Applications

The growing diversity of Smart City applications

Today's most common smart city applications are utility metering, street and traffic lighting, traffic tracking and management, parking, road pricing, waste management, environmental monitoring and payment processing. At u‑blox, we develop the versatile components needed to transform the way you operate your Smart City. We focus on technologies that enable the Smart City to reduce waste, minimize operating costs, and improve quality of life.

Utility metering

Smart meters allow you to capture and transmit electricity, gas and water usage data, as well as performance, failure and blackout information in real time and remotely, thereby saving the need for a technician to come out to inspect equipment.

Street lighting

By making street lights “smart,” you can gain considerable savings in cost and environmental resources. Place sensors in adaptive street lights and you can transmit data about environmental conditions to control when lights turn on / off and how brightly they shine. For example, on a foggy day, lights could come on earlier than originally programmed. Also, in more remote areas, lights could brighten up from a dimmed power savings mode only when traffic is approaching.

Parking, road pricing & traffic management

Reducing traffic congestion, avoiding hazards, or simply making it easier to drive directly to a free parking spot, smart traffic management benefits drivers, passengers and everyone around them. Further, automatic payment of parking fees and road tolls provides greater convenience for individuals and reduces costs for operators. In all those use cases, smart sensors are deployed to transmit status data which in turn can be relayed to drivers, as well as provide Smart City authorities with vital information about the usage and flow of people and resources.

Waste management & environmental monitoring

To improve your city's environmental footprint, smart sensors connected via wireless technologies can monitor the status of your city's air quality and pollution levels, reporting critical information in real time. With connected smart sensors in waste bins, you can monitor fill levels and thus optimize the routes of waste collection vehicles to lower emissions, save fuel costs and reduce vehicle wear and tear. Using all the collected data, you can develop plans and strategies to improve the environmental wellbeing of your Smart City.