Smart Poles: Infrastructure for the Cities of the Future

New Ways of Rethinking Our Cities

Urban infrastructure has always played a crucial role in our cities. Every project has a dual impact on citizens: we rejoice when a street is newly paved, but we suffer when achieving this means traffic is cut off, we’re disturbed by the noise of machinery, and face the various types of pollution it brings.

Nowadays, we can see infrastructure deployments in cities for video surveillance, lighting, signage, information boards, public content broadcasting systems, among others. These devices have one thing in common: they are usually mounted on poles.

When installing a new pole, today we can opt for a smart alternative that allows integrating all the mentioned devices into a single unit, with minimal effort and cost.

The Evolution: From Torches to Smart Poles

Lamp posts have always existed, so to speak, from the first torches, oil lamps, and later electric ones; but let’s not get sidetracked. The point is that the concept of smart poles has started to emerge in recent years.

Naturally, with the expansion of connectivity and the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the first evolution of poles was to add intelligence to the lighting system. These smart systems consist of a central unit from which the lights and their status are managed, turning them on and off is scheduled, and even the most modern ones include activity sensing and dynamic brightness adjustments.

With the arrival of citizen surveillance systems, the simplest solution was to place them on the already installed poles, which was very practical in some aspects, but undoubtedly overlooked the aesthetics of the infrastructure. This led to the installation of large boxes on the poles, which became frequent targets of vandalism.

Thus, with the surveillance systems and other equipment later added (even if not linked to their original function), the concept of the smart pole we know today emerged. In other words, the device designed to house different types of equipment in a harmonious and simple way, all controlled from a single central system.

Double Click on the Smart Pole: What Components Does It Have and What Services Does It Offer?

By definition, a smart pole features a steel column designed to support and install various devices, as well as an internal compartment where energy and connectivity are distributed for the possible equipment to be installed. To achieve this, the pole is equipped with a computer responsible for interacting with the devices, processing information, and sharing connectivity.

As for the devices, today’s smart poles are equipped with the following:

• Smart lighting

• Wi-Fi Access Point (AP)

• Camara

• Screen

• Weather station

• Cellular microcells

• Speakers for content broadcasting

• Emergency call button

• AC charger for electric vehicles

The Role of Smart Poles in 5G Infrastructure

In the previous list, one of the elements may spark greater interest, especially for telecommunications operators: the ability to serve as infrastructure for a 5G radio base station.

The cost of implementing a site for a telco, whether with its own infrastructure (poles, towers) or third-party infrastructure (facades, rooftops), is significant. This, coupled with the fact that future 5G deployments will require a higher density of access points, makes the possibility of hosting a 5G cell on smart poles an incredibly attractive option.

One of the countries that has already opted for this alternative is Japan. In the city of Tokyo, the Tokyo Data Highway strategy was defined in 2020, which involves installing smart poles with the aim of hosting 5G cells for multiple operators.

More applications: What other areas can benefit from this technology?

The concept of smart poles is far from being limited to cities: today, many private campuses (such as those of companies, universities, shopping centers, and others) are opting to deploy smart poles internally.

For these "small cities," this solution meets all their needs, whether by implementing it from scratch or transforming the poles they already had.

Smart poles allow for the unification of all systems into the same infrastructure solution and management platform. This way, there is no longer a need to have separate poles for lighting, CCTV, smart signage, or specific cellular infrastructure over the existing building infrastructure.

A future investment

The future promises rapid advancements in these technologies, which continue to add more functionalities every day. The installation of smart poles will bring countless applications and devices that will emerge over the years, making it an investment supported by planning and savings.

Countries like Spain, the United States, Australia, Japan, and even Colombia in our region are already deploying these types of systems.

José Luis Nunes, Product Line Manager IoT & Smart Cities.

Joselo is an electrical engineer (Telecommunications) from the University of the Republic.

He has been part of Isbel for 8 years, with over 6 years of experience in the post-sales area.