Sprint Deploys Wi-Fi in Kansas City IoT Network

June 17, 2015

By J. Sharpe Smith —

June 18, 2015 — Sprint will deploy Cisco hardware to construct and manage a Wi-Fi network that will serve as the backbone of the Internet of Things (IoT) platform in Kansas City, Missouri, being developed a U.S.-based Cisco Smart+Connected Communities (S+CC) system.

“Delivering Wi-Fi connectivity is a great fit for Sprint, and enables our customers to more easily use both cellular and Wi-Fi for a better mobile experience,” said Stephen Bye, chief technology officer at Sprint.

The Kansas City deployment is a “living lab,” according to Cisco, which will test emerging smart city technology through relationships with Citypost, Fastpark, Acuity Brands and Sensity Systems, among others. Across 312 square miles, Kansas City has 93,000 streetlights, which will provide the foundation for a high-bandwidth, low-latency wireless sensor network that can move Big Data as well as provide access to Wi-Fi.

New Technology Sheds Light on the Internet of Things

Perhaps one of the more vague futuristic concepts in telecommunications is the Internet of Things. Sensity Systems has developed the backbone network, which embeds IoT networking technology throughout the municipal electrical grid. As cities transition away from incandescent lighting, the replacement LEDs will do a lot more than provide illumination. LED lighting serves as the foundation for OEM’s sensor-based Light Sensory Network (LSN).

“The Light Sensor Network is a way to collect information about what is happening around lighting infrastructure for a whole variety of applications, such as smart parking, traffic monitoring, public safety and security,” Sean Harrington, senior vice president of marketing, Sensity Systems, told AGL Link. “It is very cost-effective because it uses the existing locations. You have access to power and the existing infrastructure in places where the people are.”

To bring smart lighting to Kansas City, the Sensity and Cisco joint intelligent lighting platform will initially be deployed downtown along the streetcar starter line and the adjacent districts of the River Market, Power & Light and Crossroads.

“We are putting the core nodes in every light, so 125 lights will have a base set of sensors and connectivity, and an additional 125 lights will have video nodes for public safety and smart parking,” Harrington said.

IoT Brings Intelligent Water Systems to KC

Black & Veatch, another collaborator in the effort, will deploy sensors that will provide leak detection, predictive maintenance and asset-management solutions to reduce costs.

“The existence of robust and resilient infrastructure is critical to enabling smart city initiatives,” said Fred Ellermeier, COO of Black & Veatch’s Smart Integrated Infrastructure Group. “SII tailors solutions that transform physical infrastructure into interconnected networks and ordinary layers of data into smart analytics frameworks that enable extraordinary results. Clients can now dream big knowing that SII solutions will get them there.”