Smart cities, where sensors help public workers, departments and building managers cut energy and water use, is expected to grow fast ...
(TNS) -- Shortly before the MLB All Star Game last month at Petco Park, the San Diego Padres received an email alert that a couple of key air conditioners in the stadium weren’t working properly. The email came from recently installed sensors, software and communications technology from Qualcomm and OSIsoft, which provides real-time, detailed data about energy, water and gas use at the ballpark.
On Wednesday, the Padres and tech companies involved held a press conference to talk about the technology and how it can reduce power and water use.
"Our goal is to take this same architecture and help any large scale venue — a campus, a mall, any place where you have a lot of people coming together under one roof — and help them achieve their sustainability goals," said Kiva Allgood, head of Qualcomm’s smart cities programs.
There are several companies betting big on the growth of the Internet of Things industry, with Qualcomm, Intel and others aiming to stand out. Smart cities, where sensors help public workers departments and building managers cut energy and water use, is expected to grow fast in the next decade.
Petco is the third demonstration project for Qualcomm’s smart cities technology, which links together sensors to provide immediate and detailed data about power and water use.
Qualcomm did a similar project with OSIsoft at the smartphone chip makers San Diego campus. It also used the technology to monitor infrastructure at San Diego International Airport. The company claims its gateway technology can "connect the unconnected" without the hefty costs of installing new systems.
According to Qualcomm, ballparks are difficult for facilities to manage. They go from empty to full of fans in just a few hours. Many were not built with sophisticated instrumentation and control systems to monitor water or power.
At Petco, Qualcomm supplies so-called edge intelligence gateways — boxes that collect the sensor data using wireless and wire line technologies. The gateways then ship sensor readings to OSIsoft’s data center, where its software platform interprets what’s going on for the Padres in real time.
The technology gives Petco managers a very detailed, real-time view of where water and power are being used, said Jake Flohr of OSIsoft, which is based in the Bay Area.
Instead of getting monthly reports on overall water use, the system lets stadium officials drill down to know how much water is being used on field irrigation, in bathrooms or at concessions during any given game or event, he said.
"It gives them a good idea specific to each area of the stadium and allows them to take a more pinpoint approach to reducing their footprint," said Flohr.
There are roughly 230 large stadiums in the U.S. Many are in regions that are experimenting with smart cities technologies to reduce energy and water use.
The Padres’ goal is to reduce operational expenses by more than 25 percent in the next five years at Petco, said Randy McWilliams, senior director of facility services for the Padres.
"By using the gateways together with the open data infrastructure, we can see exactly how much water, power and gas each operation uses ballpark-wide, and can work with our operators and tenants to manage usage and increase the reliability and overall performance of the venue," he said.