The sensing sodule (WP8) work package consists of three main objectives: (a) research and development, (b) integration and (c) implementation of the sensing model in the two case studies.
Research and development
Current developments in ICT are making available massive new real and near-real time data feeds that can inform on the status and operation of a wide range of urban networked infrastructures and processes. Transport systems are in the vanguard of this process, with large volumes of data already available from infrastructure and vehicle based sensor systems but the same path of evolution in now underway in energy distribution networks (e.g., smart meters), water networks and in waste systems, amongst many others. The potential of these pervasively sensed data sources to enhance the performance and relevance to decision makers of integrated urban systems modelling and to create new value chains, is enormous.
Integration
E.g. the ongoing “Smarter Cities Project” of IBM provides new intelligent infrastructure to synchronize real time data of different city relevant networks and systems (e.g. water, energy, waste, safety, transportation). Real time monitoring and automatic of out-of-bound detection are core tasks of the project. Municipal responsibilities are able to access real time data for further action. The Digital City Exchange project (ICL) will be creating a model-based middleware layer to provision such sensor data feeds for a wide range of academic and commercial purposes.
Implementation
The aim of this element of the work is to develop the capability to integrate pervasively sensed data into integrated urban systems modelling to enhance their ability to provide real time decision support for policy makers when monitoring the impact of climate related policy interventions and dealing with the consequences of climate related events (e.g. flooding).