A game changer for Open Cities
PE Smart Urban Network by Paradox Engineering provides a revolutionary and next generation network platform and applications ecosystem to manage urban services more efficiently and improve citizen satisfaction, making Cities more agreeable, livable and safer.
The solution now integrates blockchain technology to grant the highest possible cybersecurity and enable the monetization of urban device-generated data.
Interoperability is key
Interoperability enables effective urban data governance and allows Cities to select best-of-breed technologies and partners to design present and future services. When relying on open standards, a City can unlock its real innovation potential.
Every City manager knows that implementing service-specific solutions to manage urban applications one by one adds fragmentation, complexity and costs, jeopardizing the possibility to build efficient, sustainable, and open communities.
Interoperability is pivotal to develop secure, performing and reliable urban networks supporting any kind of service over the same infrastructure. This flexibility results in a concrete and measurable improvement of City management, and the opportunity to start a gradual journey towards innovation mirroring local needs and available resources – but always maintaining a far-sighted perspective.
What does an interoperable technology look like? First of all, it is based on open standards, thus it is brand-agnostic, allows seamless integration of third-party systems and custom applications, and grants the confidence of a continuity of supply over time.
That’s our continuous commitment. While interoperability is a key feature of our breakthrough solution for Open Cities, we are active members of the uCIFI Alliance to contribute to the development of open, multi-supplier, interoperable, multi-transport wireless communication solutions for Smart Cities and utilities.
More smart applications on a single network infrastructure
PE Smart Urban Network allows Cities to have a unified, interoperable infrastructure to manage both multi-sensor Wireless IoT and Wireless Highspeed IoT networks to enable sensor based applications on one hand, and pervasive WiFi and other high-bandwidth applications on the other hand.
This means Cities can connect and control a number of smart applications, sensors and actuators, solving major urban challenges and needs.
PE Smart Urban Network is a true future-proof investment: being completely standard-based, it imposes no limits to the integration of new or additional sensors, and the design of new services.
Smart Lighting
PE Smart Urban Network enables high performing and reliable Smart Lighting applications: by controlling light points to adjust brightness according to daily solar times, ambient light levels, human or vehicle presence, up to 70% of power and greenhouse emissions may be saved.
With PE Smart Urban Network, City operators and managers can define customized lighting patterns for single districts, streets and even single lamps. Streetlights can be turned on/off and dimmed according to programmed schedules (ie. setting a default combination for working and festive days, for residential and industrial areas, etc.), changing them whenever necessary to mirror specific local circumstances or events.
PE Smart Lighting Nodes interfacing luminaires may also be integrated with additional connected motion sensors, vehicle counters, tilt sensors and other devices, triggering condition-based dynamic lighting. This is particularly useful in low traffic areas, where lights may be further dimmed when no vehicle or pedestrian is passing by.
Smart Parking
PE Smart Urban Network allows municipalities and operators to remotely monitor and control parking facilities, collecting and taking advantage of a full range of parking-related data, such as the number of available lots in a specific area, the duration of each parking and possible abuses (such as unauthorized parking.)
These pieces of information enable a smarter management of existing facilities and the increase of average usage rates. By integrating the solution with mobile apps, variable message panels and traffic guidance systems, it is possible to alert drivers with real-time parking availability and route them to the nearest parking area.
Other Smart Applications
Supporting both Wireless IoT and Wireless Highspeed IoT, PE Smart Urban Network enables the remote management and control of a variety of urban services, also setting the ground to design future applications we might not even think of.
PE Smart Urban Network also allows Cities to offer data-hungry applications such as Pervasive WiFi, and allow residents and visitors to access communication services, online applications and contents, also covering news, events and infotainment services to make Cities more attractive. By collaborating with shops and local businesses, it could also provide the possibility to design proximity marketing campaigns, thus contributing to grow urban economy.
Video surveillance, traffic control and emergency response support are other possible applications, as IP cameras, surveillance systems, earthquake sensors, and potentially unmanned vehicles can be integrated into PE Smart Urban Network to improve public security and hasten law enforcement intervention when needed.
Blockchain-powered applications
By integrating blockchain technology, PE Smart Urban Network sets a huge step forward in mitigating Cities’ cyber vulnerabilities.
Granting the highest possible levels of data integrity, validity and immutability, blockchain technology makes commissioning and operational procedures over smart urban infrastructures intrinsically secure. Cities can thus move away from the conventional ‘bastion defence’ paradigm to benefit from security-by-design network systems, where vital services such as energy distribution, public transportation, lighting, emergency support, etc. can be safely hosted and managed.
Moreover, thanks to blockchain, data from streetlights, parking lots, waste bins, environmental sensors, and other urban objects can be transformed into tradable tokens. These “info-tokens” can be exchanged over secure marketplaces and become available for universities, start-ups and any other local business to design innovative applications and services by mashing-up different data streams.
