Smart Cities have the ability to recognise what’s happening in a number of unprecedented ways. They change the way we understand, manage and study cities.

What is a Smart City? | Clever Solutions to Urban Problems | Privacy Concerns | Making Cities Better Places to Live | About Retail Sensing and the IoT | Urban Sensing | Communications Technology | Contact…

What is a Smart City?

A smart city installs sensors which can share information with the public, businesses, city managers and other smart systems. The city connects its sensors and services via the internet of things (IoT). The different sensor systems store their information in a common data warehouse, making the knowledge available to those who need it.

Find out more…

Smart city
Manchester

Clever Solutions to Urban Problems

  • Count pedestrians, vehicles, bicycles and passengers on public transport.
  • Monitor air quality.
  • Identify and reduce traffic congestion.
  • Quantify the use of footpaths and cycle ways.
  • Let retail units discover vital analytics like sales conversion rate, average queuing time and the most popular area of store.
  • Assess the impact of development initiatives and use the data to inform future decisions

Want to find out more?

We are happy to discuss all kinds of projects. Please contact us directly for a prompt reply

GDPR

Privacy Concerns

Collecting all this data may raise concerns about people's privacy. Our big data systems don't identify any individuals. Indeed, although we use video analytics technology the system sees people as "moving blobs". There is no face-recognition nor do we access data from peoples' mobile phones. We know how many people went where and when, but not who they were.

Bicyclist and pedestrians in city

Making Cities Better Places to Live

The flow of pedestrians affects the whole city environment. It is important to know not only the numbers of people but also how the numbers change over time. An accurate people metering system provides feedback on changes in people’s behaviour within the city and allows the council to effectively manage the flow of people, vehicles and bicycles around the area.

About Retail Sensing and the IoT Smart City Sensors

Retail Sensing are a UK-based technology manufacturing company. Our head office is in Manchester.

Our Smart City devices use our own video analytics algorithm to detect pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles. They include data logging hardware and Internet-of-Things connectivity.

The ISO9001 quality approved system is implemented around the city and sends real time data to “Brokers”. The brokers process the data and make it available to all end users.

We're currently involved in smart city projects around the world including California, Australia, Canada and the UK.

CCTV camera and measuring unit

Counting Bicycles

Counting bicycles helps monitor and support the promotion of healthy travelling and gives a measure of how green or pollution-free areas are within a city centre.

Counting Pedestrians

In the high streets and city centres, the Smart Counter (called IoT-VT) counts people. It provides both real-time and historical data for big data analytics. Business-people looking to open a new shop or restaurant could be given accurate figures for footfall past their proposed location to help them assess the potential for their new venture.

Counting Vehicles

With smart counters cities can effectively manage the flow of traffic along the busiest routes across the city and monitor the days and times of the heaviest flow - Smart Traffic.With smart counters cities can effectively manage the flow of traffic along the busiest routes across the city and monitor the days and times of the heaviest flow - Smart Traffic.

Counting Passengers

Transport authorities will know the numbers of people arriving by bus or train at various points in the city, by time of day. Real-time occupancy is also shown.

Counting Air Quality

Air quality monitors connect to people and vehicle counting units around the city. Concentrations of particulates are constantly reported, along with temperature, humidity, wind speed, direction etc.

Combining the Counts & Scoring Effectiveness of Smart City Projects

The IoT big data helps quantify the use of footpaths and cycle ways. It shows the use of roads, including commuter routes around schools and major routes through the city centre. Creating a city that uses technology to meet the complex needs of its people. From a health perspective the Iot-VT Smart Counter provides Smart City data to monitor the effectiveness of sports activity, events and jogging routes within parks.

The IoT Communications Technology and Specifications

The sensing technology works with many communications protocols, including

  • Ethernet
  • Wi-Fi
  • 3G / 4G / 5G
  • LoRa Wide Area Network (WAN) for IoT (LoRaWAN)
  • SigFox
  • MQTT
  • IBM Watson IoT Platform

IoT-VT IP Camera System Specification

Unit:Standalone 39/49 outdoor IP solution
Size:20 x 15 x 12 cm
Weight:7.5 kg
Power Consumption:250 mA, 230 Volts AC/DC

IoT-VT Analogue System Specification

Unit:Standalone 39/49 outdoor analogue solution
Size:30 x 20 x 15 cm
Weight:4 kg
Power Consumption:250 mA, 230 Volts AC/DC

The sensing units are mounted, for example, on lamp posts around the city. They can also be used indoors.

Send for datasheet.

Experience and Expertise

Retail Sensing have nearly 50 years experience in measurement and control. We have 15000 video counting systems installed in over 40 countries.

Contact

Location:

10 Stocks Street, Manchester, M8 8QG, UK

Sustainability Award