The EnBW brand SMIGHT(Smart City Light) and PTV Group have teamed up in a joint development initiative to optimise urban traffic in real time using the increasing intelligence of infrastructure.
“SMIGHT is a term made up from the words smart city light,” explained PTV’s Peter Möhl. “It is a brand of Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) for the development of the street lamp of the future. The SMIGHT innovation is already being used in Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Australia. SMIGHT has thus developed from intelligent street lighting to a unique system that combines many different functionalities.”
The SMIGHT Traffic cooperation unites the advantages of intelligent traffic recording with the software for real-time optimisation of traffic flows. Cities and municipalities use the new solution to analyse traffic flows and plan ahead proactively, thereby strategically reducing the traffic load.
Intelligent street lighting and multifunctional base towers can be equipped with features such as public WiFi, charging technology for electric cars, or sensors for recording traffic data and environmental information. The various road users are recorded data is transmitted to the smart city platform SMIGHT IQ.
Mohl explains that historic data collected in the past, for example, can be processed in PTV Visum transport simulation software to assist in strategic transport planning and modelling. Additionally, dynamic traffic information collected in real time via intelligent street lighting can be fed into the company’s operative traffic management system PTV Optima.
“Smart sensors, secure data processing and real-time simulation enable cities and communities to analyse possible traffic situations in advance and to optimise traffic flow at an early stage,” explains Möhl. “Thanks to the broader database provided by this solution, urban and transport planners cannot only evaluate road transport but also better actively manage it. What is clear is that the more data we can take into account in our planning tools, the easier it is to make sound decisions in the event of current disruptions or to provide forward-looking analysis for planned events, such as major events or construction sites.”
