Patras: Internet of Things Case Study

 

Introduction Patras is Greece’s third largest city, and the regional capital of Western Greece. It is also a smart cities pioneer, with a dedicated smart cities hub located in the Patras Science Park. This has lead Patras to build a relationship with Deutsche Telekom and their local partners to investigate smart cities and how NB-IoT can help the city deploy new services, including smart parking and smart street lighting. Deutsche Telekom’s local affiliate Cosmote has undertaken the first Greek implementation of NB-IoT in Patras along with their partners to prove that Smart Cities powered by NB-IoT are able to help the local municipality become more efficient and

NB-IoT Deployment Patras have implemented NB-IoT to power two municipal services on the same network – smart parking and smart lighting. Smart Parking The NB-IoT smart parking service has initially been installed along Patreos Street, a long street running through the city centre that offers on-street parking. Sensors embedded into the street under the parking spaces are able to sense when a space is free or empty by the presence of a vehicle above them. This status is then communicated through Cosmote’s NB IoT radio access network, which was upgraded for this pilot by Huawei, and linked to Deutsche Telekom’s core network. The parking data are then collected by a Cosmote’s local partner, who provide a parking app that residents can use to view where there are parking spaces available. The app is then able to guide the driver direct to the available parking spot.