Smart Cities is an easy spread word but the odds that involve in making it happenapart from involving huge money & technology appreciation are decisions & co-ordination involved among the various departments of the government.

Smart City Design-Stakeholders:  City council and City Administration, National and Regional Governments, Citizens and Citizen Organizations, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Industry Associations, Standardization Bodies, Urban Planners, City Service Companies, ICT Companies, International, Regional and Multilateral Organizations, Academia, Research Organizations and Specialized Bodies and Utility Providers.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

1. Environment : Air quality, Water, Noise, Biodiversity and Energy.
2. Society & Culture : Education, Health, Safety, Housing and Culture.
3. Economy : Innovation, Employment, Trade, Productivity, Physical infrastructure and ICT infrastructure.

A few concerns:

1. Cost of living: Rate of taxes on citizens and hence cost of living will shoot up to cover the massive investment that would require towards Smart city infrastructure build-up and operations needs.
2. Awareness of citizens:  Moderate percentage of digitally illiterate people live in cities and are susceptible to a lot of self and system damage.
3. Privacy concerns for its citizens:  Acquisition of a lot of data that can reveal a lot of things about the individuals.
4. Security and Safety concerns: A big threat to safety & security of individuals if privacy aspects are compromised.

If Smart cities are made with overreliance on electronics/’the network’. If a whole city is dependent on some AI (Artificial intelligence) that is running the show, again, this is perhaps something of concern.

Governing authorities should ensure the data privacy/security aspects to be well in control and to push good drive to eradicate the digital illiteracy.

A few benefits of sustainable smart cities:

1. A road tolling system increases the efficiency in utilizing public infrastructure. Whereby each car has an electronic device that can be scanned by the road tolls and when you drive on certain sections of road, you are charged for it. In Singapore like cities, the tolling is dynamic meaning the traffic authority knows traffic patterns and can adjust the price for road space based on usage.
2. Stores were to implement smart restocking, whereby they need to keep less inventory in the store, because they know more precisely when stocks will run out. This allows them to have smaller store footprints, greater product selection, less products going to waste, etc., all of which should lead to lower cost.
3. A network of CCTV cameraswith facial recognition technology that can recognize likely criminals before they strike, or take down criminals with better precision after crimes have been committed. Which should lead to Lower crime.
4. Other areas:
5. Connecting Cities and Communities
   1. Smart Living
   2. Smart Mobility
   3. Smart Environment
6. Enhancing Innovation and Participation
   1. Smart Governance
   2. Smart People
   3. Smart Economy

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Conclusion:

The pressing demands to meet the normal life requirements in the cities that are exploding in length and breadth with unimaginable population continue to relocate from Villages and towns has made the SMART CITY A NECESSITY.

To build smart and sustainable cities, research on “standards and technology” from academia and industries are in good swing.

Especially R&Ds are focusing on ‘technology & infrastructure’ to address Smart demands like… -Smart Grid – Cloud Computing – Internet of Things (IoT) – Intelligent Transportation – eHealth”.

Smart cities still need significant maturity for effective design and operation.

Your Role… to be contd

Smart Cities draw the criteria for living, development & growth which every country strives to achieve.
Hope you liked our inititation & play your part in achieving #SmartLiving.

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WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (WMS):

Monitoring and controlling of the electrical sub systems and controlling of pumps of Huge Water Sumps at ‘Main Pump house (MPH)’.  The command control and monitoring happens from ‘Main Control Room (MCR)’ which is 8km away from the Main Pump House.

System Description:

Electrical sub system: All of the electrical parameters like VLL(RYB), VLN(RYB), Freq.Hz, Amps(RYB), Power factor, Watts(RYB) and VA(RYB), etc. of the loads are measured & acquired through the ‘Multi-Function Meter’ at HT site and at LT motor section, and few more meters to measure output voltages of the 110 V DC system which comprises of the ‘battery bank, charger1 and charger2’, etc.

The ‘Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition’ (SCADA) system comprises of ‘Human Machine interface (HMI)’ software and hardware (viz… ‘Controller’, Gateways, MFMs, Smart IOs, etc.). SCADA systems are used by industrial organizations and companies in the public and private sectors to control and maintain efficiency, distribute data for smarter decisions, and communicate system issues to help mitigate downtime. SCADA systems work well in many different types of enterprises because they can range from simple configurations to large, complex installations. SCADA systems are the backbone of many modern industries, including: Energy, Oil and Gas, Transportation, Manufacturing, Food and Beverage, Water and Waste Recycling, etc.

All the monitoring locations will communicate with SCADA at Main Pump House site and Main Control Room. The sampling time of SCADA system is 1ms.

HMI Software helps to do system customizations more efficiently as to monitor and control valves, pumps, motors, sensors and more. SCADA system generates alerts, alarms and triggers load disconnects and reconnects according to the customized logics based on the customer specification requirements.

Controller and all of these MFMs, DC-meters communicates to Gateway over Modbus RTU protocol from different locations using wired RS485 interface and through the  GPRS gateway to the SCADA system.

Controller analog inputs are the process parameters like flow, pressure, sump level, etc. Controller digital inputs are the status parameters of the pump like run, trip and dry run, etc.  Controller processing unit reads analog and digital input data from connected field equipment through its input modules. Controller outputs are updated to the output devices (Gateway, Digital Output devices, Analog Output devices that drives or controls Relays/Actuators/Motors) based on the Control program uploaded into the Controller memory and stimuli from analog and digital inputs.

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BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (BMS)

BMS otherwise known as a building automation system (BAS), is a computer-based control system installed in buildings as to monitor and control the building's mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, water, gas and security systems.

 A list of systems that can be monitored or controlled by a BMS are shown below:

1. Lighting control
2. Electric power control
3. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
4. Security and observation
5. Access control
6. Fire alarm system
7. Lifts, elevators,
8. Water and Cooking Gas control
9. Closed-circuit television (CCTV)
10. Other engineering systems
11. Control Panel
12. PA system
13. Alarm Monitor

Benefits:

1. Possibility of individual room monitoring  & control
2. Increased staff productivity
3. Effective reduction in wastage of Electrical energy, Water and Gas.
4. Reduced consumption of Electrical energy, water and gas.
5. Improved reliability and life of devices/systems under control.
6. Remote monitoring of the plants (such as AHU's, fire pumps, plumbing pumps, electrical supply, STP, WTP, grey watertreatment plant,)
7. Systematic and Ease of maintenance

The above picture is a typical BMS example: A gated community where 80 apartments per building and such 26 buildings like… building ‘A’ to building ‘Z’ are connected with various sensors viz...

1. Temp sensors (Room A/C, Geezers : Thermistors based devices),
2. level sensors (water level indicators: Simple Digital input devices),
3. Pulse sensors (water, gas consumption indicators: Digital input devices),
4. Relay modules (to drive the pumps ON/OFF : digital output devices with relays)
5. Single phase & three phase Energy meters (prepaid/postpaid devices)

Each of these devices mentioned above are designed & centered around a micro controller with RS485 com port and sufficient enough of memory and other Analog and digital IO ports.

Refer the picture above and assume 20 of such devices for the purposes mentioned above are interfaced to a Gateway (GW) whose south side interface is RS485 and north side interface is Ethernet. From each Block a total of 80 RS485 devices are connected to Ethernet Switch (8 port Ethernet switch: 4 of 8 ports are spared for IO expansion) through the 4 GWs.

BMS room primarily comprises of the interface panel2 and the central server and central display systems. The BMS room is located in one of the 26 buildings and the buildings are about 500 meters apart from each other. Thus necessitated the conversion of electrical signal to optical signal using Ethernet to optical converter then passing it through the line interface unit (LIU) and transport the same through Fiber Optic Cable (FOC) to the panel2. And as the signal reaches BMS room through LIU and optical to Ethernet converter, the optical signal is converted back to electrical and passed on to switch and such multiple inputs are multiplexed by switch and the multiplexed output fed to the central server.

Now the rest the work goes on Elnet Software. Based on (1) configuration of the devices at various locations of 26 buildings and (2) as per the BMS enterprising requirements (billing, alarms, alerts, report generation) the Elnet SW decodes the raw data, validates and does the necessary computations then finally transforms the information into an intelligible format and generates reports and saves the desired info periodically in to the server.  Based on the utility requirements displays the diagnostic info of the BMS Network along with vital commercial parameters and alarms / threats if any.  And in response to the BMS network system alarms if any, alerts are posted immediately to the Network Maintenance staff and chief controller of BMS Room by text/email.

… to be contd

Episode 7 >

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LIGHTING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS):

Street light management system comprises of controller, Lux sensors, Gateways, Smart-IOs, etc. & the El-Net Software for Monitoring, controlling the LMS from the ‘Main Control Room (MCR)’. And the communication between the controller subsystem and the MCR happens through Wi-Fi.

Functional Description:

Group(s) of street lamps are made ON/OFF based on one of the options (1) LUX sensor data input, in this option the lights are switched ON as the sunsets and they are  switched OFF on the sunrise. (2) Remote switching from the MCR: This option helps putting OFF/ON certain (play grounds, shopping complexes, etc.) light circuits according to the need. (3) Manual (Default) switching: this option could be used whenever they need to override the options 1 and 2. for various reasons. Also, Options 1 and 2 comes with a preprogrammed timed light intensities. And the light intensity could be set from 0% to 100% across the timed slots of the day and the schedule could be changed/reprogrammed as per the utilities need.

For example:

1. 0%    light intensity from 06:00 Hrs. to 18:00 Hrs.
2. 50%   light intensity from 18:00 Hrs. to 20:00 Hrs.
3. 100% light intensity from 20:00 Hrs. to 22:00 Hrs.
4. 50%    light intensity from 22:00 Hrs. to 6:00 Hrs.

‘El-Net Software’: The Software installed in the server will help integrating Lights to LMS circuits and configuring, Monitoring and Controlling the LMS circuits and customized report generation. The entire Lighting area is divided in to Zones, Zone wise user interface screen(s) helps View the energy consumption data and history of –communication failure, ON/OFF Status of lights with the time stamp on Daily/ Monthly basis and gives the flexibility to change the On/Off schedules.

Any status change in the lighting circuits will be published within 5 sec. on the central Display system provided at MCR and in case of alarms the respective operators would get text alerts and emails as configured.

Field Devices:

1. Controller and IO Cards and with RS 485
2. Field IO – DO Modules
3. Field IO – AI Modules
4. Sensors with 4-20mA Output

Network Interfaces:

1. RS 232 Gateway with communication Ports RS 232 / RS 485 / USB
2. Ethernet gateway with (south) RS 485 port and (north)  Ethernet Port
3. Wi-Fi network to communicate the data to LMS System

Infrastructure at MCR:

1. Standard Server for the El-Net SW to handle User Interface and Back endData management application.
2. Central Display System to present (customized) screens like…

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SMART METERING SYSTEM

The main objective ofAdvanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI):

1. To establish two-way communications between smart energy meter(end point) and Head End System (HES)
2. To enable remote reading, monitoring & control of and electrical network through the energy meters.
3. To serve as repository of record for all raw, validated andedited data.

AMI Architecture:

“Smart Metering System” functionalities:

1. 1. Remote Meter data reading at configurable intervals (push/pull)
   2. Time of day (TOD)/TOU metering
   3. Pre-paid/Post-paid functionality
   4. Net Metering/Billing
   5. Alarm/Event detection, notification and reporting
   6. Remote Load Limiter and connection/ disconnection at pre-defined conditions and or on demand conditions.
   7. Remote firmware upgrade
   8. Security features to prevent unauthorized access to the AMI including Smart meter & meter data, etc.
   9. Field replaceable Modular Communication Module (shall be bundled in meter housing)
   10. Pairing with Communication Module
   11. Geolocation Identification
   12. Time Synchronisation

Components of “Smart Metering System” functionalities:

• 1. Network Management System (NMS):The NMS is responsible for the establishment and management of all radio mesh networks,
     1. The discovery of all nodes once deployed in the field,
     2. The overall system management,
     3. As well as security management of those millions of devices.
  2. Meter Data Acquisition System (MDAS)/Head End System (HES):The main objective of HES/MDAS is to acquire data from different end points and monitor them automatically from remote.
  3. Meter Data Management System (MDM):A software application that stores, validates, edits and analyses meter reading data prior to releasing it for integration into other operational systems of utility such as customer billing, load forecasting and outage management
  4. Smart Meters:
     1. Smart meters are advanced Electronic energy measurement devices with built-in communication module capable of two-way communications.
     2. Also, has the ability to measure the incoming and outgoing (Import and Export energy) flow of electricity (two-way energy measurement) from a specific location such as a customer‘s home or business.
     3. And has the capacity to collect information about energy usage at various intervalsand transmitting the data through a communication network to utility and receiving instructions from utility as well.
     4. In addition to conventional electronic metering functionality smart meters can undertake load switch activities for disconnecting/ connecting the load.

A few features of Smart Meter:

1. The instantaneous parameters: The instantaneous parameters shall be continuously updated by the meter to the host computer. The energy values in the table shall be cumulative from the day of manufacturing or from the installation of the meter as the case may be. These shall be continuously updated and the last updated value shall be available for downloading as and when required.
2. Time of Day or Time of use: First of all a passive calendar is set and that speaks about  the beginning of the time slot and its end time  similarly such time slots  to a max. of 16 slots on any given day are set. Then the passive activity calendar is set and that speaks about date and time stamp at which the passive calendar becomes active. The above process is meant for capturing consumption of energy parameters at different time slots of any given day and this would facilitate computing of energy consumption at different tariffs (slabs for peak hour loads) at different time slots across the day of activity calendar.
3. Tamper detection features: Meter detects Tampers and Frauds such as Voltage missing, Voltage unbalance, Current unbalance, Current Reversal, Neutral Disturbance, Low PF, Magnet detection, Power on/off, etc. along with date and time of occurrence.
   1. Voltage Missing: Meter detects and records occurrences of Voltage missing and restoration of voltage. If a voltage missing is detected, it is known as voltage missing tamper.
   2. Voltage / Current Unbalance:  Meter detects and records occurrences of Voltage and Current unbalance. A phase voltage difference of 30% and a phase current difference of 30% are known as Voltage unbalance tamper and current unbalance tamper respectively.
   3. Current Polarity Reversal: Meter detects and records occurrences of CT polarity reversal. If a Current polarity reversal is detected, it is known as Current polarity reversal tamper.
   4. Neutral Disturbance: Meter detects and records occurrences of Neutral disturbance, if the voltage is more than 300 V, it is known as Neutral Disturbance tamper.
   5. Low power factor: Meter detects and records occurrences of low power factor, if the power factor is less than 0.2, it is known as Low power factor tamper.
   6. High Current: Meter detects and records occurrences of High current. If the Current is more than 65A, it is known as High Current tamper.
   7. Power on/off: Meter detects and records occurrences of Power off, if the voltage is less than a particular threshold of voltage, it is known as Power off tamper.
   8. Magnetic influence:  Meter detects and records occurrences of the presence of abnormal Magnetic influence near the meter that influences the functionality of the meter.
   9. Front cover opening Disturbance: Meter detects and records occurrences of Front cover opening, if any one tries to tamper the meter by opening the front cover of the meter it detects and logs the event in to its memory with time stamp.
   10. High/ Low Voltage: The meter detects voltage crossing above and below the set threshold voltage, for a persistence time then it logs the event with time stamp.

       The front cover open tamper information will be logged in a stay put type compartment and all other tamper information are logged on divided roll over compartment and first in and first out basis. Meters have provision to record the energy in forward direction in case of CT reversal.

4. Demand side Management: Smart Meters provide load control outputs for Demand side programs and load shedding on Demand. Demand Control Register is programmed for Maximum demand that is allowed for consumption during the Demand Integration period (Normally 30 minutes / 15 Minutes). For Example:  if Demand Control register is programmed for 6 KW then load gets disconnected for either (1) the instant power exceeds 6 KW for more than 2 minutes (Demand Persistence time) continuously, or (2) If the raising demand reaches 6KW.

   Reconnection happens (demand reconnect time) when the raising demand is less than Demand Control Register value (in this example 6KW.)

   Assuming the Demand Integration Period (DIP) is 30 minutes and the raising demand reaches 6 KW in 20 minutes then the load gets disconnected  and remains in disconnected mode for the next 30 seconds (Demand Reconnect Time: DRT). After the DRT the load gets connected automatically.

5. Security: When the meter is Security locked, only meter readings and Load survey data are accessible. No access of data that leads to change the functionality/configuration of the meter are allowed. The security system virtually eliminates the fraud / tampering attempts of the meter.
6. Parameters for accounting and billing: The set of parameters identified for accounting and billing shall be generated by meter for each billing cycle and stored in the meter.  The set of data for last 6 billing cycles are stored in the meter memory. At the end of each cycle corresponding set of data shall be readable by host from remote.

Smart parameter list (measured & calculated) based on IS16444, IS13779, IS15959, & IS15884:

1. Voltage parameter per phase:
2. Current parameter per phase:
3. Power Factor per phase:
4. Frequency:
5. Signed Active Power(+forward ; -reverse):
6. Signed Reactive Power(+Lag;-Lead):
7. Apparent power:
8. Active Energy :
9. Reactive Energy:
10. Apparent Energy:
11. Block active energy kWh(forward/import):
12. Block apparent energy kVAh(forward/import):
13. Block apparent energy, kVAh lag:
14. Block apparent energy, kVAh lead:
15. Block active energy, kWh export(reverse energy):
16. Block apparent energy, kVAh export(reverse energy):
17. Import active energy (Forward energy kWh):
18. Import apparent energy(forward kVAh):
19. Export energy (reverse energy: active kWh):
20. Export energy (reverse energy: apparent kVAh):
21. Maximum demand in kW(active maximum power):
22. Maximum demand in kVA(apparent MD):
23. TOD Maximum demand in kW (configurable time zones, maximum will be eight time zones):
24. TOD Maximum demand in kVA (configurable time zones, maximum will be eight time zones):
25. Cumulative billing count:
26. Cumulative tamper count:
27. Cumulative programming count:
28. Average Power factor:
29. Average Voltage:
30. Average Current:
31. Number of power failure events:
32. Billing power on duration in min:
33. Cumulative power off duration in min:
34. Cumulative apparent energy, kVArh lag:
35. Cumulative apparent energy, kVArh lead:

… to be contd

Episode 6 >

Learn more about applications by Smart Cities that are continued in the next episode...

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An overview on few of the platforms and technologies that have opened new ways to collective action and collaborative problem-solving.

Cloud-based services

The term is generally used to describe data centers available over the Internet to many users. Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user.

Key Characteristics:

Enables users to access cloud computing services using a web browser regardless of their location from anywhere or what device they use (e.g., PC, mobile phone).

Multitenancy enables a large pool of users sharing the resources thus allows Centralization of infrastructure in locations with lower costs (such as real estate, electricity, etc.).

Productivity may be increased when multiple users can work on the same data simultaneously, rather than waiting for it to be saved and emailed. Time may be saved as information does not need to be re-entered when fields are matched, nor do users need to install application software upgrades to their computer.

Reliability improves with the use of multiple redundant cloud computing sites, which makes the cloud computing well-designed, suitable for business continuity and disaster recovery.

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The Internet of things (IoT)

is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices that are embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of sensors, these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.

The definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation), and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things.

Applications of IoT devices:

Smart Home

A smart home or automated home could be based on a platform or hubs that control smart devices and appliances like, using Apple's Home Kit, manufacturers can have their home products and accessories controlled by an application in iOS devices such as the iPhone and the Apple Watch.

There are also dedicated smart home hubs that are offered as standalone platforms to connect different smart home products like, the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple's Home Pod, and Samsung's Smart Things.

Medical and Healthcare

IoT devices can be used to enable remote health monitoring and emergency notification systems. These health monitoring devices can range from blood pressure and heart rate monitors to advanced devices capable of monitoring specialized implants, such as pacemakers, Fitbit electronic wristbands, or advanced hearing aids.

Some hospitals have begun implementing "smart beds" that can detect when they are occupied and when a patient is attempting to get up. It can also adjust itself to ensure appropriate pressure and support is applied to the patient without the manual interaction of nurses.

Transportation

The IoT can assist in the integration of communications, control, and information processing across various transportation systems covering most of the aspects of transportation systems (i.e. the vehicle, the infrastructure, driver, and user).

In Logistics and Fleet Management for example, an IoT platform can continuously monitor the location and conditions of cargo and assets via wireless sensors and send specific alerts when management exceptions occur (delays, damages, thefts, etc.).

Sensors such as GPS, Humidity, and Temperature sends data to the IoT platform and then the data is analyzed and then sent to the users. This way, users can track the real-time status of vehicles and can make appropriate decisions.

Building and Home Automation

IoT devices can be used to monitor and control the mechanical, electrical and electronic systems used in various types of buildings (e.g., public and private, industrial, institutions, or residential).

Industrial applications (IIoT)

The IIoT refers to interconnected sensors, instruments, and other devices networked together with computers' industrial applications, including, but not limited to, manufacturing and energy management. This connectivity allows for data collection, exchange, and analysis, potentially facilitating improvements in productivity and efficiency as well as other economic benefits.

Manufacturing

The IoT can realize the seamless integration of various manufacturing devices equipped with sensing, identification, processing, communication, actuation, and networking capabilities. The IoT intelligent systems enable rapid manufacturing of new products, dynamic response to product demands, and real-time optimization of manufacturing production and supply chain networks, by networking machinery, sensors and control systems together.

Agriculture

A few IoT applications in farming are collecting data on temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, pest infestation, and soil content. This data can be used to automate farming techniques, make informed decisions to improve quality and quantity, minimize risk and waste, and reduce the effort required to manage crops. For example, farmers can now monitor soil temperature and moisture from afar and even apply IoT-acquired data to precision fertilization programs.

Infrastructure applications

Monitoring and controlling operations of sustainable urban and rural infrastructures like bridges, railway tracks and on- and offshore wind-farms is a key application of the IoT. The IoT can benefit the construction industry by cost saving, time reduction, better quality workday, paperless workflow and increase in productivity.

… to be contd

Get the Essence & deep understanding of Smart Cities with few top smart city examples in the next episode.

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The main essence of the Smart City concept can be understood well by these four frameworks:

Smart Cities are classified based on the following frameworks:

1. Technology Framework
2. Human Framework
3. Energy framework &
4. Data Management framework.

Technology Framework:

The concepts of the Smart city rely heavily on the different combinations of the use of technological infrastructure. For example:

• Digital city:

The Technology Framework ‘TFW’ combines service-oriented infrastructure and communication infrastructure to meet the needs of governments and their employees, citizens, and businesses.

• Information city:

An information city could be an urban Centre both economically and socially speaking; The TFW collects local information and delivers them to the public portal; many inhabitants are able to live and even work on the Internet because they could obtain every information through IT infrastructures.

• Intelligent city:

The notion emerges in a social context in which knowledge, learning process, and creativity have great importance and the human capital is considered the most precious resource within this type of technological city.

Human framework

Human infrastructure (i.e., creative occupations and workforce, knowledge networks, voluntary organizations) is a crucial axis for city development

• Creative city:

Creativity is recognized as a key driver to a smart city.  Social infrastructures, like for instance intellectual and social capital are indispensable factors to build a city that is smart according to the human framework. These infrastructures concern people and their relationship.

• Learning city:

Learning city is involved in building a skilled workforce. This type of city in the human context improves the competitiveness in the global knowledge economy: individually proactive city, city cluster, the one-to-one link between cities, and city network. That lead a city to learn how it should be possible and realistic to be smart through learning process followed by city workforce.

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Energy Framework

Smart cities use data and technology to create efficiencies, improve sustainability, create economic development, and enhance the quality of life factors for people living and working in the city. It also means that the city has a smarter energy infrastructure.

A smart city is powered by "smart connections" for various items such as street lighting, smart buildings, distributed energy resources (DER), data analytics, and smart transportation. Amongst these things, energy is paramount; this is why utility companies play a key role in smart cities. Electric companies, working partnership with city officials, technology companies and a number of other institutions, are among the major players that helped accelerate the growth of America's smart cities.

Data Management Framework

Smart city employs a combination of data collection, processing, and disseminating technologies in conjunction with networking and computing technologies and data security and privacy measures encouraging application innovation to promote the overall quality of life for its citizens and covering dimensions that include: utilities, health, transportation, entertainment and government services.

… to be contd

Get the Essence & deep understanding of Smart Cities with these frameworks in the next episode.

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If you consider the theory of cause & effect, we need to have a few thoughts about urbanization before getting onto “smart city".

Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas.

And Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including urban planning, geography, Sociology, architecture, economics, and public health. The phenomenon is closely linked to modernization, industrialization and the sociological process of rationalization.

A smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic internet (internet of things: ‘IoT’) connectivity to collect the data from physical devices and everyday objects, and sensors, etc.  The data collected is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, crime detection, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services.

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The IoT network integrates ‘information and communication technology’ (ICT) and that allows city officials to interact directly with community and city infrastructure which helps to monitor what is happening in the city and how the city is evolving. ICT is used to enhance quality, performance, and interactivity of urban services and that reduces costs, resource-consumption and to increase contact between citizens and government. Smart city applications are developed to manage urban flows and allow for real-time responses. A smart city may, therefore, be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a simple "transactional" relationship with its citizens.

Major technological, economic and environmental changes have generated interest in smart cities, including climate change, economic restructuring, the move to online retail and entertainment, aging populations, urban population growth and pressures on public finances.

Statistics by Arup Group:

Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London estimates that the global market for smart urban services will be $400 billion per annum by 2020. Examples of Smart City technologies and programs have been implemented in Singapore, Dubai, Milton, Keynes, Southampton, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, China, and New York.

Source: Wikipedia

… to be contd

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