Connected Traffic Management Systems
Connected traffic systems are the next push in our growing digital world. There is a massive opportunity to leverage modern technology for a variety of traffic applications. The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to advancements within many municipalities to optimize public transit, traffic management and public safety. As a result, cities around the country are looking to technology and connected devices to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow. Connected Traffic Systems Technology U.S. Commuters spend 14.5 million hours stuck in traffic every day. The Urban Mobility Scorecard from 2015 reported that commuters generally needed to allow 48 minutes for a trip that would take 20 without traffic. The report predicted that conditions would continue to worsen if dedicated programs, policies and projects are not expanded. From a public transportation perspective, many cities are dealing with outdated infrastructure that can lead to severe delays and transportation outages. Voters in San Francisco, for example, recently approved a measure for a $3.5 billion regional bond to update its aging BART transportation system. In addition to investing in and fixing ageing infrastructure, U.S. cities also aim to become smarter and prepare for the future by leveraging technology. The U.S. Department of transportation has recently offered nearly $65 million in grants to cities around the country that are working on advanced transportation initiatives. The grants support a number of projects including traffic signal technology to reduce congestion at street lights, transit trip planning technology and applications, ride-sharing services, and more. While the cities work on the ground, there are also efforts to improve air traffic congestion. AT&T recently announced that it is partnering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop a traffic management system for drones. Sensor-2-Server for Traffic Management Sensor-2-Server (S2S) solutions offer reliable connectivity options for municipalities looking to fix traffic flow issues and create smoother traffic management. By leveraging S2S operations, the city or municipality can enable intelligent communications at the edge of the communication network, from the sensor at the traffic light back to a specific server, enabling advanced data analytics. Cities with outdated communication infrastructures, such as a T1 phone line for traffic control systems, can easily update their network with wireless S2S solutions. S2S technologies are created to perform in extreme weather, offering a real-time monitoring solution around the clock. The cost of operations is significantly reduced with S2S solutions and they deliver the connectivity needed for modern IoT networks. Some S2S solutions are equipped with the ability to introduce custom, third-party applications at the edge, which can help reduce costs and enable new automation capabilities. As cities throughout the U.S. embrace IoT and work to become Smart Cities, traffic management is a major initiative. While cities work to improve aging infrastructure, they can help improve traffic congestion by incorporating a traffic management system that can leverage data from an S2S network to optimize traffic flow.
Utilities: Where Data Flows Like Water at the Speed of Light
(Image courtesy Flickr Creative Commons) More than a decade ago, the choices were few to address the needs of data gathering and recording. Water and wastewater utilities, for example, had to be able to use a ‘one size fits all’ unit with set parameters and make their systems adaptable to the technology of the day. Since then, many municipal water systems, such as those in Southern Utah, have had to broaden the area from which they gather, use, and reclaim water. Most growing areas are even facing the dilemma of higher demands on services while trying to stay within shrinking budgets and manpower cutbacks. This is because in the past, many viewed electronic data gathering as a ‘want’ instead of a ‘need’ until now. As with any limited resource, scarcity often drives innovation as people are tasked to do more with less. Such is the current state and convergence of water/wastewater utilities and the Internet of Things (IoT) – an emerging paradigm in which more data and information can be gathered and acted upon during the processes of collecting, treating, monitoring, and distributing water. With the unprecedented demand for cities and municipalities to maximize water resource allocation, local government officials began implementing smarter methods to address the challenges of today and hurdle the potential obstacles in the future. By using new technology in the form of sensors, IoT networking and data analytics, city officials, local citizens, and businesses are now more accurately predicting everything from crop yields to at-home water conservation. This technological evolution is part of a much larger undertaking that has both garnered international attention and prompted action all the way to the Federal level of the United States government. Smart Cities Initiative Connected In response to the new Smart Cities Initiatives, cities around the country are beginning to take advantage of the $160+ million in Federal research and technical collaborations to help their local communities tackle key challenges such as lessening traffic congestion, reducing crime, fostering economic growth, creating jobs, managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the delivery of city services and quality of life. According to a White House fact sheet on Smart Cities, emerging technologies have “created the potential for an ‘Internet of Things,’ a ubiquitous network of connected devices, smart sensors, and big data analytics. The United States has the opportunity to be a global leader in this field, and cities represent strong potential test beds for development and deployment of IoT applications.” Given the growth of these highly connected networks, Smart Cities are using wireless communication technologies to build critical infrastructure and support public services. According to the research firm Gartner, an estimated 1.1 billion connected things were used by Smart Cities in 2015, with this total rising to 9.7 billion by 2020. What Is on the Horizon for Utilities? As Smart Cities initiatives continue grabbing headlines and captivating imaginations, public utilities and their customers have the most to gain in the short term. Coordination and collaboration amongst a cities’ local government, utility operators, researchers, and technology vendors is key to bringing these “smart initiatives” to light. For example, Orlando, Florida was a destination of choice for many involved in these smart city transformations, as DistribuTECH 2016 brought approximately 12,000 people together from more than 60 countries across the globe to keep the focus on the future of electric power delivery and a smart utilities infrastructure.
