Smart city software developed under programme could be available for reuse later this year
The Bristol is Open programme has created an application store that will make software to support smart cities available for reuse.
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, chief technology officer of Bristol is Open, outlined the programme at the Smart IoT London event. She told UKAuthority that the store, while currently being used internally, could be opened up for wider use by the autumn and be used like an app store for smartphones.
Bristol is Open is a joint venture between the city council and the University of Bristol that, since its launch early last year, has emerged as one of the UK's largest smart city initiatives. It is using a high performance fibre available for research, partly as a foundation for new digital services around the city.
Simeonidou said it has involved work with communities and software companies on developing applications to support smart city projects.
Traffic example
As an example, she pointed to a traffic control application that uses cameras to monitor movements of traffic and people around the city. It can recognise different types of mobility, including vehicles and groups of pedestrians, and makes data available for research.
“The applications store would be free for anybody, but at the moment it's internal,” she said. “We're gradually opening it up for users and to communities.
“The environment is not completely stable at the moment, but we hope to open it up in September of this year, and hope it will be available for commercial exploitation.”
The applications have been built on the Smart City Network Operating System (NetOS), developed by the university's High Performance Networks research group. It is based on software defined networking and network virtualisation principles, which Simeonidou claimed was a first for smart cities.
She said it is “technology agnostic” which would make the applications more easily transferable into other environments.
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