The project has the installation of 200 sensors responsible for optimizing water management, garbage collection and urban lighting
ACCIONA and the City Council of the city of Toro, located in the province of Zamora (Spain), implemented a system of real-time sensing and monitoring of the main urban services in progress in the city. This action turns the region into one of the most advanced smart cities in Europe.
The system consists of 200 wireless, low-consumption sensors, connected to a network that collects urban lighting data in real time, in addition to the entire water cycle, garbage collection, management of municipal parks and gardens and also vehicles of urban maintenance. These monitoring devices capture relevant data from each of these services, which are analyzed using Big Data technology to make real-time management decisions, capable of affecting some services. Are they:
Lighting: the sensors determine the need or not to switch on the public light points, as they allow to adjust the lighting to the real light that exists at all times (not only based on the weather, but also on the weather conditions, etc.).
Garbage and recycling: filling and temperature sensors were installed to dynamically determine the routes of garbage collection, avoiding occasional accumulations of residues and odors, as well as unnecessary displacements. In this way, service to the citizen is improved, while saving on CO2 emissions and operating costs.
Urban service vehicles (maintenance and municipal works) and gardening: the sensors monitor the position of these vehicles to minimize response time in the event of incidents and optimize routes.
Water management: information from water meters – devices that measure water consumption – is monitored, in addition to the installation of Ad-Hoc sensors. This protects the environment, reduces possible water losses and also avoids problems with excessive billing due to undetected leaks. In addition, by facilitating problem solving, water outages are minimized.
In this sense, in addition to the sensors, the project, called “Smart Water Lights” , provides for the implementation of a low-consumption wireless communication network, which allows data transmission over long distances.
This technology has the advantage of reducing battery consumption so that the installed sensors have a long operating autonomy – essential for the viability and scalability of the system. Thus, it is a great alternative to balance the power of data collection and processing, with battery life and maintenance needs.
ACCIONA has managed the urban water service in the city of Toro since 2001, both for water supply and sanitation and purification, through a 25-year concession. The contract includes subscriber management, meter reading, water quality control, fault repair, new networks and connections, maintenance of abstractions and DAR, among others.
