The City of Perth has initiated its new smart city innovation program.
The City was able to secure a matched funding grant worth $1.3million from the Australian Government, through the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. This will see ground work commence on technology development and installation of hardware for four projects - Smart Precinct, Smart Irrigation, Smart Sustainability and Data Hub.
According to chair commissioner Eric Lumsden, the new technology aims to improve quality of life and provide a knowledge platform for residents, visitors, businesses and tech start-ups in Perth.
“The Smart Precinct trial project in East Perth, will use CCTV-based sensors and analytics to measure vehicle and pedestrian activity around the new Matagarup Bridge and Optus Stadium,” he says.
“This data will provide valuable insights and assist decision making for City of Perth planners, businesses, and residents in the area, as well as enhance the efficiencies of existing safety and security measures.”
The Smart Irrigation project will see the replacement of old traditional irrigation systems with smart controllers integrated into the City of Perth’s live management systems. The new irrigation sensors will utilise predicted weather forecasts and soil moisture readings to automatically adjust watering.
Smart Sustainability further enhances this environmental monitoring through the deployment of a series of water and air quality sensors across greater Perth.
The fourth project, known as Data Hub, will see the creation of an open data portal where aggregated data will be published online. The data will enable the user to cross reference information with their own data to make informed decisions about their business, and stimulate economic development and innovation in Perth’s growing start-up and technology sector.
These Smart Cities projects aim to test the application of equipment and smart technologies in real life settings with the resultant insights expected to be of value to citizens, business and the environment, putting the City of Perth at the forefront in Smart innovation.
