A glimpse of the future at Jurong Lake District

Gurveen Kaur My Paper AsiaOne 18 Jun 14;

SINGAPORE - Litterbugs busted from afar. Rubbish bins analysed from a distance. Even traffic lights adjusted to smoothen travel on the roads.

The future is smart and you will soon get a glimpse of it in Singapore's west, as Jurong Lake District becomes a testbed for how the Republic uses technology to ease the flow and movement of its people. A smart nation, in other words.

The 360ha area - the size of Marina Bay - will be turned into a high-tech "playground" where tech-savvy denizens can even find driverless vehicles plying the roads

They are linked and controlled by more than 1,000 sensors.

You can better predict where and when to take a cab, avoiding long queues, with a system that can monitor the crowd at taxi stands.

On the roads, traffic lights can also be timed and adjusted to ease the gridlock while pedestrians just need to turn on their smartphones to find out where's the nearest sheltered walkway to avoid the hot sun or rain.

There will also be more eyes on the street.

Litterbugs and those who park illegally or light up in prohibited zones can be easily picked up with advanced video-sensing or detection technologies.

Just how quickly a rubbish bin is filled compared to another can be analysed and used to allocate where cleaners should be deployed first.

These are among the 15 trials that will be conducted in the third quarter of this year which are aimed at improving urban mobility, and improving sensing and situational awareness.

Led by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the tests are being carried out by the public and private sectors.

"Insights gained from this data would enable us to better anticipate citizens' needs and help in better delivery of services," said Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim at the opening ceremony of imbX 2014 yesterday.

"We believe that a smart nation can become a reality if we successfully combine policy, people and technology in a concerted fashion," said Dr Yaacob.

Beyond Jurong, smart solutions are being explored in homes as well, like a system that enables everyday objects such as the shirt on your back, cutlery and beds to "talk" to one another.

Dubbed the Internet of Things, the high-tech system can better help the growing number of elderly here.

For instance, the cutlery a person eats from and a wristband that he is wearing could detect if he is not eating well and has low blood pressure, and hence, prompt him to see a doctor.

These efforts, said IDA assistant chief executive Khoong Hock Yun, will allow Singapore to be the "leading lighthouse for what a smart nation can be".

Jurong Lake District to serve as Smart Nation Platform test bed
Nicole Tan Channel NewsAsia 17 Jun 14;

SINGAPORE: Some of the key technologies that will make up the Smart Nation Platform (SNP) will be tested at the Jurong Lake District.

When fully rolled out, the technologies are expected to make life better and more efficient for people living in and moving around Singapore.

One way this will be carried out is through the use of sensors installed around the island to collect data on the behaviour and preferences of people. Authorities can then use the data to facilitate planning and enhance urban mobility.

For example, video sensors at taxi stands can help to monitor the length of taxi queues. This real-time information can then be provided to commuters to help them make better travel decisions, and also to alert taxi companies as to where there is the highest demand for cabs.

Sensors could also be used to monitor the amount of rubbish in bins, or detect littering, so that cleaning schedules can be fine-tuned to be more efficient.

Such monitoring systems are among 15 technologies being tested as part of a pilot programme at the Jurong Lake District. More than 1,000 sensors will be deployed as part of the programme.

To facilitate data collection from these sensors, above-ground (AG) boxes could be installed islandwide. There are already three AG boxes implemented as part of the pilot programme, with further plans to roll out some 100 more across the island.

AG boxes will allow “people to either take a piece of wire from their sensor -- it can be a smell sensor, sound sensor, air sensor, or CCTV -- and connect it to the box, which will feed it with both connectivity and power,” said Khoong Hock Yun, assistant chief executive of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

“It provides various potential services, like light control systems, traffic monitoring, environment sensors, pedestrian crossing, speeding monitors, traffic light controls, monitoring how crowded a junction is, through such a box."

These AG boxes will also boost street-level Internet connectivity by supplying points for fibre access and power.

As more data is collected under the Smart Nation Platform, some firms are already testing applications that can tap on such information to benefit citizens. These include apps that can help users, particularly those with mobility constraints, to find travel routes that cater to their specific needs.

“We are developing the app, but the data set is, at the moment, still in a gathering phase,” said Tan Teck Guan, vice president of land information systems at ST Electronics.

“The engine that we have is to make use of all this data to determine the best route for the people to use. The idea is to organise the data, manage the data, and provide it in a useful manner so that people can find it beneficial to themselves."

IDA and partner agencies are working with more than 20 industry players to test such technology from the third quarter of 2014.

- CNA/ec

Jurong Lake District to be test bed for 'smart nation'
Irene Tham Technology Correspondent The Straits Times AsiaOne 18 Jun 14;

LATER this year, the Jurong Lake District will become a mini version of a "smart city" - with more than 1,000 sensors deployed to control and monitor everything from traffic to street lights, and crowded buses.

Its residents will be able to use phone applications that can help them find sheltered walkways. Motorists stuck in a jam may find traffic light timings adjusted automatically to ease the gridlock, but they should also watch where they park, for there will be high-tech cameras that can help wardens issue tickets for illegal parking more swiftly.

These are just some of the 15 innovations to be tried out in the area, which was yesterday named as the test bed for Singapore's push to be a "smart nation".

"What would a smart nation look like? The upcoming Jurong Lake District would provide us with a glimpse into the future," Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday at the opening of the week-long Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) trade show at Marina Bay Sands.

"We believe that a smart nation can become a reality if we successfully combine policy, people and technology in a concerted fashion."

In the trial starting from the third quarter, sensors will be deployed in parks to adjust the lighting based on factors such as the time of day and motion detection.

They will be able to detect illegal smoking and determine the cleanliness of public areas. Sensors on smartphones can even send data on how bumpy a bus ride is.

Also being tested are driverless vehicles that may eventually be used to ferry people from the Jurong East MRT station to nearby buildings.

One key innovation will be the pooling of all this smart infrastructure among different government agencies, which can lead to more efficiency and cost savings, said Mr Khoong Hock Yun, assistant chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

For instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Land Transport Authority have been setting up more surveillance cameras and sensors across Singapore, but these efforts tend not to be coordinated. In the Jurong test bed, public agencies will be sharing the use of equipment such as "above-ground boxes" built by telco M1.

Such boxes are typically installed at traffic junctions, parks or bus stops to power surveillance cameras or traffic sensors.

They can be plugged into the national fibre broadband network in order to transmit the data they collect to the relevant public agencies promptly.

Plans are under way for an islandwide deployment of 100 of these boxes as early as next year.

The IDA, which did not say how much the 15 trials in the Jurong Lake District will cost, will also be testing what is known as a "heterogeneous network".

This will allow mobile users to switch to another cellular provider, or to Wi-Fi operators when, say, a service outage occurs. Trials are expected next year.

Jurong resident Lee Meicheng, 40, an administrator, is looking forward particularly to the new technology that promises to show residents where covered walkways are in her estate.

"I will appreciate the phone app as my mother is in a wheelchair and I need to know how to wheel her around on a rainy day without getting wet," she said.

Housewife Sakura Siow, 40, said having a "super traffic auntie" may be a good thing. "My car was vandalised before, but the culprit was not caught. Hopefully, the high-tech installations will change things," she said.