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Exciting Developments in Smart Cities

Infrastructure and construction projects increasingly use innovative digital technology to improve long-term asset management. Here, we examine emerging technologies and trends leading the "Smart Cities" revolution.

Exciting Developments in Smart Cities

The Smart City movement is defined as the search for ways in which technology can improve residents' services and lives. It is the process of employing data-driven technological solutions to solve everyday challenges for urban dwellers. Smart Cities increasingly incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and other connected devices to deliver beneficial services to city residents.

Some of the most exciting developments involve using tech advancements 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, embedding sensors into infrastructure like bridges, tunnels, roads, and utilities endows these important assets with the capability to sense and even respond to problems in real-time.

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This means that infrastructure can, in a sense, direct its maintenance, which reduces maintenance downtimes and provides a much greater opportunity for operational efficiency. In this way, sensors monitor the physical structure of assets and the services that run through them, such as electricity, water, and gas. 

Detecting Damage in Concrete with Intelligent Paint

“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. In the future, a smart “sensing skin” for concrete could be implemented and used as an early warning system that would 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, but 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).

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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 any number of 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.

Painless Parking with GPS Data and Sensors

Cities can now employ intelligent parking systems to make parking place finding more efficient. By implementing sensors embedded into the ground below parking spots and using GPS data from drivers’ smartphones, cities can quickly develop a system that uses pattern recognition to determine when spots are typically available. This data can be deployed as parking maps to city residents in real-time.

Mobile applications on smartphones or installed in connected car systems can notify drivers when they are near an open parking spot. For example, StateTech has reported that Los Angeles installed intelligent parking technology, which allows drivers to check a mobile app or website or call 511 to get real-time data on the availability and cost of parking spaces along a 4.5-mile stretch of the downtown area.

"To detect whether spaces are open or occupied, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation embedded wireless sensors in 6,300 parking spaces and in some city-owned parking lots. The parking management software tabulates occupancy data and parking meter transaction data and then automatically analyzes the information, alerting transportation officials and allowing them to charge different prices based on demand, location, and time of day."

Safer Cities with Intelligent Gunshot Detection

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 and 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.

Better Energy Efficiency with Smart Streetlights

Streetlights are essential in urban zones, and innovative 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.

Power Generating Tiles Embedded in Sidewalks

One of the most exciting developments in Smart City tech is PaveGen's concept of intelligent sidewalks. These IoT-connected tiles are embedded into the pavement and can collect data about foot traffic patterns. They can also capture and convert kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity.

Pavement tiles were laid at London's West Ham Underground station for the 2012 Olympic Games. In April 2013, a demo installation was employed to harvest energy from runners during the Paris Marathon. These tiles have also been installed on a public soccer field in Rio de Janeiro to power overhead lights, which allow players to continue practicing after sunset.

Solutions for Smart Cities

All these innovations underline the principle that data is the most fundamental ingredient of digital transformation. The technologies predicted to make big waves in the coming year – including IoT, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and edge – are all methods of collecting, analyzing, and storing information.

At Intellis, we monitor technological developments that have the potential to transform the Facilities Management Industry. One area that we are continually excited about is Smart Cities. The idea of Smart Cities is to leverage data to maintain the built environment more efficiently.

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 also 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, helping facilities executives maintain the physical assets in their care and improve the built environment for the future.

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