Two global trends are converging and they will transform the way people live their lives. One of them is the Internet of Things (IoT) – the increasing proliferation of internet connected, ‘smart’ devices. Gartner estimates there will be 20 billion such devices by 2020 in homes, factories and cities.
Coupled with this is the increasing global need for civil infrastructure. Countries like the US have large, aging infrastructure that must be modernized or replaced and emerging markets, like China, have a growing need for new infrastructure.
This could cause global infrastructure demand to double to $9 trillion by 2025 according to a report by PwC. As electrical and power grids, rail, shipping and transportation systems, healthcare, communications, water and sewage facilities and oil and gas facilities are upgraded or built – how will they all communicate with the billions of smart devices being used and how will they communicate with each other?
In order to solve this problem, The Linux Foundation launched the Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) in April of 2016. The goal of CIP is to create an open source platform for managing and monitoring IoT enabled civil infrastructure that will be safe, secure, reliable, scalable and sustainable. CIP will drive essential services for civil infrastructure to speed deployment through collaboration, reduce costs and increase adoption rates. These systems will support human activities and deliver essential services, drive economic growth, support social interaction and provide shelter and support in case of emergencies or natural disasters.
CIP is focused on a number of goals to support the global transition of cities to IoT enabled systems:
- Security and Safety – as these systems will be supervising energy grids, oil refineries and disaster response systems they must be secure from hacking and they must increase the safety of the people who rely on them.
- Interoperability – in order to easily connect all IoT devices in as ‘plug and play’ a manner as possible, an open framework is needed that supports existing standards. The vastness of the systems involved will require retrofitted and new equipment to be able to communicate seamlessly.
- Reliability – CIP understands that the systems humans rely on to run their cities and improve health, sanitation and safety must be completely reliable and provide improved stability and resilience.
- Speed and cost – given the scale of the infrastructure worldwide, improving the time to provision and reducing costs to install and operate are critical. This will also help to deliver critical infrastructure needs to previously underserved communities thus enhancing health and wellbeing.
- Sustainability – the new systems that are created and deployed need to be flexible to expand and be enhanced over the long timelines civil infrastructure demands. CIP is aiming at systems that will have lifetimes of 10-60 years to support this need.
Founding members of CIP include Hitachi, Toshiba, Siemans, Codethink, Plat’Home and Renesas.
Joining them in January 29, new member Moxa (www.moxa.com) provides industry solutions for rail, marine, transportation, energy grid and the oil and gas industries.
Moxa has successfully created solutions for railway automation and communication, automated highway tolling and tunnel control systems, oil spill detection systems and oil rig drilling control systems.
Moxa’s vision is to provide a full spectrum of products for Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and smart cities. By joining together with Moxa, CIP and its members will drive the new technologies that will run our cities well into the 21st century.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
