T Y.4200 and Recommendation ITU-T Y.4201 have been
considered of greater relevance where the high-level requirements and reference architecture
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of a City Platform are defined. These recommendations define the following sublayers:

o Acquisition and interconnection. This contains the mechanisms for obtaining data from
different sources of the Users and Devices Layer from the Communications layer. This layer
can perform a semantic process of abstraction of the data to make it independent of the
physical device, as well as transform the received data into structures with additional context
information to facilitate its management by upper layers.
o Data/knowledge. This contains the mechanisms for the storage, processing, management,
and use of large volumes of information. This sublayer includes tools that allow the movement
of large amounts of data, processing, and analysis functionalities to generate new data
sets or complete existing ones. There are also analytical and real-time processing tools,
geospatial processing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, blockchain coders, and others related
to information management.

o Common Services Support. This sublayer provides more complex common services or
functional blocks that can be used through the interoperability layer. These functional blocks
can serve as Common Building Blocks that can be used by the Sectoral Application Layer.
Examples of this can be payment systems, authentication, and access control.

o Interconnection and Interoperability. This sublayer offers open and standardized interfaces
on the functional blocks of the sublayers of knowledge and service support by adding the
necessary security policies. It also allows services to be built from the data and favours the
rapid development of vertical (sectoral) applications, as well as the exchange of information
with external systems through APIs or adapters. The integration of the systems inherited from
the City Council itself, with external actors (through the corresponding integration contracts)
and with other cities that have a standardized architecture deserves special attention.

o Control, Quality of Service and ICT Security. This sublayer contains the mechanisms that
allow the proper functioning of services and applications, provides control of the use of
infrastructure resources, guarantees the quality of communications, mobility, and security
of these (security of the physical infrastructure, security of the logical infrastructure, control
of access to resources and privacy of information). It also includes auditing functions,
physical and logical configuration of the infrastructure and the operation, management,
and maintenance of infrastructure elements.

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