The future of smart cities: a new chapter in independent thinking

Imagine a city that thinks independently, ensuring goods arrive as soon as possible, by "diverting" traffic so emergency vehicles can reach their destinations smoothly, and even allowing people to talk to their lost pets. Reunion

The prospect of being called a "cognitive city" is the development direction of the next generation of smart cities

The rewritten content is as follows: The first smart cities could sense but not act, but cognitive cities sense and react. The key to achieving this goal is sensors distributed on the streets and edge computing. Many of the smart cities of the future will be "greenfields": entirely new cities, built from the ground up and infused with intelligence, with edge computing built into everything from streetlights to trash cans. For the people who live in these cities, edge computing will bring real, measurable improvements to their lives—from finding a parking spot instantly to using predictive intelligence to reduce energy bills

Highlights The Edge of Cognitive Cities

When creating cognitive cities, the most fundamental need is to move computing power to where the data is generated: where people live, work and travel. This applies whether you are building a brand new smart city or retrofitting an existing "brownfield" urban technology. Regardless, edges are key. For example, when processing sensor information from cameras in garbage bins, sewers or traffic lights, it is necessary to react to these problems in real time

In current smart cities, the main focus has always been on the acquisition of data: regardless of Whether it's monitoring traffic hotspots or looking for water leaks. However, in the coming years, cities themselves will dynamically respond to the changing physical world, such as adjusting energy use based on real-time weather conditions

With the Internet of Things (IoT) and modern artificial intelligence (AI) With the introduction of , the evolution of monitoring originated from a machine-to-machine basis, which is revolutionary for the change of intelligent technology. Emerging AI technologies, such as large-scale language models, will also play a role in the future, allowing city planners and ordinary residents to easily interact with their cities. Edge technology will become a key factor in our effective control of future cities

To achieve this kind of responsive service, edge computing becomes critical: computing power needs to be moved to the streets. This is part of a broader shift away from the use of disposable analog sensors, such as traffic or smoke sensors, towards the use of smart cameras that can both generate data and protect privacy

Smart Streets

In future smart cities, technology will meet human needs. Sustainability is the biggest issue facing cities, and by far the biggest contributor is cars. Smart cities will help reduce traffic and efficiently guide self-driving cars through streets. The first unsuccessful delivery is an example of this. This is a major cause of congestion as drivers have to return to the same address repeatedly. In a cognitive city, location data showing when customers are home could be shared anonymously with delivery companies with their consent, so more deliveries can be delivered on the first try

Smart parking is an important way to reduce traffic congestion and make streets more efficient. Edge computing nodes can sense vacant parking spaces and guide vehicles there in real time. It will also become a key enabler of autonomous driving, providing more data for the car's self-driving system. In future smart cities, roads will be designed around autonomous driving, enabling communication between vehicles and vehicles, and between vehicles and infrastructure. Edge computing can speed first responders to the scene of an accident. Smart city infrastructure utilizes vision-based sensors to detect fires within buildings and trigger alarms. After emergency services receive an alert, AI can pre-plan the safest and fastest route for those arriving at the scene, and adjust the routes of other vehicles if needed

Prioritize Privacy Issues

The rewritten content is as follows: Video is used not just for surveillance, but to provide a variety of situational awareness, such as overflowing bins and traffic conditions. Smart cameras can help owners find lost pets, for example, by using artificial intelligence to identify pets as they move between cameras. In any smart city, privacy is the most important issue. Smart cities of the future will not acquire data just for the sake of acquiring data, but to provide better services. If citizens trust the information provided by city planners, they need to get more than what they provide in return

Edge can also help achieve sustainable development for families. Even the smartest smart homes can detect occupancy and only turn off the air conditioner when someone leaves. By using sensors and artificial intelligence to predict, it can be slowly turned down in the hour before someone leaves. Cities will use advanced computing technology to monitor real-time activity in buildings, allowing authorities to match energy supply and demand.

The cognitive cities of the future will provide augmented reality experiences to assist people with visual or hearing impairments with text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversion. Here, edge computing will play a key role: when a visually impaired person crosses the street, every millisecond counts. Computing power is no longer limited to data centers, but in a truly cognitive city, the streets themselves fluctuate with data

Nodes, Roads and Workloads

When building a smart city from scratch, it involves hundreds of thousands of computing nodes spread throughout the city. This requires planning. These nodes need to become part of the built environment, like lights on the street. Each device also has different requirements in terms of cooling and latency, for example computers cannot be placed in cupboards. When building new smart cities, these nodes can be integrated more efficiently so that they are more visible and accessible to service engineers

However, if retrofitting is to be done, whether in smart street lights or cabinets, There are ways to deliver computing power where it's needed. In many large cities there are numerous service cabinets offering mobile or telecommunications services and even water supply. Service engineers can adjust their interaction with the network. These service cabinets will become the data centers of the future

Future City

The smart city of the future will be people-centered, whether in existing cities or in " All projects built in green spaces will integrate smart technology. These large-scale infrastructure projects will be based on citizen participation and bring together critical infrastructure to support aspects such as communication networks, transportation, public safety and energy efficiency.

The cities of the future will feature edge computing on every street Nodes are at the core, and these nodes will collect information from sensors and cameras, allowing the city to "think" on its own. Smart cities are just a starting point. Future cognitive cities will create safer, happier and more sustainable lifestyles

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