Chattanooga, TN recently received a $1.37 million grant from the National Science Foundation to be used to create a testbed as a service (TaaS) to be built on its existing “Smart Corridor+.” The testbed will be used to study traffic flow, public safety and transportation, environmental impacts and other quality-of-life issues. A key goal of the project is to reduce pedestrian injuries and integrate autonomous and connected vehicles into the environment.
Researchers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) will be able to collect, access and test algorithms, and share transportation data from the connected infrastructure. Research will focus on IoT applications addressing improved urban mobility, public safety, smart infrastructure, and human/device behavioral analysis. Once the testbed is deployed, researchers will be able to access an online portal that will supply them with continuously updated data, video, analysis and performance-measuring tools.
“We have been working toward this for some time now, and it wouldn’t have happened without our close collaboration with the city of Chattanooga, EPB and The Enterprise Center,” said CUIP Director Mina Sartipi. “Securing funding for this initiative is exciting. We want Chattanooga to advance as a hub for smart and connected community research and development.”
“Smart Corridor+” includes both an urban road segment and a freeway segment, and makes use of Chattanooga’s citywide 10 gigabit/sec fiber-optic network. It is also designed to “support multiple STEM education and research opportunities for all levels of students” in the Chattanooga area, with the goal of developing a competitive and diverse workforce for smart cities in the future.