Off to a ‘smart’ start
Smart cities today are inevitable, and as the Internet of Things (IoT) technology advances, cities across the world will see more innovative projects for automating all kinds of civic activity.
By starting the education process now and thinking about the right infrastructure to support new projects, nations can take the first step connecting their cities for the future, experts at the 38th Gitex Technology Week exhibition said.
“Dubai has been listed as one of the top smartest cities in the world, and is aiming to build the world’s most advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem. AI, blockchain and cloud will only grow in prevalence and is a reminder that network operators will be faced with an unlimited appetite for capacity and data,” said Ehab Kanary, vice-president of Enterprise for MEA at CommScope.
Kanary noted that the communications network is the foundation of every smart city, so cities should ensure that they have a pervasive, high-bandwidth network that can support any application. “As cities educate themselves about smart city applications and plan for the future, they can begin by ensuring that there is a communications infrastructure that will support all projects.”
He further explained that many governments might fall into the temptation to plan and budget for a single smart city application,
without taking the long view. As an example, he highlighted the city of Stockholm, which formed a private entity 10 years ago that installed a fibre backbone all around the city. Now, it can plug in cameras, sensors, Wi-Fi hotspots and future IoT devices as needed.
Nick Watson, VP of the EMEA region at Ruckus Networks, highlighted the role that 5G would play in a smart city.
“5G brings together what we traditionally think of as mobile technology (4G) with typical Wi-Fi technology,” he said. “That amalgam of using a backbone Wi-Fi network or a backbone single radio network to connect to multiple radio networks (IoT type devices) is critically important.
Different devices use different power and require different types of connectivity. Whilst 5G is the ultimate goal, there are many things that companies and governments can do in the interim which connect to IoT devices using a single radio network.”
“The problem we are setting out to solve is high density Wi-Fi, where you would have a large number of people all trying to connect to a limited number of access points,” he said. “This would be in an environment like at a metro, train station, or stadium. Interference is the most important element to consider when designing a Wi-Fi network. For example, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies use a large amount of data as they operate.”
Tanvir Osama, VP for the EMEA region at Prysm, spoke about how will experiential technology change the way we work, create, and collaborate.
“Experiential technology will continue to help us breakdown the barriers of the traditional workplace,” he said. “Engaging participants across any location, with any type of data — all in one place, at the same time will become the norm. Providing access to all participants quickly and easily while using as many senses as possible, will allow companies to derive more meaningful insights faster, helping companies to become more competitive.”