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The city of Brownsville is partnering with business and technology services provider NTT Data to create a “smart city” and technology hub via a private, wireless 5G network.
In part, the network will enable technology making it easier for police to catch reckless drivers.
The partnership (the $4 million phase one of which the city commission approved in July) is meant to “enhance (resident) services, increase public safety, achieve sustainability and effectively manage growth by leveraging real-time data analytics and AI empowered by a seamless and secure wireless network,” according to a September press release.
Plano-based NTT Data is in charge of building and managing a citywide 5G private network that supports the company’s Smart Solutions — a suite of technology platforms and services that uses data analytics, AI and the “Internet of Things” (cameras, audio and motion sensors, etc.) that will make it possible to predict issues at certain traffic intersections, in city parks or other locations, for instance.
The high-speed/bandwidth network will also cost less for the city to use since it will be able to avoid data charges imposed by traditional wireless carriers, according to NTT Data. The first phase of the company’s “fully managed solutions” for Brownsville will cover downtown, including four public parks, the Department of Public Works yard and the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport.
Toward safety and security, Smart Solutions will “help city officials monitor and manage public areas, parks and streets in addition to identifying and addressing public safety issues,” NTT Data said.
Mayor John Cowen Jr. said phase one should be well along by the end of this year.
“Brownsville’s going to have its own 5G service for Brownsville assets,” he said. “We’re going to be able to have a cell tower and connect our security cameras, our traffic lights, our buses. We’re going to have service in parks, trails. People can access the internet from all our public sites.”
He predicted it will raise the city to another level and be a major boon to public safety.
“We can do more with less,” Cowen said. “We can be way more efficient. Like from a police department perspective, they’ll have a lot more eyes everywhere in the city, from license plate readers to speed cameras. … Those type of things will be tools. Instead of adding more police officers, we’re adding technology to be more efficient.”
