Posters Galore: 'Smarter Suffolk: sensors and data for public services'

Dr Hannah Steventon and Prof Nicholas Caldwell
University of Suffolk

As climate change necessitates energy reduction and public funds are stretched, increasingly affordable Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and cutting-edge Low Power Wide Area Networks, are changing how Suffolk delivers public services. Dr Hannah Steventon and Professor Nicholas Caldwell, from University of Suffolk, describe how the University is working with Suffolk County Council (SCC) by trialling hundreds of IoT sensors and connecting them via a new Suffolk-wide LoRa network.  The aim, to improve targeting of street lighting, winter gritting, and drainage cleaning. 

 

Showcase trials at the new UoS DigiTech centre at Adastral Park are comparing sensors across price-points - from manufacturers based in East Anglia and further afield - measuring road surface temperature, ambient lighting levels, air quality and gully operation.

 

Two case studies focus on Street Lights in Suffolk and Gritting Suffolk roads. 

• Sixty-five thousand street lights in Suffolk have an energy cost of 2.6 million each year, with associated environmental impact. SCC is continuing its leading role in energy-saving adaptive street lighting with real-time dimming of lighting on arterial routes, based on traffic-counts and ambient light levels. UoS data analysis of traffic use data, from radar around Ipswich, is increasing the understanding of road usage patterns and identification of unusual road use. 
• Gritting over two thousand miles of Suffolk roads is a major operation each county-wide gritting action. Measurement of road surface temperature at closer intervals could enable targeted gritting. IoT road surface temperature sensors from three manufacturers are being benchmarked and their results compared for veracity and reliability of temperature data. Evaluating sensors and analysing data inform meaningful cost-benefit decisions and implementation plans, therefore enabling SCC to deliver a Smarter Suffolk.

Hannah would be delighted for further discussion, comments and questions at h.steventon@uos.ac.uk

 

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