Key technologies of a Smart City

SMART CITIES ARE CONNECTED CITIES

Smart cities are connected cities and work in conjunction with everything, from Internet of things sensors to collection of open data and smart streetlights for providing better communication and services. No longer are smart cities the wave of the future. They’re here now and growing rapidly as the IoT grows and affects municipal services all over the world. Although there are a lot of definitions of a smart city, generally a smart city uses IoT sensors, technology to connect to components across the city and actuators and affects every layer of a city, from under the streets to the air that people breathe. Data from all segments is analyzed and patterns acquired from the data collected.

KEY TECHNOLOGIES OF A SMART CITY

What makes a smart city work? There are key technologies of a smart city, which include the following:

1. Smart energy. Both commercial and residential buildings in smart cities use less energy, more efficient. The energy utilized is being analyzed and the data collected. Smart grids are part of a smart city’s development and smart streetlights are an easy entry point for a lot of cities, as LED lights pay for themselves and save money in just a few years. Energy-efficient LED lighting and digital communications are revolutionizing urban lighting infrastructures that are already in place, which transform them to information pathways with the capability of collecting and sharing data as well as provide new insights that allow and truly drive the smart city. There are also smart meters and grids. Smart grid solutions play an integral role in developing smart cities. From prepaid energy apps to advanced metering infrastructure, there are various solutions to boost energy services. One could boost outage detection through a smart grid, data capture speed, continuing and disaster recovery, overall grid modernization techniques and field service operations.
2. Smart data. The huge amounts collected data by a smart city should be quickly analyzed to make it useful. Open data portals are one alternative that several cities have opted to publish city data online, so anyone could access it and use predictive analytics for assessing future patterns. Technology pervasiveness and open data policies expansion is about to unleash economic growth engine for urban innovation that was never seen before. Hidden within the exponential data volumes gathered from connected lighting systems as well as other IoT devices are valuable information and insights on how citizens interact with cities. Take for example data that is captured by streetlights could discover a prime location for a new restaurant in a neighborhood. Predictive analysis aids cities in filtering and translating data into actionable and relevant information which makes life in the city easier, better and more productive.
3. Smart infrastructure. Cities could plan better with the ability of a smart city to analyze big data amounts. This would enable pro-active maintenance and better planning for demand in the future. Testing in real time for lead content in water when data shows a problem is coming can prevent public health problems. A smart infrastructure means that a city could move forward with other technologies as well as use the collected data for making meaningful changes in the future plans of the city.
4. Smart transportation. A smart city supports smart traffic lights, multi-modal transportation and smart parking. One of the major areas that has a lot of activity on has to do with mobility. Anything about transportation, monitoring traffic and parking. These areas are where cities see a very rapid ROI. It does not only help minimize the cost of monitoring parking and ensuring that they’re collecting fines, it is also minimizing congestion. Through making parking smarter, people spend less time for circling city blocks and parking places. Smart traffic lights have cameras for monitoring the flow of traffic so it is reflected in the traffic signals. City buses are even connected, so people have information on where a bus would arrive at a bus stop in real time.
5. Smart mobility. Mobility refers to data and technology that travels across the technology. The ability to move in and out of a lot of municipal and private systems easily is vital to be able to realize the promise of smart cities. Creating a smart city would never be finished project. Technology has to be interoperable and perform to expectations despite who made it or when it’s made. Also, data must not be constrained in moving between systems, with all attention to security, privacy and intellectual property concerns.

6. Smart Internet of Things devices. Actuators and sensors in cities are here to stay. Fusing sensor information to the daily life and integrating all of it with third party social networks knits the fabric of society closer, while leaving leaders in the city to grapple with serious security and privacy issues. Sensors are vital in a smart city. A wide array of reporting devices like sensors, visibility devices as well as other endpoints that make the data that makes a smart city work. Another part of IoT are beacons, and one of the concerns with a smart city is the huge amount of information, which could be overwhelming. Short range notification which a user-selected need could be fulfilled nearby, whether in a service or subway station, provides convenience with no need to type up some of the carrier data network’s bandwidth. This may also have the side benefit of reducing the number of signs and so the visual clutter they cause on the city streets.

In today’s extremely high-tech world, smart cities are connected cities that work in conjunction to everything. Smart cities are no longer the wave of the future but are actually here, today and now.

Ritesh Mehta is the Sales Director at TatvaSoft Australia, a Software & mobile app development company. For Over 15 years, he has been professionally active in financial management, software development.