The West Lafayette Smart City Challenge has named their winning teams with designs for IoT solutions that increase public safety at roadway intersections. The West Lafayette (WL) Smart City Challenge was created by the Innovation Partners Institute at the Purdue Research Foundation, the City of West Lafayette, the Indiana 5G Zone, and US Ignite.
The winning teams were chosen for their solutions’ potential impact, viability, scalability and sustainability. They are:
- Metaverse Technologies Inc. – a smart intersection beacon platform that will anonymously collect and transmit data to be processed and then signal directives back to the intersection and roadway users to improve situational awareness, safety, and intersection efficiency;
- Communicative LED Pathways – an IoT-based audio and visual platform to improve situational awareness of nonmotor vehicle roadway users as to local conditions at individual intersections; and
- Traffic Real-time Analysis Weather System – an IoT-based street sign platform that delivers automated artificial intelligence/machine learning derived messages based on various roadway conditions to road users to improve safety and roadway efficiency.
Each team will receive $5,000 in financial support, along with access to historical datasets and real-time municipal data, and be provided working and project space at the Convergence Center’s Innovation Lab at Discovery Park District at Purdue. They will also be advised by companies working with IoT, 5G, and data analytics, including AT&T, Cisco, Ericsson, Tilson, and the Indiana 5GZone. The teams go on to showcase their prototypes this May, and the winning team will receive an additional $10,000 to pilot its solution in West Lafayette from May to December 2022.
“One of the most incredible benefits of being a college community is the partnership between the university and the city,” West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said. “We in the city of West Lafayette have the opportunity to serve as a living laboratory by testing new technologies and ideas to make our community safe for visitors and citizens alike. We are very excited about the ideas that the three finalists have developed, and we look forward to seeing these ideas put to practice.”