AWS for Smart, Connected and Sustainable Cities

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a public cloud computing platform that launched in 2006 and started with just two services. In a little over a decade, it has grown to 100+ services with a million active customers worldwide including over 2300 government customers, served from 16 different AWS regions around the globe. With benefits like cost savings, agility, enhanced security, and less downtime, it is a platform that more and more cities are turning to in order to handle data in smart cities projects. Here is an overview of services offered, how the AWS IoT service works, and how some cities are using AWS today.

AWS Capabilities

AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products including compute, storage, databases, analytics, networking, mobile, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security and enterprise applications. Customers can use these services to build agile, secure, and cost-effective solutions quickly. Customers also have the option to deploy solutions provided by our partners on top of AWS.

AWS platform includes many layers and can accommodate basic and complex needs. Service categories include IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. The major service areas include:

• Core Services: Compute, storage, databases, networking, security, content delivery.
• Platform Services: Data analytics, streaming data, mobile, IoT, DevOps, app services, messaging, productivity and more.
• Hybrid Services: Private connectivity, Federation, Networking.
• AI Services: Voice, deep learning, machine learning, and more.

Because data security is of utmost concern, AWS provides many security tools and features for networking, encryption, identity & management, and compliance.

The AWS IoT Platform

Several Smart City solutions make use of the AWS IoT platform, which allows customers to gather and process data from simple systems to the most complex. Data comes into the platform via a secure channel; all traffic to and from AWS IoT service must be encrypted over Transport Layer Security (TLS).  When data is received, the service checks to make sure it is coming from a trusted device based on an X.509 certificate that the service trusts. If both the device and service trust each other (mutual authentication), the connection attempt is accepted. Data then arrives at the Device Gateway which supports the pub/sub messaging pattern, enabling scalable, low-latency, and low-overhead communication.

Customers can use AWS IoT Rules Engine to configure logic they want to be applied on incoming data from sensors. As data arrives at AWS IoT Rules Engine, it is evaluated against pre-configured rules to determine if there is a match. For example, you may have a rule that when the temperature is over 80 degrees in a room, the AC should be turned on. If the device sends data that it is 85 degrees in the room, the system will send an instruction back to the real device in the physical world and instruct it to turn the AC unit on. This is an example of a simple rule, but you have the capability to do all sorts of complex rules based on your needs. You can also do complex processing like triggering real-time machine learning predict functions. 

The Device Shadows enable cloud and mobile applications to easily interact with the connected devices registered in AWS IoT. A Device Shadow in AWS IoT contains properties of a connected device. Device shadow can be used to store and retrieve current state information for a device; this allows you to continue to work using the last known state that the device was in, should the connection to the device be temporarily lost. The device shadow can also trigger events to happen in the real world based on changes to the shadow state.

AWS in Action

AWS is currently being used as a scalable and secure platform for a number of smart cities projects like the ones in City of Newport (UK), Peterborough (UK), Denver, Iowa City, Virginia Beach, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Utah, New York City, London, and Singapore. Here are some examples:

• Many governments deploy solutions on AWS for monitoring and detecting environmental and other conditions around the city, including air quality, water quality, water levels and pollutant detection/monitoring.
• Others use it to monitor transportation in their city, including solutions in London and Singapore. These large cities have multiple types of data sources above ground, below ground and in waterways. By using AWS, they can gather this data, analyze, and provide real-time insights to internal operations teams and citizens.
• Cities like Denver and Iowa City use the platform to assist with public safety. For example, if there is an accident on the streets, they can use real-time triggers in the solutions to alert fire and EMS while also sending alerts to traffic cameras and traffic signals upstream to start delaying traffic.
• Another option is to use the system to make data available to citizens. For example, Singapore has a map that brings in over 100 different data sources. Using a mobile device and location information, citizens can access specific data wherever they are in the city.

With smart cities projects, it is not just the sensors that are important, but rather the data that is being collected and the insights that the data can provide. Data can come in from any number of channels including sensors, internal data sources, external data feeds, data from citizens, and open data available from other systems and locations. AWS services provide the ability to safely gather incoming data from many sources, and then process it quickly. In doing so, the city gains real-time insights and can take appropriate actions based on what the data is telling them.