Instrumentation Technologies and Noesis.Network step up to the challenge and design compelling IoT solutions for London and Glasgow.
Itron announced that Instrumentation Technologies (I-Tech) and Noesis.Network were selected as the winners of the inaugural Itron Smart City Challenge.
The challenge invited IoT solution providers to compete for the chance to work with Glasgow and the City of London to deploy breakthrough solutions to address specific challenges defined by the cities.
London Challenge
Due to the life-threatening nature of people entering the River Thames, the City of London sought solutions to improve river safety and address public health priorities. The City of London wanted solutions to protect citizens by identifying entries into the river, ensuring the availability of safety equipment when it is needed, and accelerating emergency response times. London Challenge winner I-Tech designed a two-step solution to allow London to monitor lifebelts and pinpoint the location of a person in need of rescue support.
The first step of the solution suggests the deployment of small, battery-powered devices that will monitor the lifebelts. To prevent misuse, the device will sound a high-pitched alarm if a lifebelt is removed. If the lifebelt is not placed back in its housing unit for eight seconds, an emergency message will be sent via the Itron IoT network to notify emergency services. The second part of the solution is a jumper detection system that uses an optical scanner to identify when people fall from the bridge and to track their precise location to assist first responders in search and rescue. I-Tech carefully designed the solution to operate effectively even in thick fog and uses advanced data processing to ensure the lasers are detecting people instead of other objects such as birds or falling objects.
“The Itron Smart City Challenge gave us an incredible opportunity to seek a creative solution to meet our safety and public health priorities. With I-Tech’s solution, we will be able to shorten response times in dangerous situations to improve safety for our citizens. We look forward to implementing this solution, which could be replicated in cities around the world,” says Giles Radford, highways manager, Department of the Built Environment at the City of London Corporation.
The Smart City Challenge showcases how Itron is enabling cities and technology innovators to work together to solve problems and improve citizen wellbeing. Using standards-based developer tools, the winning companies created integrated IoT solutions that leverage Itron’s IoT networks in the Cities of Glasgow and London. As winners, I-Tech and Noesis will continue to collaborate with the cities to progress their breakthrough solution. Itron will continue to support the winners to help them bring their solutions to market.
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