U.S. firm CIMCON, which provides smart city technologies, announced that the Suffolk County Council in the U.K. has selected its NearSky smart city platform and smart lighting controls.
The county is deploying 700 CIMCON intelligent sensors utilizing both CIMCON’s LightingGale Central Management System (CMS) and NearSky 360 smart city platform for the following applications: COVID-19 crowd density detection for social distancing monitoring, air quality monitoring and prediction, fly-tipping detection and alerts, road temperature measurement, smart parking and traffic management.
The NearSky platform will enable Suffolk to introduce new applications as it provides the opportunity to easily access power from the streetlight pole, and eliminate the need for permitting by removing the need to drill into the pole to access power, the company said.
The COVID-19 crowd density application will enable better enforcement of COVID-19 social distancing rules by using cameras to provide officials with insight into when and where people are congregating, according to the company.
The road temperature measurement application with non-invasive sensors will provide accurate insight of surface temperature, advising the council when gritting lorries need to be deployed to safeguard drivers, CIMCON said.
Also, CIMCON’s LiveParking application will provide officials with real-time data for both on-street and off-street parking spaces. The company said that the data collected will enable Suffolk to reduce traffic, reduce emissions and improve air quality.
The air quality sensors ware expected to provide officials with real-time, continuous measurements of key air pollutants, allowing them to make informed decisions about outdoor activities, alert residents during periods of dangerous air quality, and monitor pollution sources such as industrial facilities.
The traffic analysis application will enable the county to collect individual time stamped vehicle counts and speeds on roadways up to two or four lanes, simultaneously, allowing the County to track and make improvements to road and traffic conditions.
CIMCON’s smart streetlight controls will be used to test and validate the energy and maintenance savings possible under a full-scale, countywide deployment while the fly-tipping solution will detect left objects and alert the Council.
“Our goal in this project is to collect real-time data to evaluate new technologies and their ability to transform and improve our entire roadway network,” said Richard Webster, street lighting manager at Suffolk County Council & Suffolk Highways.
Councillor Andrew Reid, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member responsible for highways, transport and rural affairs, said: “The placement of these intelligent sensors and the data we are receiving from them will help make council services run smoother and more efficiently now and in future. The Live Labs project and its funding in Suffolk has given us the opportunity to test innovative and pioneering technology in a live environment, meaning the data we receive can be put to good use, providing real and tangible benefits.”
