A new innovation partnership between the Washington, D.C. and Cisco was announced this week. Washington, D.C. will become the country’s first “Lighthouse City,” – a Cisco project combining pilot programs and government partnerships to create and strengthen the smart city infrastructure. Current Lighthouse cities include Barcelona, Hamburg, Adelaide and Jaipur.
Cisco defines a Lighthouse City as one with multiple smart city solutions in place. Solutions currently deployed include: city WiFi, parking, traffic, lighting, operations centers, safety and security. Some of these cities have extended connectivity to buses and bus shelters, to smart garbage cans to reduce waste management costs, and to other sensing apparatus to monitor and manage their water systems.
It was also announced that the Pennsylvania Avenue 2040 (PA 2040) initiative is well underway. The first phase of the project – which aims to integrate IoT technology into the west Pennsylvania Avenue corridor – has been completed. 71 smart streetlights have been installed incorporating sensors to adjust brightness based on outdoor light levels and detect motion so they can brighten when pedestrians are walking by. The smart streetlights also monitor traffic and are WiFi hot spots. Additionally, water sensors and soil monitors are helping to reduce water usage and five smart trash cans are in place to optimize trash collection.
The Office of the Chief Technology Officer of the District has reported a 50% reduction in electricity consumption since the implementation of the first phase of PA2040.
