The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming the Array of Things (AoT) and Chicago City is going smart. Translation: Chicago is knee-deep in the testing process of an urban sensing project aptly named AoT, or a network of interactive, modular sensor nodes that collect real-time data on the city’s environment, infrastructure, and activity for research and public use.
The end-game? To use AoT as a ‘fitness tracker’ for the city to measure factors that impact Chicago’s livability, and then improve upon it. As a collaborative effort between engineers at the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory, and sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the AoT project is basically looking to make a smart city out of Chicago by measuring city data, like climate, air quality, noise, and traffic patterns, among a bunch of other things, to figure out how to make the quality of life in the windy city better.
Phase one of AoT’s testing was already deployed last August and September, when 50 nodes were hooked up to traffic light poles in Chicago’s the Loop, Pilsen, Logan Square, and all along Lake Michigan. In total, the project will install exactly 500 sensor nodes all over the city by the end of 2018 on everything from traffic poles to buildings.
Each node going out (and already in operation) is equipped with a dozen sensors that measure air and surface temperature, barometric pressure, light, vibration, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and ambient sound intensity. Two cameras collect data on vehicle and foot traffic, standing water, sky color, and cloud cover.
By implementing AoT, the end of 2018 should ideally have block-by-block data about the entire city for scientists, researchers, and the general public to use for free through an online data portal. The question, therefore, goes from why to what. What exactly can be done with so much data, and how is this massive undertaking of turning Chicago City smart going to actually help it?
The AoT initiative gives this as an answer:
“AoT has the potential to allow researchers, policymakers, developers and residents to work together and take specific actions that will make Chicago and other cities healthier, more efficient and more livable. The data will help make Chicago a truly “smart city,” allowing the City to operate more efficiently and realize cost savings by anticipating and proactively addressing challenges.”
The AoT project also predicts a slew of applications in city planning and construction, like traffic coordination, air quality warnings, city infrastructure, and flood detection. Using AoT’s theory, it’s easy to see how the construction industry could use it to their advantage when planning city buildings, infrastructure layout, etc., by learning the most congested/crowded streets to build on or city blocks that should be avoided.
And because the data is being published at no cost to anyone who wants to access it, the AoT project says its accessibility will support the development of innovative applications, like mobile apps that let residents track their exposure to certain air contaminants or apps that let users navigate through the city based on avoiding urban heat islands, poor air quality, and excessive noise and congestion. In other words, it’s carte-blanche to anyone interested in taking the online data and turning it into something actionable for city residents.
Sure, AoT is still a little-known buzzword in the world of tech right now, but if it’s as promising as it sounds, it might just become the next frontier of IoT. And it’ll be exciting to see what the world decides to do with the data being mined.
For ZBRELLA Technology Consulting, I’m Christopher Clark, goodnight and good luck.
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