Connected Asset Management is the foundation for Smart Communities

We all remember those sci-fi images of the smart cities of the future with their floating monorail transportation systems and fantastical buildings making for a fascinating skyline. Where everything seemed to work like clockwork and the every need of the community was predicted and automatically catered for. Our modern day smart communities may not quite look like those from our childhood memories but they are already becoming a reality.

They say that the best way to predict the future is to design it and it’s happening in many locations around the world. Panasonic is at the heart of many of these smart communities. Take the Smart City Quarter at Future Living® Berlin for example. It has been designed to achieve nearly CO2-free living for 90 households. Panasonic’s technologies deliver sustainable as well as digital connected living. Here an intelligent energy management system developed by Panasonic brings together extremely efficient photovoltaic (PV) HIT panels, combined with storage batteries and its low energy consumption air to water heat pumps for domestic hot water and heating.

Panasonic Smart TVs are also used in the digitalSTROM Smart Home System at Future Living® Berlin. The TV and other devices in the apartment automatically switch off when residents leave the apartment. While this is convenient for the tenant, it also saves energy and reduces carbon emissions. Important notifications such as doorbells, severe weather warnings or fire alarms can also be shown on the Panasonic TV – especially important for tenants with hearing disadvantages. Some of the functions are triggered automatically (lighting, smoke alarms in conjunction with speakers and TV) and some can be triggered via smart switches, voice control or the “apartment manager” software. The software offers an overview of the current state of the apartment, allows control of individual complex processes and shows alerts and warnings.

The digital door access system “myPORT” provides access to house and apartment doors using a chip card or an app. The system recognises the residents. Cameras in front of the homes allow access for authorised visitors or caregivers.

But outside of the home, in the wider community, the requirements for smart communities become even more complex. How to predict and automatically schedule when the bins will need to be emptied or the pot holes in the road repaired? The advances in Internet of Things (IoT) sensor technology and Artificial Intelligence are assisting here.

YOTTA’s Alloy application and Panasonic’s rugged Android TOUGHBOOK devices are ideal for helping organisations use data and these latest sensor and control technologies to transform the way they deliver services. Services that can include waste and recycling, green space maintenance, street cleansing, highways, fleet and estate management and environmental health inspections and licensing.

It works by seamlessly integrating processes by connecting assets (anything from streetlights and rubbish bins to individual premises or trees in the park) to systems and people to optimise operational performance and improve efficiencies. For example, Alloy can receive service requests, automatically trigger approval and review processes, and generate work orders that are optimised based on the availability of equipment, vehicles, people, and the location of the job.

The mobile workforce, equipped with rugged Panasonic TOUGHBOOK Android tablets or handhelds, can then receive their automated work schedule, with optimised routes, reporting and feedback functionality using a device that is designed to withstand the physical rigours of a busy mobile workforce. Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices are ideally suited to this task with rugged protection, daylight viewable screens and a range of functionality and peripherals designed to make the lives of mobile workers easier.

This connected asset management is the foundation for managing modern smart communities and the starting point for local authorities and other organisations looking to transform the way they efficiently and effectively deliver their services. With this partnership, the future of modern smart communities just became one step closer.