How the Internet of Things is building smart cities

Urban populations are multiplying across the world, but cities are experiencing certain challenges in terms of keeping up with the demands from an increasing population. As the silent force that has transformed and developed our world, technology is now being leveraged to better deal with the growing urbanization and to build smarter cities.

Since the 1950s, the urban population has experienced approximately sixfold growth, from 751 million to over 4 billion in 2018 — over half of the planet's population. In the next 30 years, cities are anticipated to add yet another 2.5 billion more people. This constant migration of rural people to cities puts intense pressure on public services and urban planning. This is why urban areas are undertaking advanced solutions that are data-driven and powered by technology to reduce the same.

While the overall expenditure on smart city development is expected to reach $152 billion by the end of the upcoming year, huge growth is expected from some of the most innovative technologies known to us. One of such technologies is the Internet of Things (IoT), with the help of which connected devices interact with others over the internet worldwide. Moreover, these devices can be monitored and controlled.

The IoT includes smart sensors and all other smart devices. The technology offers new opportunities for cities to leverage data to manage traffic, reduce pollution, make smarter use of infrastructure and foundation, and improve the cleanliness of cities. Moreover, significant growth is expected from emerging innovations such as open data, smart trash collection, officer wearables, smart city platforms, and vehicle to everything (V2X) connectivity.

These innovations could result in a broad spectrum of transformative effects for urban areas that are willing to embrace them.

Smart city technologies improve the well-being of its citizens, along with paving the roadway to economic development. This is especially prevalent throughout the UAE, where Smartworld technologies leads the way in establishing IoT infrastructures for private and government organizations.

"Dubai is world-renowned as a model of innovation in both scale and acceleration of growth," said Abdulqader Ali, CEO of Smartworld. "Smartworld and its fellow technology partners, together with forward-thinking government organizations, have engaged in smart city planning for the past 13 years. We are a smart city getting smarter every day."

Cities and companies are increasingly adopting IoT devices to be able to automate, remotely manage and collect data through various channels such as camera surveillance systems, transportation stations and visitors’ kiosks.

The safety of citizens is critical for any nation. IoT devices such as CCTV cameras, geolocation devices and ANPR,  integrate with central command and control centers to provide authorities with a bird's view of what’s happening.

In the transportation industry, IoT is helping transportation companies to map the most efficient routes and maximize fuel usage, logistics companies to track and trace their shipments, and parking startups to monitor and open their available spots in real time. Vehicle IoT is increasing in importance, which deliver a faster, safer and richer experience for drivers.

While a major portion of ozone-depleting gases come from urban areas, these can be reduced by up to 15% with the implementation of smart city solutions by reducing heat and electricity production. In the energy and utilities sector, in addition to aligning power consumption during off peak hours, smart metering enables smart network monitoring, outage detection, operational improvement with an advanced decision support system for better observability, controllability and network management.

Today 5G promises greater speed. This helps smart devices gather, analyze and manage the accumulated data to a higher degree, which will fuel innovation at organizations that make IoT devices and boost consumer demand for new products.

“While every urban area has a different strategy, technology will prove to be a key asset. With the growing enthusiasm towards adopting new technologies and their applications, it is evident that humans will be at the core of realizing their true potential,” added Abdulqader Ali.

For more information about Smartworld offerings and IoT engagements, please visit www.smartworld.com