German transportation software developer PTV Group is collaborating with electricity supplier Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) in a project to improve urban transportation by combining data from smart streetlights with sophisticated analysis tools.
EnBW’s SMIGHT (Smart City Light) brand and PTV have teamed up in a joint development initiative to optimize urban traffic in real time by uniting data gathered by intelligent streetlight sensors with some of the leading software systems for the live optimization of traffic flows. Cities and municipalities can use the new system to analyze traffic flows and plan ahead proactively, thereby strategically reducing the load on road networks. EnBW is developing solutions to the demands placed on city infrastructure due to increased urban populations through its SMIGHT brand. In 2014, EnBW used the knowledge that it has gained from over 100 years of energy supply and streetlighting by launching an innovation project for the development of the smart street lamp of the future. SMIGHT has now developed a unique system that combines intelligent streetlighting, environmental sensors, e-mobility, parking space monitoring, public WLAN, and other facilities.
The brand’s intelligent streetlighting and multifunctional base towers can be equipped with features such as electric vehicle chargers, or sensors for monitoring and recording traffic data and environmental information. Using thermal imaging technology from FLIR, the SMIGHT Traffic sensors record the movement of various road users and transmit the data to the SMIGHT IQ smart city platform, where the information is mapped as a real-time simulation and enables forward-looking analysis of potential traffic events. The two companies’ cooperation now combines SMIGHT’s intelligent infrastructure data with PTV’s planning and optimization software. The SMIGHT technology is already being used in Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Australia.
Due to the broader database provided by the combined software systems, urban and transport planners can not only evaluate road transportation, but also better actively manage it. For example, historic traffic data collected from SMIGHT streetlamp sensors can be processed in PTV’s Visum software to assist in strategic transportation planning and modeling. Additionally, dynamic traffic information collected in real time via the intelligent streetlighting can be fed into PTV’s Optima platform to provide a live traffic control, management and operations system.
“The interplay of PTV and SMIGHT solutions can identify traffic disruptions before they even occur. Smart sensor technology, secure data processing, and real-time simulation enable cities and municipalities to optimize their traffic flow early on,” said Peter Möhl, director traffic software at PTV, explaining the synergies created by the partnership. “Thanks to the broader database provided by this solution, urban and transport planners cannot only evaluate road transport, but also better actively manage it. What is clear is that the more data we can take into account in our planning tools, the easier it is to make sound decisions in the event of current disruptions or to provide forward-looking analysis for planned events, such as major events or construction sites.”
