An investigation into smart technology measures to ensure cities can offer their citizens a good quality living environment
by Maarten Mijwaart, Nedap
Cities are growing rapidly. More and more people move towards urban areas. It is predicted that in 30 years from now about three quarter of the Earth’s population will be living in cities. This calls for innovations in smart technologies for security and mobility to be put in place. All over the world you will see a tendency within city administrations to embrace the smart city concept and apply modern technology to improve the quality of life within the city while preserving scarce resources. Sometimes the focus is about specific sensoring technology and connecting that technology. In other cases the concept of a smart city relates to a more holistic approach. In general the basic idea of a smart city is that you enable the city administration to get access to information, to turn that information into knowledge and to apply that knowledge into real life implementations of policies and systems that will improve the city performance on important themes like mobility, healthcare, energy, education and safety.
Smart city promise
Technology can help to facilitate this cycle and it can possibly also help to achieve some of the objectives related to these important themes. Technology that is applied in a smart way will empower its users, it will break the boundaries between silos in organizational structures and it will support cities to become smarter when dealing with growth and the other challenges our times. The security industry has experienced a similar paradigm shift not too long ago. The introduction of the intelligent building (or interconnected real estate) concept has illustrated that our industry must open its eyes for the world around us.
There is a need not just here to control access or to apply CCTV. We are here to ensure business continuity not only by helping manage security risks, but also to facilitate optimal use of the real estate by collaborating and exchanging information with HVAC, production or other systems that are operational within the building. The convergence to IP networks and the rise of IT standards that support system interoperability have supported this trend.
At a higher level and at the scale of a city a similar development is currently going on. Systems related to traffic, security, energy and utilities, healthcare, education and other systems are becoming more and more sophisticated and are also more able and willing to reach out to other systems to exchange information. At the same time a new generation of sensor networks becomes available that can help the smart city to retrieve the information it needs. Nedap is able to support the smart city concept in a sustainable way and has developed a power router that is able to support smart energy grids and we have developed a light control unit with wireless communication that can support smart city light installation.
Optimizing mobility
When it comes to mobility and traffic flow specifically several types of systems can be deployed that will optimize mobility in the smart city. Some of these are:
- a platform, such as Sensit, which consists of wireless vehicle detection sensors that communicate with each other and a central server. This enables parking guidance scenarios where drivers are easily directed to an empty parking bay using signs or mobile apps. The city can easily keep track of utilization and administer the system remotely. This all ensures a speedy flow of traffic and prevents unnecessary emission.
- vehicle access control systems used to manage and enforce access rights for all kinds of vehicles to several city boundaries to prevent congestion and protect the pedestrians in shopping and business areas. A sophisticated vehicle management controller can logically connect several types of barriers to a combination of identification methods, like long range RFID and ANPR and also intercom and surveillance cameras. The city administration can manage the perimeter gates remotely
- long range RFID readers used to secure vehicle perimeters throughout the city. Buses, taxis, ambulances and other city vehicles are equipped with our transponders and tags and thus identified by readers to allow them access and keep track of them while they approach zones to pick up passengers or provide other services
- ANPR cameras used in conjunction with vehicle access control systems to keep track of trucks and other vehicles that enter pollution sensitive zones. When a truck that is blacklisted enters the zone, the system administrators are alerted and measures can be taken without causing unnecessary traffic congestion
- long range readers used inside and around office buildings to allow people equipped with long range RFID tags easy, convenient, yet controlled access.
Security vs. mobility
Security and access control are usually about allowing or denying access to prevent security risks. Most systems are not primarily designed to optimize the flow of traffic. This statement is valid for most security systems. They were designed to monitor incidents and alert people to react. Ensuring mobility is not their primary objective. We specialize in long range identification with mobility as our primary objective, while we yet still make sure we also support security objectives.
In the Netherlands, 35 larger cities have closed off their city centers with bollards that are connected to our vehicle management controllers (VMC). Buses, ambulances, registered taxis and fire trucks are offered reliable and swift access through the use of a long range Transit system. Suppliers with an access license are allowed access through license plate recognition cameras.
City personnel are using an ordinary proximity badge to get access. Authorizations, time zones and events are managed remotely using our web based access control system. The implementation of this system has greatly reduced congestion and the number of dangerous situations in those cities. Unnecessary pollution is prevented and pedestrians are able to enjoy the city experience at an optimum level.
Individual utilization
Worldwide, cities have started to install wireless parking sensors throughout their city centers to optimize the flow of parking traffic. Using signs and mobile apps people are guided to empty and affordable parking bays. The parking time is measured to support convenient paying mechanisms.
Heat maps that show the individual utilization of each parking bay are generated to support the city administration in policy-making and optimize future planning of developments.
Future concepts
Being ‘smart’ about the future
by introducing systems that support smart city concepts, has an impact on many parties: citizens, city administration, city departments (traffic, parking), retailers, operators. Implementing any system requires a lot of planning and communicating. Implementing smart city applications will require that to the extreme.
Wireless communication
In general one can say that we are just beginning to understand the value and possibilities of concepts like the smart city. System controllers are getting more and more sophisticated, more and more systems are embracing open networking topologies, wireless communication is becoming a commodity rapidly and sensoring technology is getting more reliable and also affordable. We have just begun to make use of these technological possibilities – at the moment often mostly within our own silos.
The vision and ambition of city and industry representatives will have to drive this development. The smart use of technology that is available is a logical consequence of the urbanization process that has been going on for years. Energy grids will become smarter, supporting the increase in use of alternative power sources and also the ability to manage power supply and consumption more efficient. City lighting systems will become more advanced to increase city safety while lowering energy consumption. Traffic solutions will become more advanced and will help cities to deal with the ever growing population and the related number of cars.