Carriers and their manufacturing partners are working on exciting, new high-speed wireless Smart Cities applications. Nokia, for example, is speaking “a lot” with local government officials about how faster networks will enable sensors embedded in roads to help them understand traffic patterns, according to the Head of Policy and Government Relations for Nokia Americas, Brian Hendricks. That way, localities would know which intersections to improve to help the flow of goods, Hendricks said at a broadband and smart cities event, organized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in Washington, D.C. last week.
Qualcomm is part of a group replacing old telephone booths in New York City with nine-foot tall digital kiosks. The kiosks are connectivity centers where consumers can charge their devices, get free “superfast” WiFi, and receive information on traffic or train schedules. Flat screens display information and advertising “pays for everything,” said Qualcomm VP Government Affairs Steve Crout. More than 4,000 of the kiosks have been installed and the group hopes 10,000 such kiosks will blanket the city over 10 years.
AT&T and Qualcomm are partnering on a project in Georgia to detect leaks and monitor water pressure in pipes. The point is to “find anomalies” and reduce “the number of personnel who need to go into the field,” said Crout.
Such a system exists now near the Las Vegas airport, said AT&T Director of Public Policy Jonathan Norton. Sensors remotely monitor water pipes. “Before, they had to send a crew out to bang on the pipes,” while the field crew tried to locate the leak. “Really, they need to know” where the priorities are, he said. “This helps them to know where to spend their dollars.”
October 3, 2017
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