Smart city deployments have grown from modest point solutions to address specific operational challenges to vast, all-embracing infrastructures that integrate disparate smart city functions across transport, safety, garbage collection, streetlighting, citizen services, and many other functions. At the same time, the application of intelligent computing to smart city use cases has increased automation, reduced costs, and widened the appeal of smart city services. On top of this, the arrival of high-bandwidth wireless connectivity in the form of 5G and 5G Advanced is opening up further use cases with low-latency connectivity.

The urban future that smart city technologies are the foundation of is already becoming real, and the OECD has reported that more than 30% of smart city applications were expected to be powered by intelligent computing by the end of 2025. The organization says this is transformative to key smart city services such as mobility, housing, urban planning, basic services, and resilience systems. Intelligent computing supports dynamic, data-driven processes and enables predictive modelling so city authorities can assess future needs accurately. Today’s landscape is very different to a previously isolated network of rubbish bin sensors acting alone to attempt to optimize garbage truck runs.

Smart urban living

Even subsets of smart cities, such as smart streetlights, are growing significantly. Analyst firm Berg Insight has reported that the installed base of smart streetlights hit 32.9 million at the end of 2024 and is set to hit 85 million by the end of 2029. Similar growth curves are being experienced for established smart city use cases ranging from air quality monitoring to intelligent waste management. The challenge for operators is that their earlier deployments of a few thousand devices to address specific projects are now part of far larger, cross-disciplinary, integrated projects to make smart urban living a reality.

To support this, end-to-end IoT solutions are needed to streamline smart city device design and manufacture. For reasons of time and efficiency, few city authorities – or their suppliers – want to laboriously assemble a patchwork of vendors when they specify or create devices. They are increasingly looking to design a comprehensive smart city architecture using a single ecosystem that comprises modules, antennas, connectivity, platforms, and services. This approach streamlines management of multiple vendors and, by having ‘one-throat-to-choke’, makes resolution of issues simpler and faster.

The minimized friction of adopting an end-to-end ecosystem for smart city devices in support of a complete smart city deployment depends on a robust, fully-featured range of products, backed by antenna solutions and radio frequency expertise, as well as certified and compliant solutions to ensure citizens are protected and safety is assured.

These issues were explored in a recent Quectel Masterclass titled ‘Developing smart city devices with an end-to-end IoT solutions provider’. The Masterclass, presented by Natasha Barrios, the SVP sales for EMEA at Quectel, Igor Micic, field application engineer and the deputy manager at Quectel in Belgrade, Victor Pinazo, antenna PDM for EMEA, and Yoon Seungryoul, certification director (North America), explores the manufacturer’s role across the value chain and reveals the benefits of choosing an end-to-end IoT solutions partner. These include shorter time-to-market, lower development risk, and easier interoperability. The Masterclass can be viewed here.