Welcome to our blog on Smart Cities and the technological developments revolutionizing the Facilities Management Industry. At Intellis, we are always looking for exciting innovations that help maintain the built environment more efficiently, and Smart Cities is an area that continually excites us. This blog will explore three cool Smart City projects that use emerging technologies to solve everyday challenges for urban dwellers, including intelligent gunshot detection, smart streetlights, and innovative skin technology. These projects lead the way in the Smart City revolution, and we can't wait to share them with you.
The Smart City revolution is defined as the search for ways to use technology to improve services for residents and make their lives better. It is the process of employing data-driven technological solutions to solve everyday challenges for urban dwellers.
Some of the coolest developments use emerging technologies to locate gunshots, detect cracks in building facades, and dispatch work crews to fix streetlights. Installing networks of sensors that can monitor and manage asset performance is one way urban areas are becoming more efficient. For example, sensors can be embedded into bridges, tunnels, roads, and utilities. This endows these critical assets with the capability to sense and even respond to problems in real-time.
This means that infrastructure can direct its own maintenance, reducing maintenance downtimes and providing more excellent operational efficiency opportunities. In this way, sensors monitor the physical structure of assets and the services that run through them, such as electricity, water, and gas. This blog examines 3 of the coolest projects leading the way in the "Smart Cities" revolution.
The ShotSpotter system is used in cities such as New York and Washington, DC. It employs a network of strategically placed microphones to listen to gunshots. When the microphones detect a sound that matches the sound of a gunshot, the system identifies the location. It deploys the recording and associated data to an operator who determines whether the sound is a gunshot.
The ShotSpotter's sensors report the shot's latitude, longitude, and altitude within 60 seconds of detecting the sounds. In addition, the system can identify the number of shots and the bullet's direction and speed.
In the NYC implementation of ShotSpotter, data and insights about confirmed shots fired are merged with the city's address database, surveillance video, and shooting histories for the location, along with names and pictures of anyone with open warrants at the address, as well as any gun permits issued in the vicinity. This means that police officers responding to the call are fully prepped with all this data already loaded on their computers or tablets by the time they arrive.
Streetlights are essential in urban zones, and smart tech upgrades to this critical area of infrastructure can help make cities safer while saving money. Older streetlights can be made new with LED bulbs, wireless connections, and motion sensors that flick the lights on when they are activated by passing pedestrians. In addition, IoT sensors can alert city officials when and where bulbs need to be changed.
These solutions save city agencies money through electricity costs and make the streets safer and more environmentally sustainable. This past summer, Chicago reported that after only one year into its four-year streetlight modernization program, it had installed more than 76,000 LED streetlights on the south and west sides. The city expects to cut electricity costs in half by replacing old bulbs with newer, more energy-efficient LED ones. Officials estimate a savings of approximately $100 million over ten years.
Further, it has been reported that LA has equipped 80 percent of its streetlight stock with LEDs and 4G wireless connectivity in the past few years. In the first year of its new lighting program, LA reported a 63 percent savings on its energy bill. In addition, the 4G-wireless-connected poles are being employed to improve resident cell services.
"Sensing Skin" technology was developed by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Eastern Finland. This electrically conductive paint is applied over electrodes embedded in concrete around the perimeter of structures.
Dr. Mohammad Pour-Ghaz, an assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper, described the technology as having a wide range of applications for various structure types, "but the impetus for the work was to help ensure the integrity of critical infrastructure such as nuclear waste storage facilities."
Essentially, this innovative "sensing skin" can monitor defects in concrete structures. A smart "sensing skin" for concrete could be implemented and used as an early warning system to identify deficiencies in vital infrastructure systems such as nuclear power plants and bridges.
Pour-Ghaz explains that the skin's conductivity distribution is similar to X-ray imaging. Still, instead of X-ray, we use a very small electric current, in the order of a few micro to milliamps. When the cracks happen, the conductivity goes to zero, and we can capture them. The method is called electrical impedance tomography (EIT).
A computer monitors the conductivity of the skin, which senses when small currents pass through pairs of electrodes, cycling through several possible electrode combinations. Any decrease in conductivity indicates that the structure has been cracked or damaged.
Researchers envision the paint being applied to new or existing structures and incorporating various conductive materials. A set of algorithms has been developed to identify damage and determine where it has occurred. "The idea is to identify problems quickly so that they can be addressed before they become big problems and–in the case of some critical infrastructure–so that public safety measures can be implemented," Pour-Ghaz stated.
All these innovations underline the principle that data is the most fundamental ingredient of digital transformation. The technologies predicted to make big waves in 2021 – including IoT, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and edge – are all methods of collecting, analyzing, and storing information.
Since our founding in 1996, it has been our mission to incorporate the latest tech advancements with our enterprise solutions, such as FOUNDATION, so that we can provide our clients with the best software solutions that will ensure healthy building and infrastructure operations while reducing costs, improving productivity, and boosting sustainability.
Our history is rooted in developing and implementing innovative data collection systems that aim to transform data into actionable insights, empowering facility executives to maintain the physical assets in their care and improve the built environment for the future. We would be happy to speak with you and your team about how we can help improve data collection for facility management and capital planning. Schedule a demo with our experts today!
---
Looking for innovative solutions to maintain the built environment more efficiently? Join us in exploring three cool Smart City projects revolutionizing the Facilities Management Industry. From intelligent gunshot detection to smart streetlights and innovative sensing skin technology, these projects are leading the way in the Smart City revolution. Find out how these emerging technologies are solving everyday challenges for urban dwellers and improving the services for residents that make their lives better. Intellis is committed to providing our clients with the best software solutions that ensure healthy building and infrastructure operations while reducing costs, improving productivity, and boosting sustainability. Contact us today to see how we can help improve data collection for facility management and capital planning.