New in Connaught Place: Smart poles to track air quality, provide Wi-Fi, keep watch

Smart poles are replacing normal street lights in the New Delhi Municipal Council area and by end of March, 55 of these will be operational in central Delhi.

According to a senior official, the NDMC has taken the initiative to transform electric poles into smart pole with smart LEDs, communication infrastructure, Wi-Fi access points, pollution monitors and CCTV cameras.

In the first phase, these smart poles are being installed in Connaught Place, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Sansad Marg, Janpath, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Barakhamba Road, Tolstoy Marg and nearby areas.

Installation work is on at present and will take 15-30 days for a pole to have all facilities after it is erected.

“Work has been awarded for 55 smart street light poles of height 9 to 12 metres. There will be smart LED lights, which can be remotely switched on or off. There can be a time schedule for these. For example, after midnight some lights can be powered down to 50-60%. We can monitor and decide. There will also be a CCTV camera on every pole and data of these will be stored for a month,” the official said.

These smart poles are made of stainless steel and will also have the facility to host microcells for telecommunication for providing 2G/3G/4G services, and hydraulically operated underground cabinet for hosting telecom equipment and UPS.

Air quality monitoring will also be done through these poles and environmental sensors in these poles will send live feed to the NDMC 311 app. The monitoring will include PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, temperature and humidity.

“Around 32 of these have already been installed in inner and middle circle at Connaught Place, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Tughlaq Crescent and Janpath. In the Inner Circle of Connaught Place, where 13 poles have been installed, Wi-Fi is available already. All 55 poles will be up and running by the end of March,” the official said.

In the budget 2018-19, the council has proposed to install such smart poles under PPP model at multiple locations in the NDMC area.