Abstract
The rapid development of smart cities requires reliable and resilient connectivity across heterogeneous communication environments, while no single access technology can simultaneously satisfy requirements for coverage, mobility, latency, capacity, and service continuity. This review investigates the integration of satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi networks and examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enabling coordinated multi-access connectivity. A PRISMA-guided systematic literature search and study-selection procedure was applied to peer-reviewed studies published between 2016 and 2026, resulting in 36 peer-reviewed publications included in the qualitative synthesis. The selected studies were analyzed across eight thematic areas, including satellite–terrestrial integration, cellular–Wi-Fi convergence, vertical handover, AI/DRL-based mobility management, integrated terrestrial–non-terrestrial networks, resilience, smart city communication infrastructure, and multi-connectivity. The analysis shows that satellite–cellular integration, terrestrial Multi-RAT coordination, AI-based handover, and multi-connectivity have been extensively investigated as individual research directions; however, their convergence within a unified satellite–cellular–Wi-Fi framework remains limited. Existing solutions are also predominantly reactive and rarely combine predictive network management, service-aware decision-making, and resilience objectives. The review therefore identifies predictive AI-driven multi-access orchestration integrating satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi connectivity as a promising direction for resilient smart city communication infrastructures.