Smart Cities and Communities Lab

Effective technical systems have to be integrated into the infrastructure and administrative systems of the city of the future. Municipal task fields like mobility, waste management and public safety are assessed for common interfaces and interactions and linked in a logical way to benefit the city. This leads to increased demands on the information and communication systems that run through the various technical systems of a city.

Integrated infrastructure and administrative systems lift the city of the future to a new quality level. They allow for analyses, safeguarding and optimization beyond subject, organizational and technological boundaries, whereby the interoperability, effectiveness, as well as the functional and IT safety of these solutions have to be designed and realized early on.

Therefore, Fraunhofer FOKUS is developing methods and tools for ascertaining the requirements of the ICT-based solutions, as well as their design, specifications, implementation and quality management. Particularly in the area of the model-based development of software-intensive systems and supportive tool chains for development and quality management processes, FOKUS has become internationally renowned for its technologies such as ModelBus or Fokus!MBT.

To meet the challenges of changing cities, sientists of Fraunhofer FOKUS offer the following test environments and solutions:

• Open Data Research Portal
  
• iCity Project and Plattform
• TRIANGULUM Project for intelligent Urban Quarters

Future Application and Media

• FAMIUM: Future Web Technologies and Streaming Media Ecosystem

Software Quality

• Metrino: Quality Assurance of Models

Fraunhofer FOKUS has been researching solutions for the intelligent city of tomorrow in collaboration with partners from business and government for several years. The different projects provide demonstrative examples that are based on the expertise of the Institute in the area of information and communication technologies for smart cities.

The Smart Cities and Communities Lab specializes in information and communication technologies for smart cities. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Open Communication Systems offers independent research and development services for manufacturers, providers, administration and institutions of urban management. We develop application-oriented and interdisciplinary solutions in line with studies, projects, pilots or workshops.

Competences

• Consulting on the development of ICT-based solutions in urban areas
• Integration of systems in urban areas
• Conceptualization of technical and organizational implementation
• Support for standardization

Workshops

• Requirement and organizational analyses
• Interviews and studies
• Customization of solutions to individual needs

Reference scenarios

• Demonstration and presentation of ICT-based solutions
• Further development of the reference scenarios
• Workshops and training in regards to the application of the reference scenarios
• White papers, publications and presentations

Since the beginning of urbanization, mobility has been a key issue and an important motor for growth and progress. In the past, mobility might have stood for the freedom of the people to move around using new means of transportation in growing cities. But nowadays the linking of traffic and communication is becoming increasingly important as transportation infrastructures are pushed to their limits, demand for alternative means of transport and routes increases and pressure to optimize existing systems grows.

Intelligent traffic planning, expansion of public transport and the improved interconnectedness of all road users in a city-wide communication infrastructure comprise the mobility characteristics of a smart city. Fewer traffic jams in the inner city and the development of a predominantly zero-emission public transport system will ultimately have a positive impact on the environment and the quality of life in smart cities.

Nowadays, mobility is not just a matter of free movement within a city and the certainty that shipments will reach their destination. Mobility today also means that the smart city independently monitors the flow of traffic and reacts flexibly to problems. In addition, mobility can be more customized using the new communication infrastructure. For example, data for accessibility in the city and for the benefit of all is made available for everybody, shared and constantly updated. This creates a city-wide open mobility network through the permanent exchange between all parties involved for maximum efficiency.

The addition, the internet increasingly contributes to mitigating traffic: The dissociation from the concept of the static office space and the increasing acceptance of telecommuting or internet-based cooperative work at different places makes many trips redundant. Commuting to the place of work or to meetings is often no longer necessary because employees and an increasing number of self-employed persons work from home or co-working spaces. The great success of online shopping has the same effect on the mobility in smart cities: Customers no longer shop at the physical stores, resulting in fewer deliveries of goods. Whether this compensates for the increasing number of individual deliveries has yet to be analyzed.

Information and communication, data exchange and interconnectedness are the keys to the intelligent city of tomorrow. All other key components of the smart city, like energy supply, mobility and public safety are built on this. Communication technologies in the smart city are no longer limited to the land line network, mobile communications and internet. The modern city is based on a new communication concept that combines the traditional, separate communication infrastructures – from sensor networks to information networks and mobile communication. Furthermore, new actors will enter the field: Besides users with devices like smartphones or notebooks; vehicles, streets, buildings or other household devices will be integrated into the new infrastructure. The focus is no longer on the simple connection between two persons or end-user devices but on the interconnectedness of countless users, devices and systems via mobile internet.

Newly accessible municipal information represents a significant development not only in the sense of public access but also in regards to general transparency. Smart cities make it easier for citizens, institutions and businesses to access information. Freedom of information and involvement in communal matters can be greatly enhanced in an intelligent city – while in total compliance with data protection regulations and based on the reliability of data transmission. The development of new sources of information and the constant exchange between users and public infrastructure combine to take communication to a new level.

Nowadays, the mobile internet plays a leading role in everyday communication. The increased use of the mobile internet and the associated rapid increase of the data volume pose new challenges to the existing communication networks, which no longer provide sufficient capacities for the increasing data volume and growing quality standards. New broadband networks that can meet these requirements are currently researched worldwide, including in Germany. The so called “Future Internet” will revolutionize communication as we know it today.

The central goal is to configure existing communication networks to achieve compatibility and interoperability. That way, a flexible communication infrastructure can be created that allows for seamless data transfer in case of network switch-overs without quality loss and that controls and maintains itself thus providing the highest level of security and reliability.

However, this not only applies to the communication infrastructure but also the content and the availability of information change. In addition to current popular commercial apps for smartphones, that mainly serve consumption and entertainment, smart cities are meant to make data from municipal administrations available for everyone. Whether it is the current traffic report, environmental data like air and water quality, pollen count or the faster and more efficient exchange between public authorities – communication in the public sector has an immense potential for development and offers new opportunities for making everyday life easier.

The open data movement aims to increase the availability of public and municipal information. It supports access to non-sensitive municipal data that can be accessed publicly on a larger scale than it is today, and its interoperable use. Collecting this public data in a virtual city data cloud allows for companies to develop new apps that provide each citizen with access to diffuse quantities of data and statistics via a practical smartphone app. The areas of application are numerous and applicable to almost all areas of life.

The topic of public safety is of immense importance in cities today and tomorrow. However, while today the term is still limited to the integrity of citizens and public infrastructure, and is closely linked to terms such as police, fire department and health care, in the future the concept of security will also extend to the protection of the newly created and interconnected communication infrastructure.

In Smart Cities public security can be classified into two categories: first, the immediate security of citizens and utilities and, secondly, the security and functionality of the all-pervading information and communication infrastructures. The advantages of a networked, city-wide communication infrastructure of course entail the risk of vulnerability with an immediate effect on essential areas of the municipal infrastructures. These infrastructures have to be protected.

Information and communication technologies can assist with prevention as a key concept of the Smart City. These allow simulations of crisis situations, which not only analyze the behavior of people or traffic in public spaces, but will also test and analyze the processes within the communication networks in advance. Particularly important in crisis situations are the interfaces and control authorities of the communication infrastructure, who are tasked with ensuring that problems are solved quickly and data flows are flexibly redirected.

Prevention means in this case that the components that fill the communication infrastructure of the Smart City with content and life, are constantly controlled and that they fix problems themselves, if possible, so that they are able to react reliably in a crisis situation. In addition, the sensor networks contribute to safety: They help in case of exceptional situations to ensure that actors like the police, the fire department or the agency for technical relief can do their job as effectively and quickly as possible.

Not only in emergency and crisis situations but also in everyday situations, such as while shopping online or during virtual interactions with governmental authorities, security is of utmost importance. The security of the electronic data traffic and data protection will become more important with the expansion of eGovernment in Smart Cities. Control mechanisms as well as sophisticated identity management make the use of electronic administrative services easier for citizens without compromising security.

The necessary expansion of power supply for the feed-in of renewable energies brings energy supply and information and communication technologies closer together: power grids are being converted into intelligent energy information networks. Not only energy will be transported through them in the future, but also data on consumption and availability.

As the increase in renewable energies will cause larger fluctuations of supply and demand, greater awareness of the sustainable use of resources must be created among energy consumers. In Smart Cities, households and energy suppliers transparently exchange data, thus promoting a conscious consumption of electricity, which not only contributes to a more balanced use of resources, but to a sustainable improvement in the carbon footprint as well.

On the basis of the reduction of energy consumption, as well as the development and construction of the energy network, structures are created that last for a long time and are characterized by their ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Like the new communication networks, this energy infrastructure will no longer be statically geared towards one type of supply. This creates a dynamic in the Smart City that is set to produce the highest possible degree of efficiency and thus sustainability.

The promotion of alternative energy supply systems and the regionalization of energy production creates greater competition. This allows greater independence for many consumers and might lead to significant cost savings. Private households have the opportunity to become energy producers by feeding surplus electricity they generate into the intelligent, Europe-wide interconnected power grid. As with communications, the energy sector is thus experiencing an evolutionary boost through the direct involvement of citizens and regional companies.