Developments in edge computing technology have made the futuristic dream of smart cities within the grasp of humanity. For decades, developers have imagined the possibilities of a smart, integrated city that would make life easier and more convenient for all those living there. That time has arrived.

According to a recent interview with tech experts NTT said “Any industry that involves processing large volumes of data and real-time decision-making – think healthcare or manufacturing – stands to benefit from edge computing. The deployment of IoT, AI and automation will support use cases such as managing smart-city infrastructure, enabling instant medical data analysis, and facilitating advanced machine learning in connected devices.”

Do Smart Cities Need Edge Computing Technology?

For a smart city to be able to operate at its full potential, connectivity is key. The sheer amount of data that is expected to come out of a reasonably sized smart city is astounding. Standard computing technologies and practices won’t be able to handle the volume of data and centralized data centres will not be able to continue to be the centre of data processing. Solution? Edge computing technology.

Why Does Connectivity Matter?

The term “smart city” is an umbrella term that encompasses all sorts of services such as public transport, traffic lights, building maintenance and operations, garbage collection, and any other type of application or service that can be automated or enhanced with data collection and processing. 

Computing and data storage resources that are in use today need to be upgraded to edge computing so that data from these multiple sources can be analyzed and acted upon without sending them via the internet over to a centralized data centre. Edge devices allow connectivity even without access to the internet so they can do the work deciphering the meaning and the practicality of the data before sending its findings over to a main processing centre. This saves money, time, and bandwidth by only sending the pertinent, actionable data (decided by an algorithm set up by the user) to its end destination.

What Type of Applications Would Be Used in a Smart City and Is Real-Time Data Necessary?

A plethora of applications will benefit from this enhanced connectivity. What kind of applications and services?

• Smart Lights

This can include both traffic and streetlights. Real-time data and analytics need to be optimized for AI-enhanced algorithms to determine the best patterns for both traffic and streetlights. Idling traffic leads to higher CO2 emissions and better-flowing traffic, with the help of edge computing, will help lower the carbon footprint of smart cities.

• Smart Management

Unfortunately, wasted resources are “typically” a hallmark of governments, local and otherwise, not integrating their solutions. With the help of edge computing, solutions can be applied across many sectors and impact many different jurisdictions. They can also find opportunities for revenue generation by seeing trends that can be monetized, either through taxes, parking meters or otherwise.

• Smart Transportation

The hallmark of the smart cities of the future will be integrated and efficient transportation systems. Data sources, analyzed in real-time from a number of data points can make adjustments to schedules, maintenance organization and much more. All this can be done at the edge without needing to initiate high bandwidth cloud computing protocols, saving money and time.

Smart Cities and Edge Computing

Edge computing and its revolutionary way of analyzing data (without the drain on bandwidth) is what makes the smart cities of the future possible. Smart buildings, smart waste management and many more processes will be innovated and streamlined, making the future even more magical than humanity hoped it would be.