5G connectivity and IoT intelligence for Leuven Digital City Pole project

We have seen some interesting lamp posts and poles concept on this blog (see related posts at the end of this post). Now, Nokia announced last week that it is providing industrial-grade, 5G-ready private wireless networking to the Digital City Pole project in Leuven, Belgium. The project paves the way for future citywide 5G connectivity that will stimulate local innovation, drive productivity and create jobs, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses.

Working with the consortium led by TRES, Nokia is demonstrating use cases that leverage IoT intelligence across a new secure city data backbone. In doing so, the project will explore new revenue opportunities based on IoT data and energy marketplaces.

The TRES broader initiative will also see streetlight poles upgraded with energy-efficient LED lighting and electric vehicle charging points. Distributed extensively in urban areas, digital city poles provide an effective platform to host high performance connectivity and sensors as cities seek to introduce ubiquitous smart city services.

The Digital City Pole project is supported by the Flemish Government and the EU Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Leuven, which was recently awarded European Capital of Innovation 2020, is committed to new technologies to boost sustainable development and it aims to become one of Europe's Labs of the Future through a mission-oriented model that facilitates collaborative innovation.

In addition to Nokia 5G-ready connectivity deployed in partnership with local service provider Citymesh, Nokia will also supply its Gigabit Passive Optical Networks technology for ultra-high-speed connectivity over an end-to-end broadband network.

TRES's website does not have much information but this presentation from last year has some details of this project. The following video explains the concept and shows some real deployment and use case examples 

We will hopefully hear more about the results, etc. next year.

Related Posts:

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: LuxTurrim5G smart light pole concept
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Small Cells in the Lamp posts
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Small Cells on the Lamp posts and other street furniture
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Ericsson's Invisible Sites: Urban Case Studies
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: BrightSites Smart poles for Smart Cities
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Is Li-Fi Gaining Momentum as an Alternative Beyond 5G?
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: NEC's 5G Antenna-equipped Smart Street Lighting to be Trialled in Tokyo
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: BSNL bringing 'Smart Telecom Poles' to India with help of Nokia
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights