Do You Know What a Smart Pole is...?

A Smart Pole by most definitions is a light pole that has intelligent LED Lighting, and might have a camera or possibly even a EVC (Electric Vehicle Charging) System. Other than possibly housing an OEMs Wireless Macro, Small Cell or 5G technology this is about as far as most system providers have gone and this is what they define as being a Smart Pole for a Smart City.

I am sorry, but that definition does not work for me. A Smart Pole should be the key infrastructure delivery element for the building of a Smart City, and I have to say the definition of Smart leaves a wide gap in what I have always been told being Smart is. Smart to me is Intelligent which to me defines what should be the primary classification of a Smart Pole. The word smart does not define the current majority of Smart Poles on the market, the Majority are by reality dumb platforms, the only thing intelligent is the LED light.

So now that I have opened Pandora's Box as it were, let me explain my reasoning on what a truly Smart Pole should do –

1.     Let’s Start with the LED Lighting, after all it is in the utility corridor and it should have lighting that better illuminates the City which in it is deployed, reducing electric consumption, increasing operational and maintenance of the controlling utility and by definition reducing the carbon footprint that previously all high sodium street lights contributed to.

2.     Next a Camera but let’s take that a step further this Camera should be capable and deliver a full suite of capabilities and analytics such as, vehicle recognition, facial recognition, Deep Data Analytics, License Plate Reader, zoom onboard memory/video storage capabilities. High color resolution and zoom capabilities. Yet it should be concealed so as not to clutter the urban landscape with yet another device polluting the cityscape.

3.     What about Wi-Fi an ability to provide high-speed wireless connections for communities, to facilitate access for underprivileged youth and adults to have educational resource access for education that more allows them to increase their learning and studying from home. Or disadvantaged adults who with internet access might be able to finish online studies or start new business ventures that could possibly be the Apple or Facebook of tomorrow.

4.     How about weather and air quality monitoring, informing the public of heavy days when pollutant and chemicals in the air outside might be harmful or allergens are present that could be dangerous for people with COPD or Asthma. How about weather monitoring for high wind and rain or heavy snowfall or particularly active lightning or potential for flooding and highlighting the risky areas on maps.

5.     Now ad informational displays that provide important local event information, public services announcements like Amber Alerts and news alerts. Add this with Bus and Train routes and schedules and linking apps to help out of town travelers to find local businesses like restaurants and shopping and the ability to push a button or a touch screen display to call for emergency services or law enforcement and speak to them in Real-time when minutes and seconds were most critical.

6.     Now blend this with other smart tech like Smart Vending devices, Smart Trash receptacles or linked capabilities to Smart Metering where it did not exist before for Electric, Water and Gas.

These Smart Poles are then the key for communities to become smarter and better than they were but all these are meaningless without the Intelligence to bring it all together.

Our company is one of the leaders in these new innovations, partnering with companies like Hitachi Vantara and LG-MRI to incorporate true (AI) Artificial Intelligence that benefits all feature past, current and future, but we are going one step further… we are showing cities and businesses around the world how to monetize this tech and grow their Smart City objectives intelligently and modularly at a pace with our plug & play feature designs and on top of all this we are making sculpted living art of our systems so they contribute to the ecosphere of the urban environment. They are done with a custom design that blends our street furniture and smart poles into the cityscape in an attractive aesthetic way that makes our solution blend in the surrounding environment. After all no two cities are the same, the solution shouldn’t be, it should be painstakingly studied and developed with the communities we are building to ensure the architecture being added will be beautiful and welcome for the +20-year life of the housing yet completely functional to change the technology within as it continues to advance.

So, do you know what a Smart Pole is now or better yet a Smart City Solution?