GovTech’s SNSP on building sensors to turn S’pore into a smart city, including smart lampposts

From green city to a smart city, Singapore’s on the forefront of pioneering technologies that almost seem unheard of to the common citizen.

The recent keynote at AsiaTech Singapore, held by Lim Chinn Hwa, Senior Director of the Smart Nation Sensor Platform (SNSP), GovTech Singapore untangles the curious questions we have about how SNSP is the key to better serving the community.

SNSP is a whole-of-government platform that provides smart city technologies for different domain experts across the government.

SNSP focuses on the physical world. It focuses on creating a foundation and infrastructure that keep a city running.

Without utilising SNSP, data will be stuck in silos across different agencies, when it could deliver improved visibility to other agencies to act more efficiently.

To aim for a flawless system communication, SNSP requires two aspects of interoperability: system-to-system integration, and common Internet of Things (IoT) standards.

Why do we need an interwoven network of data?

In order to address current issues that are a cause for concern in Singapore, government agencies must leverage and improve on digital infrastructure to enable better city planning and delivery of public services.

Complex challenges — for example, sustainability or building services — require interoperability amongst different sensors and IoT devices. These IoT systems contribute to a seamless data access and exchange, allowing agencies to focus on improving the quality of life for Singaporeans.

The SNSP framework consists of five interoperable layers: sensing, connectivity, data processing, operations and standards, applications and interoperability.

As Singapore shapes its way to becoming a smart city, technology is required to augment the processing of large amounts of data.

One of SNSP’s fundamental challenges is creating insights from raw data. Utilising machine learning and deep learning make it a more efficient process. SNSP insights created through the data processing stage is then absorbed by the platform and circled back to the device layer.

How SNSP connects the digital and real world

Developed by the SNPS team at GovTech, the lampposts are fitted with static sensors – video, environmental, and geolocation – to collect localised data that can enable video and sensor data analytics for a wide range of smart city services.

These smart lampposts can increase the amount of digital data assets such as video footage, still images, and environmental readings. The datasets can then be utilised in big data analytics and deep learning capabilities to make informed decisions on urban infrastructure to in turn minimise wastage, help with environmental sustainability, and ultimately improve the lives of citizens.

So far, LaaP’s capabilities have been used in advanced crowd analytics. It’s able to analyse data to know the number of people waiting at a bus stop or at any pedestrian crossing and determine the average waiting time needed at such places.

A lamppost’s proximity to roads is also useful, allowing it to be a vessel for vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Sensors will communicate with the on-board units (OBU) in vehicles, retrieving the location and speed.

Collected data will then be transmitted to an intelligent system to facilitate better traffic flow and avoid accidents. This is especially useful for self-driving vehicles as they become commonplace soon.

To date, approximately 50 lampposts have been trialled in one-north and Geylang, with further plans to expand the trial to Punggol.

As SNSP and its related technologies continue to develop, its current focus continues to strive to become the enabling platform for public agencies, to work with them to realise and apply smarter technologies to cross-domain use cases.

“It is imperative for us to constantly reflect if the technology actually improves the life of our citizens, and not get carried away with fancy technology for the sake of implementing technology,” added Lim.

Featured Image Credit: MobileEurope