Smart traffic and light management trialled at Port Of Hamburg
Published on 9th Jun 2015
The German city of Hamburg aims to become a smart city and is working with technology partners to enable greater mobility, efficiency, safety and sustainability.
Last week one of those partners, Cisco, announced the launch of Europe’s first “smartROAD” in the Port of Hamburg, making use of real time data and analytics to optimise traffic flow and manage resources at one of the biggest ports in Europe.
The smartROAD proof of concept focuses on four areas:
Traffic Management helps to monitor road traffic across the port area. Any incidents that occur are detected automatically and the port road manager is alerted to coordinate with other authorities. Structural Sensors provide real time data on the condition of movable infrastructure at the port, enabling the technical maintenance department to precisely plan maintenance and repairs. Environmental Sensors deliver data that is used to improve analysis of the environmental situation in the port area. Smart Lighting enhances safety for pedestrians and cyclists in the port, while at the same time saving energy. ‘Follow Me Lighting’ has been deployed on one particular street as part of the proof of concept, to improve the road for users.
All sensors and systems are connected by a highly secure network infrastructure. Data is processed by analytics software, with findings made available via an integrated dashboard.
“With smartROAD, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is piloting an integrated concept of the Internet of Everything for the first time, with various relevant use cases for port and the city, running on a real infrastructure”, commented Dr. Sebastian Saxe, CIO and CDO of HPA.
“Cities all over the world want to become more efficient and more enjoyable for citizens,” added Wim Elfrink, Cisco’s chief globalisation officer and executive vice president of Industry Solutions. “At Cisco, we believe digitisation can help cities master the many challenges they are facing. Here in Hamburg in particular, the port plays a key role in the city’s economy and its development, that’s why we are supporting Hamburg Port Authority to grow capacity by using their infrastructure more efficiently.”
Other partners working with Cisco in the smart port ecosystem include Philips (intelligent lighting), AGT International (analytics software), T-Systems (Deutsche Telekom’s IT services and consulting division), World Sensing (monitoring and sensors) and Kiwi (video analytics and anonymisation).
Insights from the proof of concept will be used by the partners to make a decision on a broader deployment of these solutions in the Port of Hamburg, Cisco said.
