Today s Cities Getting to Smart The Role of Smart and Connected Outdoor Lighting
Table of Contents Introduction...3 What is a Smart City?...4 So Where Does a City Start?...6 The Informational Technology Approach...6 The Operational Technology Approach...7 Existing Lighting Infrastructure Use What You ve Got...8 Choosing a City-wide Wireless Network A Balancing Act...11 Street Light Deployed Sensor Based Applications...12 The Wrap-up...13 White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 2
Introduction Elected officials and city managers face many complex challenges in improving the quality of life for their residents and for making their cities smarter. Rapid growth from urban migration, traffic congestion, escalating operating and capital costs, underfunded pension liabilities, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate tax bases, improving security, an aging population, and funding constraints are daily facts of urban life. According to the United Nations, by 2050, 66 percent of the world s population will reside in urban areas. Regardless of each city s unique circumstances, they share many common goals to becoming smarter, increasingly sustainable and more livable for residents and visitors alike. Common long term goals include: Efficiency Increased control over city systems Improved public services: schools, safety, transportation Improved resiliency to disruptions Sustainability Reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions Clean growth and development Operational cost savings Livability Higher quality of life for city residents to live, work and play Safety and security Increased attractiveness to more local jobs creation and talent Cities are giant, living organisms comprised of countless subsystems. Historically, city infrastructures have presented obstacles for cities struggling to provide better services for their citizens. In many cases, a city is only as good as its underlying physical infrastructure (traffic, safety systems, utilities, and street lighting). Generally, city infrastructures have been a collection of stand-alone and single-purpose devices: a traditional electric, gas or water meter; traffic lights on a timer; remote sensors; a street light on a pole; telephones on the ends of copper wires; etc. These unconnected dumb, analog devices lived in a world where technicians read numbers from a meter, recorded them in a logbook, and then later used the data to make operational decisions. Adding smarts to existing urban environments can be daunting. City managers often focus on the capital costs of acquiring assets, which represent approximately 20% of the asset life cycle costs and fail to account for the 80% of the costs that represent energy and operational costs. So how can city officials utilize their existing infrastructure to sensibly and cost effectively work towards a higher degree of operational excellence? And while doing so, how can investments be optimized to provide funding for additional city services? White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 3
Asset life cycle costs Initial capital vs. ongoing energy and operations CapEx (installed) OpEx Up to 20 % of life cycle cost is capital, financing Up to 80 % of life cycle cost is energy and operational What is a Smart City? First, for anyone new to Smart Cities, let s define the term. According to the Smart Cities Council, a smart city uses information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance its livability, workability and sustainability. In the simplest terms, there are three parts to that job: collecting, communicating and crunching. First, a smart city collects information about itself through sensors and other devices such as controls and existing systems. Next, it communicates that data using wired or wireless networks. Third, it crunches (analyzes) that data to understand what s happening now and what s likely to happen in the future. This analysis is then presented to those individuals who can best act on it. Smart Cities are also defined as cities that utilize operational, information and communication technologies (OT and ICT) with the aim to increase the life quality of their inhabitants while providing sustainable development. Smart Cities in actuality is a broad concept, and the realization of that concept for each city is as unique as that city itself. In an ideal world, smart community solutions would include the city s physical assets, awareness of the constantly changing city landscape/environment, its workforce, and consideration of the citizens movement and behavior. To deliver on the promise of a Smart City requires that a city s workforce has real-time visibility and information about the city s current situation, so that informed decisions based on real facts and analyses can be made, in order to proceed with meaningful plans and actions. Getting to smart is an evolutionary process, not an overnight revolution. Smart City priorities need to be developed from an overall holistic plan. In the Suggested Readings section at the conclusion of this paper there are several Websites with excellent planning resources and examples of Smart Cities successes. Key Takeaway it s all about leveraging the data that is hidden and locked away in a city s physical assets. White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 4
Smart Cities Enabling Technologies and Convergence Single-purpose and stand-alone legacy city devices are giving way to smart and adaptive, remote but connected, intelligent nodes that: collect and analyze data use local real-time data to make decisions communicate with each other send data via wireless and wired networks to central management systems. Rapidly evolving innovations sensors, controls, GPS, wireless low power wide area (LPWA) networks, smart infrastructures, mobile applications, the cloud and their convergence are driving instrumentation of the physical world. In cross-industry jargon, this is called Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT). In short, IoT refers to a network that interconnects previously dumb devices, products, equipment, infrastructure, and yes, even people (via the Cloud and mobile applications). IoT technologies include networked instrumentation and controls, sensors, machine-to-machine automation, wired and wireless networks, and SaaS Cloud-based mobile applications. The integration of controls and sensors which communicate over private and public wireless or wired networks are the building blocks that make truly smart devices possible. The convergence of real-time awareness and communications into monitoring, controlling and reporting on city-wide assets and equipment has blurred the boundaries between these operational technologies (OT) and informational technologies (ICT). These smart devices can be attached directly to equipment and existing city infrastructure including utility poles and street lights, trash bins, vehicles, water and waste water systems, and more. Previously isolated devices are now being connected to a Central Management System (CMS) that ingests and aggregates data city-wide to gain real-time status on city assets, such as lighting. The CMS acts as a centralized hub of city-wide information, with the end game being efficiency, operational intelligence, and actionable insights. Smart and connected assets use remote diagnostics to make status, health and other operational data accessible to management applications hosted on-site at the city or in the cloud. Alerts, alarms, dashboards, work orders and reports sent to personal computers and mobile devices enable decision makers and city workers to make decisions and take action based on the information provided. Key takeaway Operational Technologies such as Machine to Machine (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) and their convergence plus interoperability with Informational Technologies are enabling the evolution of Smart Cities. CLOUD White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 5
So Where Does a City Start? The Informational Technology Approach Government spending for Smart City initiatives initially often gravitates towards highly visible, politically attractive Information Technology based services, such as: Security and safety Video and image sensors Blue button emergency call stations Traffic monitoring & signal control Parking management Wireless communications Free public Wi-Fi Cellular micro-cells Informational services Digital street signs and digital media displays RGBA notification and alerts Entertainment Music, announcements These data rich services, built with Informational Technology systems require high speed data communication networks and are in many cases expensive to buy, install, configure, and operate. The networking demands of these services, which transmit large volumes of data back and forth, require cellular networks that carry recurring monthly data charges. Cities generally lack the highly skilled IT resources that are required to deploy, run, and technically sustain these systems. Building the human capital and filling the talent pipeline for sustaining IT based Smart Urban Services is a workforce development task not normally tackled by city governments. Smart City initiatives, like those listed above, deliver value to city residents, but at what cost? In many cases, these systems are cost centers, not self-sustaining revenue generators. Anonymous sources from two carriers that contributed to this paper stated that telecoms continue to struggle with identifying the economic models needed to make these services pay for themselves and eventually become profitable. An acceptable Return on Investment (ROI) for implementing Smart City initiatives can be difficult not only to calculate but to also justify quantitatively, especially when cities face fiscal constraints. Initial design and engineering, capital for acquisition, installation, and operating expenses typically limit these services/initiatives to a few high profile, iconic areas of the city. Delivering these services cannot be financially supported across the full city landscape. All in all, these data intensive smart city services incur high lifetime costs. So how can a city begin with an approach that is less complex, simpler to implement, and achieves an acceptable ROI in a reasonable time frame? And, at the same time, can also be more widely deployed across the entire cityscape? Cities retrofitting their legacy lighting fixtures with LEDs for energy efficiency and sustainability is a welldocumented approach. This approach is also a simpler, more practical way to begin taking on Smart City White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 6
technology projects. The next logical step is to introduce new capabilities to LEDs by adding intelligence and connecting what were formerly stand-alone assets. This is an excellent way to make the process more efficient. Key Takeaway: When considering Smart City initiatives, city managers must be cognizant of the high costs, both human and financial associated with implementing Informational Technology based services. LEDs provide an easy, cost effective way for cities to begin their Smart City endeavors by providing the ability to add intelligent control and sensors to retrieve actionable data. The Operational Technology Approach Deploying Operational Technology by coupling outdoor lighting systems with lighting controls as the logical starting point is typically overlooked by city administrators. Innovation and regulations are driving increased use of smart and connected devices, including: Wireless networks Smart controls Machine 2 Machine (M2M) sensors, GPS The Internet of Things (IoT) SaaS, cloud based software Mobile applications Regulatory mandates, such as Title 24 in California Operational technologies are referred to as BlueTech in this whitepaper. BlueTech describes a category of technologies that are readily usable by rank and file, non-it workers. BlueTech applications made possible by M2M and IoT, are delivered via mobile devices, easy to use and rich in functionality. Thus, city workers do not have to be High Tech or IT savvy to deploy and utilize Smart City applications. Due to these operational technologies, legacy infrastructures such as street and roadway lights are no longer hurdles standing in the way of cities becoming smart. Intelligence and controls, wireless connectivity and smart sensors fitted into lighting infrastructures enable them to send and receive data, report operational status, invoke ON/OFF dimming schedules and other commands. Thus, smart, connected roadway and street lighting is an ideal on-ramp and a multi-services platform for driving energy efficiency and sustainability, and reducing operating and maintenance costs. Let s examine some of the key reasons why roadway and street lights are the ideal starting point in creating a Smart City infrastructure: Roadway and street lights are ubiquitous, and conveniently distributed throughout the city. Outdoor lighting infrastructure is typically sited where people live and work. Street light poles are easily accessible to install wireless lighting controls, thus avoiding trenching or construction costs for a communications network. A plug and play controller mounted atop a luminaire or inside a post top fixture avoids the high costs of street light replacement. Street lights provide electric power for future add-on applications like sensor platforms for deploying other Smart City applications. White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 7
The key benefits to this approach using the lighting infrastructure platform to manage the devices, collect the data and run the applications are: Lower cost Faster to commission Simpler to operate Immediate savings by reducing energy, operating and maintenance costs Enabling better operational decisions by the rank and file city workforce Key Takeaway: Though often overlooked, Operational Technologies provide cities with an excellent opportunity to implement Smart City initiatives because they are easy to implement, lower cost and enable users across various levels of an organization to utilize the data they provide. Technology Evolution to a Smart City Smart Step-by-Step Integrated Managed Networked Measured Pervasive sensor and control networks throughout city Node connections through low-cost communications Integration of isolated systems and across cities Real-time data analysis & control of city systems SaaS-based citizen services, applications, and management tools Smart Cities are enabled by technology Sensors M2M and the Internet of Things IT and Operational Technology Small Data and Big Data Smart and Connected Assets Cloud SaaS Existing Lighting Infrastructure Use What You ve Got Why reinvent the wheel when a city s lighting infrastructure can be modernized with light emitting diodes (LED) luminaires fitted with smart and connected controls to allow this infrastructure to easily serve as a platform to collect important sensor data about the city environment and to host sensor-based applications? A City Smart Lighting Project is best completed in phases, including design and engineering, selection, procurement, project financing and installation. The first step is replacing existing street lights with LEDs to achieve improved performance and energy savings. Older HPS/HID fixtures are well suited for conversion to LED equivalents. The Department of Energy (DOE) Information Agency estimates that approximately 40% of a city s electric energy spend is for outdoor lighting. Retrofitting older luminaires with LED fixtures delivers energy usage savings averaging about 50%. The second step is to explore and evaluate cost-effective opportunities for a Centralized Lighting Management System (CMS), which would improve LED lighting control, asset management and provide better customer service. For example, a CMS can further reduce energy usage by up to 30 percent for LEDs. Significant maintenance and repair efficiencies are obtained due to remote monitoring and the automatic creation of work orders when there are issues. White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 8
Project costs for the first two phases are funded from utility savings, state and utility rebates, grants and other operational cost savings. Key Takeaway: Modernizing a city s lighting infrastructure through acquisition of LEDs and implementation of Centralized Lighting Management Systems is an easy and effective way to collect important sensor data about a city s environment and how to best manage it going forward. SMART PRODUCT SMART CONNECTED PRODUCT SMART STREETS LED LED LED LED Lighting LED Lighting LED Lighting LED CMS LED Lighting Controller Controller Controller Wireless Wireless Gateway Improving Operational Efficiency The data collection and control features of smart connected lighting deliver energy efficiency and help cities meet sustainability initiatives. Another benefit, perhaps as significant as energy savings, is identifying malfunctioning luminaires quickly and saving on the number of worker hours needed for repair and/or replacement. No longer do city workers need to conduct nighttime patrols on long stretches of road to identify failing street lights or address citizen complaints about burned-out street lights. With self-diagnostics at the controller node, the CMS reports energy use, lamp life, thermal dynamics, power factor and other operational characteristics to adjust dimming levels for ambient light and to maximize overall luminaire life. Via automatically generated alarms and work orders, cities can monitor the functionality of their lighting infrastructure, track lighting assets, and fix problems strategically, thereby, reducing operational and maintenance costs. Typical benefits such as better resource allocation including personnel, equipment, and asset longevity are estimated to save between 50% to 70% in luminaire life. Additional benefits are cost control, and citizen satisfaction. Condition monitoring of critical assets such as street lighting can help cities in the long term improve their infrastructure maintenance strategies and programs. Traditionally, maintenance strategies are generally classified into four types: Reactive, Preventive, Predictive, and Proactive. The table below shows basic and generic examples of each type (Source: ARC Advisory Group): White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 9
Approach Method Application Cost Ratio Reactive Run to failure and then repair Failure is easily fixed or non-critical 10x plus when failure occurs Preventive Service in a fixed time or cycle interval Maintain on calendar or operating time 2x maintenance costs Predictive (Condition Monitoring) Monitor device data to identify trends and create alert prior to failure Identify when failure is likely, and schedule repair when needed 1x maintenance costs Proactive (Small Data and Analytics) Device specific data acquisitions and algorithms, analytics Longer range prediction of failure with high confidence Lower maintenance costs per unit A data-driven, condition monitoring approach to maintenance and asset performance collecting small data that comes from a particular device can provide powerful feedback loops: How often are Luminaries ON, at what times, at what dimming levels and for how long? Usage Tracking How many Luminaires are online or offline and why, to determine trends, patterns and issues? How many Luminaires are installed and where? If a citizen is complaining about their local street lighting, what could be the cause? Maintenance and Warranty Analysis Product and Service Feedback Are the products performing to specifications, i.e. internal temperature? Operational Analysis Turning device data into insights can help cities evolve their maintenance programs, moving from purely reactive and preventive to predictive and prescriptive with their inherent cost and efficiency advantages. White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 10
What How to Improve Why What Will What Why What Will How to Improve Descriptive Analytics Diagnostic Analytics Predictive Analytics Prescriptive Analytics Key Takeaway: In addition to energy savings, Central Lighting Management Systems (CMS) enable cities to easily track and manage their lighting assets and quickly respond to issues as they arise. Choosing a City-wide Wireless Network - a Balancing Act When starting down the Smart Cities path, city officials have to make choices regarding which wireless technology is best for each Smart City service. One choice is where in the frequency band will the wireless signals operate for that service licensed or unlicensed frequency. This choice is based on several criteria: data capacity required, coverage area, and lifetime affordability of the wireless service. Some frequency bands, like cellular, are licensed and are leased to telecom carriers as the sole users. Others are unlicensed and set aside for more generic purposes, and are free to use by anyone within the regulations set by the governing body. Licensed spectrum for cellular communications is a highly sought after commodity and therefore more expensive. For cellular, it is estimated that 40% of the total cost of building out a new network is the licensing cost of the spectrum. For that reason, carriers want to use that spectrum for the highest revenue-generating purpose. The high value of the spectrum is a key reason why cellular operators are constantly migrating to newer technologies: 2G to 3G to 4G (known as sun-setting of obsolete networks). With the ever-increasing bandwidth demands coming from human based applications such as smart phones, tablets and streaming video, cellular providers move to the highest revenue use for this expensive asset. Unlicensed spectrum such as that used by ZigBee, Bluetooth, etc. provide alternatives that have their own constraints. For wide-area communications, the primary unlicensed bands used are 900 MHz (868 in Europe, 915 in the US) and 2.4 GHz. These bands are well suited for the low data rates of utility metering, street light White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 11
control and sensor-based applications.these unlicensed bands are free to use, but are subject to regulations that impact the performance of technologies transmitting on them and the potential interference of competing wireless signals. Technologies that can operate successfully under the regulations of these frequency bands can go to market quickly and avoid the enormous costs of licensed spectrum. Smart City services using M2M devices require connectivity that is extremely cost-effective. Because of the sheer number of devices connected, the life cycle cost of ownership needs to be very competitive. The extra cost of licensed spectrum already has one strike against it. This cost, coupled with the need for machines to have a stable network for 20+ years, makes it a difficult case for cellular providers that rely on a licensed network. The demand of human-driven usage, e.g. voice and data, will push the carriers to always convert older, less-efficient spectrum usage to higher throughput, higher efficiency uses. Machines and their unique needs such as long battery life, no network sunsets, and coverage will never have high priority on the human-centric cellular networks. Thus, the case for licensed spectrum doesn t optimally match the needs of most machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity. Fortunately for many cities, their electric, gas, and water utility providers have installed wireless networks for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). AMI is a two-way communications system of smart devices on both sides of the meter: the customer and the utility. AMI is a key component of the Smart Grid, consisting of the customer side, home area networks, in-home displays, and energy management systems. On the utility side are smart meters, communication networks, and data management systems. Providers of AMI or Smart Grid networks include Cisco Systems, Silver Spring Networks, Itron, Landis & Gyr to name a few. These networks gather data wirelessly from utility meters, measuring consumption and transmitting other data. For electricity services, these networks are the foundational element of a Smart Grid. These networks typically rely on unlicensed wireless spectrum, which carry no recurring monthly charges. Outdoor lighting control solution providers such as CIMCON Lighting can help cities take advantage of prior AMI network investments. For example, CIMCON integrates in its lighting controllers a multitude of specific AMI radios for wireless communications. With these integrations, smart and connected lighting systems can easily piggy-back their wireless automation and controls onto existing AMI/Smart Grid networks. As Smart Grid ecosystem players on AMI Networks, Smart Outdoor Lighting Control Solutions can be extended as natural platforms for city-wide sensor applications. Smart grids and lighting control solutions not only provide the technology infrastructure, but more importantly the ROI to fund new sensor based applications. Key Takeaway: Cities, in making choices about Smart City initiatives need to determine whether they will use licensed or free unlicensed spectrum. For those cities that quantify the data requirements of the application and are just beginning or need to be vigiliant about costs, unlicensed spectrum upon which electric, gas and water meters operate, provides an excellent entry point to begin gathering usage data upon which informed decisions can be made. Street Light Deployed Sensor Based Applications A community s outdoor lighting grid offers a unique opportunity to add features that enhance the quality of urban life. A lighting infrastructure with access to power, controls and communications can host a wide range of Smart City sensors that act as the eyes and ears of the city. Why duplicate that effort, when street lights can be utilized? White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 12
Sensor data is collected, communicated, aggregated and crunched, thus providing information for more informed decision making by city government. New applications that use the existing pole, mast arm, electrical power, and street light controllers serve as a platform, delivering new services to residents and businesses. The choices available for sensors mounted on the lighting infrastructure or via wireless are extensive. Listed below are just a few examples. There is a flurry of technological innovation going on in sensors plus M2M and IoT application platform development. This is being driven by both startups and long established players like Analog Devices, Bosch, and Intel to name just a few. How this technology evolves in the future is exciting and rapid. Key Takeaway: A city s lighting infrastructure provides an excellent opportunity for cities to begin monitoring activities though the implementation of a wide range of Smart City sensors. Smart Lighting Smart Parking Traffic Control Urban Noise Weather Environmental Air Quality Snow Levels Video Security Public Wi - Fi Micro - cells Digital Signage The Wrap-up The key for each city in their journey to becoming Smart will be centered on the interconnections between the urban environment, equipment and infrastructure, technologies, citizens and city workers, and the private sector. In cities, it s all about leveraging data the value is in the data, not the thing. Multiple players public and private sector must work together collaboratively to use city-wide data to bolster efficiency and resiliency. Smart Cities start with the notion that small, distributed impacts can help generate big, long lasting solutions. It s all about taking a more holistic approach, with cities understanding the disruptions that are happening and how their legacy infrastructures retrofitted with technology improvements like M2M and IoT have a place in the puzzle of Smart City evolution. Many cities are recognizing that operational technology advances in lighting and digital controls, networking, and sensing can create fiscally prudent opportunities for local governments to: Improve public services Reduce taxpayer expenditures Reduce long-term utility obligations through street lighting modernization projects. Street light conversions to LEDs and the automated control of individual fixtures can help 21st century cities cost effectively implement ground-breaking Smart City technologies to: White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 13
Reduce a city s energy consumption and operational costs Advance a city s sustainability goals Create local jobs and support economic growth Improve connectivity options Modernization of existing lighting infrastructure can help municipalities: Deliver an energy efficient street, alley, viaduct, and pathway lighting grid and lighting control network; Make available other services across the entire city landscape via sensor-based and digital technologies that enhance safety, and improve quality of life. Key Takeaway: Data is the key driver in making a city smart. To obtain this data requires collaboration, cooperation and knowledge between city workers, residents, and the private sector. Suggested Readings and Resources: The Smart Cities Council, www.smartcitiescouncil.com Meeting of the Minds, www.cityminded.org Black and Veatch, www.bv.com, 2016 Strategic Directions Smart City / Smart Utility Report Smart and Resilient Cities, www.smartresilient.com Thinking Cities Alliance, www.thinkingcities.com For additional information, please contact: Chris Davis Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Smart Cities CIMCON Lighting, Inc. +1 978 320 4085 Chris.Davis@cimconlighting.com www.cimconlighting.com White Paper: Today s Cities Getting to Smart 14
To learn more about CIMCON Lighting s solutions, please contact us at sales@cimconlighting.com Worldwide Headquarters CIMCON Lighting, Inc. 600 Technology Park Drive Suite #: 100 Billerica, MA 01821 (978) 320 4002 info@cimconlighting.com UK Office CIMCON Lighting Ltd. 40 Bank Street, 30th Floor Canary Wharf, London E14 5NR (+) 44 (0) 20 3102 7966 info.uk@cimconlighting.com Asia Pacific Office CIMCON Lighting Ltd. 802, SAKAR IV, Ellisbridge Ahmedabad - 380 006, India (+) 91 79 2657 8639 info.apac@cimconlighting.com White Paper: Lighting Accelerating the Development of Smart Cities for the Future 16