LIGHTING THE FUTURE
Street lighting in the efficient, environment-friendly space of a Smart city
As technology has developed and concepts such as Ubiquitous Computing have emerged, early visions of so-called ‘smart cities’ involved the notion of cities becoming fully-connected environments, where almost every conceivable element in the city limits is integrated into some sort of automated computing system. In turn, this vision gives rise to a divide in opinion. On the one hand, the city is a utopian paradise of efficiency with systems, running with metronomic precision; on the other, the city is a dystopian centre of restricted possibilities, shackled by the measurement of every event occurring inside it.
At present, the Ubiquitous City as described in the paragraph above is limited to a small number of projects across the globe. Indeed, these cities are purposebuilt settlements developed on greenfield sites. This is in contrast to the vast majority of cities elsewhere, now resting on brownfield sites, where planning the full transition from city to Ubiquitous City would entail enormous complexity and expense.
Consequently, today’s vision of a smart city, certainly for the near term at least, is quite different from the notions driven by the concept of Ubiquitous Computing. Juniper Research defines a Smart City as an urban ecosystem
that places emphasis on the use of digital technology to drive efficiencies in existing social, economic and environmental processes, while simultaneously opening avenues for new, data-driven processes.
Smart Street Lighting
Smart street lights, that is to say, the conversion of traditional street light infrastructure to energy-efficient, remotely monitored and controlled street lights, has enjoyed considerable growth in the wider smart city market. This is owing to the fact that, essentially, the project pays for itself over a relatively short period owing to significant energy cost savings (50-60% through lamp conversion to LED), while the ability to reduce maintenance truck roll by monitoring where and when infrastructure needs repairing adds additional savings. For these reasons, it is not surprising that many cities around the world have chosen smart street lighting projects as an initial endeavour to becoming a smart city.
Key Service Areas
• Transportation, in the form of smart traffic solutions and enabling architecture for future MaaS (Mobilityas-a-Service) delivery • Public Safety, with emphasis on the rapid detection of possible criminal activity • Public Health, where sensors positioned on the fixtures might better inform the city as to real-time air quality conditions to drive mitigating actions • Connectivity and other services, where partnerships with MNOs and other entities might develop city broadband services or other smart city projects
Smart Street Lighting Challenges
Despite the business case for smart street lighting deployment typically being very strong, applicable benefits are not always straightforward.
I. ENERGY SAVINGS
The primary business case behind this type of city project revolves around energy use reduction as a result of LED fixtures and software to control luminescence. Nevertheless, direct cost savings are not always achievable, particularly where the municipal utility is the owner of the pole and lighting fixture. Nevertheless, there are other opportunities to achieve cost savings in such cases. For instance, where utilities charge the city a fee per month, authorities are now arguing that a light should only be paid for if it is functional, something which is visible in near real-time where connected lighting is concerned.
Additionally, dramatic savings can be achieved owing to much more efficient maintenance. When it is known which lights are non-functional, and where, wasted
SMART CITY IS AN URBAN ECOSYSTEM THAT PLACES EMPHASIS ON THE USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE EFFICIENCIES IN EXISTING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY OPENING AVENUES FOR NEW, DATADRIVEN PROCESSES
time from inefficient manpower deployment effectively becomes a non-issue.
II. INTEROPERABILITY
In spite of efforts to standardise street lighting, global interoperability is far from being achieved. Indeed, there is little incentive on the part of manufacturers to move to a fully standardised ecosystem, given little opportunity for differentiation in that case, aside from node pricing.
The effect is that the market will require a period of maturation and possible consolidation in the space before a relatively level playing field is achieved. Cities must be aware of this and take the long-term viability of any ecosystem player into account when entering into the procurement process, given the long life of smart street lighting assets. Failure to achieve long-term support will either result in software no longer being fitfor-purpose in the context of new services, while there is also the danger of security vulnerabilities impacting critical city infrastructure.
III. ADJACENT SERVICES
The use of the lighting fixture and pole to provide an opportunity for smart city services adjacent to the smart street lighting use case has been of growing interest over the last 3 years, particularly as MNOs/ CSPs ( Communications Service Providers) seek to expand small cell deployment for LTE and 5G applications.
For high bandwidth applications, there are key concerns at present. In the first instance, operator enthusiasm may be dampened by the prospect of a longterm commitment to installed assets (15 years or more), while backhaul and installed fibre can create additional cost constraints in many cities. Juniper notes that embedded intelligence in edge devices will go some way to solving this particular challenge however. Meanwhile in the case of low bandwidth applications, MNOs will be unable to compete on price with low power mesh technologies. While there is the prospect of VAS (value added services) monetisation from the connected nodes the market overall is not ready.
CSPs do see an opportunity however. Indeed, 5G is widely recognised as being key to future city technology deployment; something with which Juniper concurs.
Smart Transport
Around virtually all major cities across the world, the issue of transportation; that is to say, getting from point A to B around the city is of key concern. Without a doubt, the difficulty, or ease of intra-city transportation can have a significant impact on both a city’s perceived, as well as real competitiveness. Essentially, where a skilled workforce is restricted from easily reaching potential places of work, that potential workforce will have less interest in searching out employment in that area. In turn, companies will view the area as less attractive on account of the ‘brain drain’ effect described above.
Strategies aimed at mitigating urban transport challenges vary depending on attitudes to top-down authority regarding policy. For example, political norms and citizen expectations in North America mean that strict motor vehicle policies similar to those in Singapore would be extremely difficult to enforce. Cities’ main strategy for congestion mitigation is through solutions such as dynamically phased, software-controlled traffic lights in conjunction with investment into public transport availability.
Whether a city is positioned as a ‘policy forward’ city (i.e., one aiming to challenge congestion and urban transport through policy driven strategy), or ‘technology forward’ city (where technology is viewed as the key step to improved transportation), initial steps must closely mirror on another.
Simply said, establishment of a robust communications infrastructure that is available to both municipal authorities as well as citizens is key; while data integration across multiple sources must also be stressed as high priority: • Technology forward solutions rely on analysis of realtime traffic conditions through visual data as well as through other inputs, such as • Road sensors. The real-time requirement of such a system means that latency across the network must be low. • Policy forward solutions rely on the integration of data across several service ecosystems, while ensuring that citizens’ ability to access digital services is maximised is a high priority.
Ticketing Challenges
Digital transport ticketing is becoming more mature,
with the number of transport operators committed to introducing new technologies to improve the passenger experience on the rise.
The advances in technology and the introduction of new business models means that transport operators currently have a greater adoption of mobile ticketing, especially in the metro sector.
Current ticketing services cater to customers in terms of contactless payments, in-app mobile payments as well as through web channels, so the building blocks for integrated, multi-operator ticketing are already well-established. Nevertheless, digital ticketing services operate almost entirely in silos which serve to increase integration complexity owing to interoperability concerns.
In this context, the city must commission the development of an open ticketing platform that allows multiple service providers to simply adapt their systems for integration into the platform. Most cities already have some sort of offline mechanism for broad intra-city travel, such as Oyster Card. Thus, the city can say, if this widely used solution is integrated into a platform that offers users a better experience via end-to-end routing and travel, then each vendor that integrates with the platform has an opportunity to access that market. If a single private entity suggests this to other players, then the overall incentive is lost. Market Forecast Summary Juniper Research has revealed that smart street lighting deployments will realise $15 billion in cumulative energy savings for cities to 2023. Juniper found that connected street lights are set to grow on average by 42% per annum between 2019 and 2023; reaching close to 70 million units by the end of the forecast period. It argued that growing open platform adoption would enable street lighting to act as a major hub point for additional smart city services, such as public safety and smart transport. • Far East & China will continue to lead the market, owing to China’s national strategy with regard to smart street lighting and high number of existing deployments. The volume of fixtures converted to LED will realise significant energy savings. • Lack of standardisation in the market is an ongoing problem that has not yet been fully resolved. This undoubtedly plays a role where some cities are concerned. When their conservative nature already shows a reluctance to invest in new technologies, concerns over standardisation will compound this effect. • LED fixtures continue to fall in price, which will accelerate overall take-up as it becomes economically viable to replace lighting at the outset. • Far East & China will continue to lead the market, owing to China’s national strategy with regard to smart street lighting and high number of existing deployments. The volume of fixtures converted to LED will realise significant energy savings. • Lack of standardisation in the market is an ongoing problem that has not yet been fully resolved. This undoubtedly plays a role where some cities are concerned. When their conservative nature already shows a reluctance to invest in new technologies, concerns over standardisation will compound this effect. • LED fixtures continue to fall in price, which will
THE MARKET WILL REQUIRE A PERIOD OF MATURATION AND POSSIBLE CONSOLIDATION IN THE SPACE BEFORE A RELATIVELY LEVEL PLAYING FIELD IS ACHIEVED. CITIES MUST BE AWARE OF THIS AND TAKE THE LONG-TERM VIABILITY OF ANY ECOSYSTEM PLAYER INTO ACCOUNT WHEN ENTERING INTO THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS, GIVEN THE LONG LIFE OF SMART STREET LIGHTING ASSETS
accelerate overall take-up as it becomes economically viable to replace lighting at the outset. Juniper’s Smart Cities Research Report examines the segments and strategies of Smart City platform vendors and city planners. This report provides unique insights across the Smart Grid, Street Lighting, Urban Mobility, Traffic management, Parking and Health markets through detailed case studies, business model analysis and extensive forecasts for cost, energy and emissions savings and platform spend. Key Features • Sector Dynamics: Multi-segment strategic assessment and breakdown; examining key Smart City platform strategies, business model innovation and future outlook: Smart Grid, Smart Street Lighting, Smart Urban Mobility, Smart Traffic Management, Smart Parking, and Smart Health. • Procurement Analysis: Evaluation of Smart City business models, in relation to: P3 (PublicPrivate-Partnership) analysis and Investment recovery models. • Interviews with leading players. • Juniper Leader Board: Key player capability and capacity assessment for 15 Smart City platform vendors. • Benchmark Industry Forecasts: market segment forecasts for key Smart City verticals. Source: Smart Cities: Leading Platforms, Segment Analysis & Forecasts 2019-2023 Juniper Research
WHETHER A CITY IS POSITIONED AS A ‘POLICY FORWARD’ CITY (I.E., ONE AIMING TO CHALLENGE CONGESTION AND URBAN TRANSPORT THROUGH POLICY DRIVEN STRATEGY), OR ‘TECHNOLOGY FORWARD’ CITY (WHERE TECHNOLOGY IS VIEWED AS THE KEY STEP TO IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION), INITIAL STEPS MUST CLOSELY MIRROR ON ANOTHER