URBAN LIFE 2.0 Creating the Smarter City

Boston University College of Engineering

Picture a city that runs so smoothly it’s practically

hassle-free. When you’re behind the wheel of your

electric car, a sensor network finds and reserves a

desirable parking spot or recharging station, or

reroutes you to avoid a traffic jam. At home, a

smart micro-grid minimizes your electricity

consumption, and LED lights provide Internet

connectivity in addition to illumination. Around the

clock, a fleet of cameras with sophisticated

software patrols the streets and other public

spaces for suspicious activities, advanced

hardware and software in your smartphone keep

your personal data secure, and an electronic

implant enables your doctor to monitor your vital

signs remotely and proactively prevent disease.

This Smart City is getting closer to reality, thanks

in large part to Boston University College of

Engineering researchers, who are laying its

mathematical and technological foundations.

Collaborating with industry, the City of Boston,

local neighborhoods and colleagues across the

university, they are advancing an infrastructure

The closed-loop system defining a Smart City entails not only collecting data from sensors, but alsoimplementing control actions through devices based on intelligent decision making.

‘‘Collecting data is not‘smart,’ just a necessarystep to being ‘smart.’Processing data to makegood decisions is ‘smart.’

— ProfessorChristos Cassandras (ECE, SE)

URBAN

LIFE 2.0

that includes multiple sensor networks

throughout the city that collect and transmit data,

and centralized software programs that receive

the data and apply systems engineering

techniques to act on it, making optimal decisions

and allocating resources in real time.

With funding from the National Science

Foundation, the departments of Defense, Energy

and Homeland Security, the National Institutes of

Health and the private sector, these researchers

are developing systems that may revolutionize

the way the city is viewed: from a passive living

and working environment to a highly dynamic

one with new, more effective ways to meet

transportation, energy, communication,

security and healthcare challenges. As cities

across the globe strive to accommodate

significant population growth and an aging

society, all while minimizing their carbon

footprint and costs, these new approaches offer a

promising way forward. For more information,

see bu.edu/energy/research/smart-cities.

Data Collection

Decision Making

Control andOptimization

Actions

InformationProcessing

SecurityPrivacy

Safety EnergyManagement

Applications

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Building the Smart City’s Information Infrastructure The engine of a Smart City is information—up-to-the-minute data on bridges, highways, buildings,vehicles, utilities, trash cans and other municipalresources that’s collected around the clock by anetwork of sensors deployed throughout the city,and relayed to a command and control center. Butsensors don’t transmit well over long distancesand are limited by their battery life.

That’s why College of Engineering researchersenvision a sparse sensor network visitedperiodically by police cruisers, buses, taxi cabsand other vehicles that continuously movethrough a city like blood coursing through veinsand arteries. When close to the sensor, eachvehicle could interrogate it, upload its data andtransmit it to a command and control center. Todetermine where to locate the sensors, how toschedule vehicles to ensure that information iscollected often enough, and resolve otherimplementation challenges, the researchers aredeveloping algorithms, running simulations andstaging small mobile robot experiments.

Researchers at the National Science Foundation Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, of whichBoston University is a core partner, are enhancing the BU Smart Lighting prototype in collaboration withacademic and industrial partners.

CommunicationLighting the Way to High-Speed Internet AccessImagine flipping a digital wall switch to activate a whiteLED ceiling lamp that illuminates your living room andconnects your laptop, smartphone and other networkeddevices in the room to the Internet. Requiring far lessenergy than incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs, anew generation of highly adaptable and computer-controllable solid state “Smart Lights” developed byCollege of Engineering researchers could illuminate adefined space and facilitate high-speed, optical wirelesscommunication and networking among electronic deviceswithin that space.

Smart Lights can be programmed to provide illuminationonly as needed, and exploited by a smart grid to reduceelectricity demand within a room, building or city duringpeak periods. As a commercial and residential lightingsource, LEDs are unique in their ability to turn on and offvery quickly—so quickly the eye cannot notice—and thereinlies their ability to transmit data to equipped devices. Andthey can do so at larger bandwidth and with highersecurity than radio-based Wi-Fi. As LEDs begin to take hold,faculty in the NSF Smart Lighting Engineering ResearchCenter at BU aim to couple them with this capability.

‘‘LEDs can be turned on andoff very quickly, ormodulated, to achievedata transmission. Thisscheme can vastly improvethe wireless capacity ofindoor spaces when usedby itself or in conjunctionwith existing WiFi.

— Professor Thomas D.C. Little(ECE, SE)

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Driving Hassle-Free Imagine driving in a city where younever have to search for a parkingspot, traffic tie-ups are rare, andinformation on nearby accidents isdisplayed on your dashboardalmost instantaneously. Inspiredby this vision, a College ofEngineering-led research team iscreating the technologicalinfrastructure for a wide range ofSmart City applications aimed atreducing the congestion, pollution,fossil fuel consumption, accidents,cost and sheer inconvenienceassociated with operating motorvehicles in an urban environment.

Applications include a SmartParking system that assigns andreserves parking spaces based on asmartphone-equipped driver’srequested destination and pricerange, a traffic regulation system

Professor Christos Cassandras (ECE, SE) and systems engineering Yanfeng Geng (PhD’13) developed a preliminary version of a Smart Parking system that enables adriver to enter a desired destination and price range into a mobile device and reserve a vacant, appropriately-priced parking space that’s closest to the destination.

Transportation

that dynamically controls trafficlights based on real-time roadconditions to improve the flowof vehicles throughout a city,and electric vehicle chargingstations where drivers can payto download electric power totheir vehicle from a smartgrid—or get paid to uploadexcess electric power fromtheir vehicle to the grid.

To enable such applications,the researchers are developinga software-controlled, mobilesensor network that willcollect and exchange data suchas accident locations;dynamically allocate resourcessuch as available parkingspaces; ensure secure andreliable data exchange acrossthe network; and make real-time decisions.

‘‘Studies have shown that inany major city center, about30 percent of cars arecruising around looking forparking, increasing airpollution and trafficcongestion. Our system couldreduce all those problems.

— Professor Christos Cassandras(ECE, SE)

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BU engineering and MIT architectural faculty are developing a new framework for advancedsustainable buildings.

To optimize air flow rates and dramatically reduce energy consumptionand costs, College of Engineering researchers have designed softwarethat determines actual flow rates on a room-by-room basis by using thebuilding automation system and measuring the system response. Theinformation can be used to determine what reduced airflow rates couldbe used in each room while meeting its ventilation requirements. Thisensures that building performance objectives are met while minimizingenergy use for every space within a building. All without changing anyequipment or requiring manual, room-by-room measurements.

Redesigning the Power InfrastructureSystems engineering and architecturefaculty at BU and MIT are collaborating on aholistic approach to lower the carbonfootprint and energy cost in buildingswhile enabling a more sustainable andaffordable electric power infrastructure.The approach leverages synergies betweenadvanced, micro-grid-equipped buildingsand dynamic utility retail markets to reduceelectric power consumption, accommodateunpredictable clean energy generationfluctuations, and reduce reliance on carbondioxide-emitting fossil fuels.

Their research shows that buildinginstrumentation and data collectioncoordinated by decision-support softwaremotivates occupants to monitor andcontrol smart appliances, plug-in hybridelectric vehicles and other grid-friendlydevices. Distributed generation systems,such as rooftop photovoltaics, togetherwith diverse new power users, such aselectric vehicles, enable advanced buildingcommunities not only to tap externalpower sources but also to sell some of theirown power to the grid at low cost.

In related research, College ofEngineering faculty are developing newalgorithms to reconfigure transmission linenetworks and ultimately reduce theoverloading of critical transmission lines,thereby reducing  generation costs. Theyare also investigating approaches tocontrol the ever-increasing powerdemands and costs of computer serverclusters, in ways that facilitate theintegration of substantial wind and otherclean energy generation.

Optimizing HVAC SystemsHeating, ventilation and air conditioning(HVAC) systems account for 50 to 70 percentof energy use in mid- to large-sizedbuildings, and energy use and cost scalesstrongly with airflow. This is particularlytrue in older buildings designed whenenergy was much cheaper and HVACsystems relied on high air flow rates toensure adequate ventilation andcomfortable temperature and humiditylevels. But heating, cooling and circulatingso much air is costly.

Energy

‘‘We are proposing to build an advancedintelligence system on the buildingside of the meter that can monitor andcontrol power consumption.

— Professor Michael Caramanis (ME, SE)

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Monitoring WMDsTo detect the potential release ofhazardous materials such asnuclear, biological or chemicalagents, American cities typicallydeploy a small number ofexpensive, large sensors in strategiclocations. Adopting a differentstrategy, College of Engineeringresearchers are designing amonitoring system that relies on anetwork of multiple, cheap, oftenmobile sensors. Their system couldbe used not only for materialdetection but also for intelligencegathering in remote locations.

To maximize systemperformance, the researchers havedevised strategies to keep sensorsup and running, collecting data onpotential threats andcommunicating across the network.

The sensor network envisioned by the College of Engineering researchers would be able to detect the transport of radiological material.

SecurityThey’ve developed algorithmsthat do everything from routinginformation to preserve energyacross the network, to optimizingsensor positions to maintaingood coverage of areas ofinterest.

The algorithms maximize areacoverage and minimize energyconsumption by using the fewestpossible sensors to cover adesignated space and directingthem to strategic intersections ofstreets and building corridors.They also track each sensorlocation by reading the strengthof a radio signal emanating fromthe sensor, and pinpoint thesource of a harmful agent releasebased on multiple observationsof increased concentration levelsnear the source.

‘‘We’ve developed algorithmsthat do everything from routinginformation to preserve energyacross the network, tooptimizing sensor positions tomaintain good coverage ofareas we’d like to monitor.

— Professor Ioannis Paschalidis(ECE, SE)

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College of Engineering researchers have developed a novel statistical technique to identify and locate pixel-level changes that departfrom normal activity within a monitored scene—changes that could indicate potential security threats.

Pinpointing Suspicious ActivitiesEach week more than 30 millionsurveillance cameras producenearly 4 billion hours of videofootage, far more than humananalysts can process. Even wheresoftware is used to sift throughthe data for suspicious activity, thealgorithms used are not always upto the task, especially in busyurban areas. Now College ofEngineering researchers havedevised a technique to processvideo data and pinpoint unusualevents in cluttered urbanenvironments that’s much fasterand more reliable thanconventional approaches.

Rather than classify and trackobjects in a video stream, the newtechnique detects motion in videofootage, computes motionstatistics at each pixel across time

and uses statistical methods toidentify and locate anomalouspixels. Data collected on theseanomalies can then be trackedvia conventional softwaresystems.

In a related effort, College ofEngineering researchers arealso working to improve theaccuracy of action recognition—the automatic detection andidentification of animateactions, such as walking,jumping or waving, fromcamera-recorded digital videosignals. They have developed anew framework for actionrecognition that consistentlyexceeds the performance ofstate-of-the-art methods and,due to low storage andcomputational requirements, issuitable for real-time use.

‘‘‘‘I don’t envision removing thehuman out of surveillance, butreducing the amount of humanattention that’s needed.

— Professor Venkatesh Saligrama(ECE, SE)

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BU researchers are developing mobile apps that serve as personal health agents, reminding patients to attend medical appointments and take prescribed drugs.

Preventing Disease, Cutting CostsDespite spending about $2 trillionannually on healthcare, the U.S.recently ranked lowest among 19industrialized countries in its rateof preventable deaths. Butmedical experts believe that amore proactive, data-drivenhealthcare management strategycould yield dramaticimprovements in health outcomesand significantly lower costs.

To that end, College ofEngineering researchers and theircollaborators are pursuing acomprehensive and systematicapproach to intelligentlyprocessing electronic healthrecords and wireless body sensordata, and directing physicianattention to preventing seriousmedical conditions.

HealthcareThe researchers plan to apply

data mining and optimizationtechniques to records and datacollected from Boston MedicalCenter, insurance claims andwireless, wearable sensors toproduce algorithms that grouppatients based on their risk ofdeveloping an acute condition.The model would suggesttargeted preventative actionsfor and responses to chronicconditions such as diabetes andheart disease.

In a related project, Collegeof Engineering researchers aredeveloping apps that remindpatients of times to takeprescribed drugs and ofmedical tests and screenings,and enable them to schedulemedical appointments.

‘‘What motivated us to start thisproject is the recognition that theUS health care system isextremely inefficient as it isgeared toward treating acuteconditions. There are tremendousopportunities for preventing theoccurrence of these conditionsand the expensivehospitalizations they cause.

— Professor Ioannis Paschalidis(ECE, SE)

Nudge/Reward

Reminder

ScreeningAppointment Complete

Appointment

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SMART CITY TESTBED

College of Engineering researchers who are

developing Smart City concepts and technologies may

test them via the Sustainable Neighborhood Lab (SNL),

a BU-organized living laboratory for enhancing urban

sustainability and quality of life in cooperation with

Boston neighborhoods and nonprofits, commercial

groups, the City of Boston and local utilities, and with

support from companies such as IBM and Wells Fargo.

As a living laboratory at the neighborhood scale,

SNL enables researchers to test their ideas in real-

world scenarios and collect meaningful data to inform

innovation aimed at improving quality of life in urban

environments. For example, in collaboration with the

SNL, College of Engineering researchers plan to test

the Smart Parking system with on-street parking, and

have investigated advanced energy technologies at

Boston’s Lenox Hotel.

The SNL serves as a platform for interdisciplinary

urban sustainability research, innovation and

experiential education at several schools and colleges

across Boston University, integrating environmental

science, systems and technology; human behavior;

finance and business; and policy and urban planning.

A major goal of the SNL is to advance a Smart City

innovation ecosystem that leverages synergies

among academic, public and private sector partners.

Toward that end, the SNL organized and hosted a

conference in March on Smarter Cities that was co-

sponsored by BU, IBM and the City of Boston, where

over 150 people gathered to explore next steps cities

can take to improve the quality of life for citizens.

With Boston as the backdrop for the event, panelists

from all three entities discussed ways to improve the

efficiency of cities using Big Data.

College of Engineering Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen with City of

Boston CIO Bill Oates at the Smarter Cities Conference, which

was organized by the SNL.

Professors John Baillieul and Michael Caramanis (both ME, SE) exploreideas for advanced sustainable building design with Scot Hopps,director of Sustainability for Saunders Hotel Group & EcoLogicalSolutions, at the Lenox Hotel in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

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College of Engineering Smart City research involves interdisciplinary collaborations withseveral organizations in academia, industry, government and the Greater Boston community.

AcademiaBoston University bu.edu/energy/research/smart-cities

College of Engineering (ENG) bu.edu/eng

College of Arts & Science (CAS) bu.edu/cas

School of Management (SMG) management.bu.edu

School of Medicine (MED) bumc.bu.edu/busm

School of Public Health (SPH) sph.bu.edu

Metropolitan College (MET) bu.edu/met

Center for Information Systems and Engineering (CISE) bu.edu/systems

Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability Initiative (CEESI) bu.edu/energy

Office of Technology Development bu.edu/otd

Pardee Center for Study of the Longer-Range Future bu.edu/pardee

Sustainable Neighborhood Lab (SNL) bu.edu/SNL

Eleven other academic institutions

Industry Deutsche Telekom telekom.com

IBM ibm.com

Johnson Controls johnsoncontrols.com

Lenox Hotel/Saunders Hotel Group lenoxhotel.com

National Grid nationalgridus.com

NSTAR nstar.com

Raytheon BBN Technologies bbn.com

Streetline streetline.com

TRO$Jung|Brannen trojungbrannen.com

Wells Fargo wellsfargo.com

Government & CommunityCity of Boston cityofboston.gov

Madison Park Development Corporation madison-park.org

Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay nabbonline.com

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

Professor John Baillieul (ME, SE)

ProfessorMichael Caramanis (ME, SE)

ProfessorChristos Cassandras (ECE, SE)

Assistant ProfessorAyse Coskun (ECE)

ProfessorMichael Gevelber (ME, MSE, SE)

Associate Professor Prakash Ishwar (ECE, SE)

RESEARCH

ERS Collaborating with experts in academia,

government and industry, BU College ofEngineering faculty are advancing severalSmart City technologies (not all depicted inthis brochure) while exploring their economic,environmental and public policy implications.

Faculty members shown here are developingdata-driven systems to upgrade urban life interms of communication, transportation,energy and the environment, security andhealthcare. For more information, seebu.edu/energy/research/smart-cities.

Professor Mark Karpovsky (ECE)

Professor Janusz Konrad (ECE)

Professor Thomas Little (ECE, SE)

Professor Ioannis Paschalidis (ECE, SE)

Professor Venkatesh Saligrama (ECE, SE)

Professor David Starobinski (ECE, SE)

Professor Ari Trachtenberg (ECE, SE)

Professor M. Selim Ünlü (ECE, BME, MSE)

College of Engineering faculty affiliations include home departments—Biomedical Engineering (BME), Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)and Mechanical Engineering (ME), and divisions—Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) and Systems Engineering (SE).

Professor Nathan Phillips (ECE, SE)

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‘‘What has emerged is thepotential for Boston to becomean iconic example of how public-private-academic partnershipscan not only achieve smartercities, but also sustain theinnovations to keep them going.

— Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen