A smart city has three layers – the application layer, the information highway and the core. At the core lie the command and control centre (CCC) and data centres. The CCC is the brain of the city, which makes it smart, sustainable and future ready. It monitors all the activities taking place in the city from a centrally located, technology enabled and responsive location. These centres are designed to aggregate the information across multiple applications with the help of sensors deployed across the city to provide actionable information with appropriate visualisation for decision-makers. What makes a CCC different from a surveillance system or an IT dashboard is the ability to control the utilities and their sub-systems in case of an emergency.

As of March 2019, integrated command and control centres (ICCCs) worth Rs 27.7 billion were made operational across 15 cities under the Smart Cities Mission. Further, projects worth Rs 22.6 billion are under construction in 31 cities. The government has also launched tenders for projects worth Rs 25.5 billion in over 18 cities. As per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, around 50 per cent of the smart cities are expected to be ICCC-ready by 2019.

A look at the ICCC deployments in select smart cities and the steps being taken to strengthen the digital infrastructure of these cities…

Jalandhar

Jalandhar Smart City Limited undertook ICCC projects worth Rs 1,160 million in January 2019. These centres will serve as the single source of information for all civic services, and will enhance the governance system. Under the initiative, the government plans to install over 1,250 CCTV cameras at 250 locations in the city. The ICCC will also serve as the city’s emergency and disaster management platform. The centre will communicate with other cities by connecting with their systems such as early warning systems, emergency response forces and citizen engagement platform.

Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority is setting up an ICCC in the city to efficiently monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic as well as traffic congestion. The initiative to set up the control centre was announced in September 2019 and the project is expected to be completed in 2020. The ICCC will provide storage for all online data related to smart city applications such as CCTV-based public safety and the adaptive traffic management system. Through the centre, the authority also aims to enhance smart parking, water supply management, pollution monitoring, property tax management and asset management. Further, under this project, the authority is planning to set up a city-wide optical fibre network to e-connect all areas of Gurugram to the ICCC. The network will serve as the backbone for various smart city initiatives and will be stretched over 600 km, covering 115 sectors in Gurugram and Manesar.

North-eastern cities

In March 2019, the government launched ICCCs in five north-eastern cities – Gangtok and Namchi in Sikkim, Pasighat and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh and Agartala in Tripura. The command centres will monitor functions such as transport management, water management, city surveillance, emergency services and disaster management. With the deployment of state-wide monitoring facilities, the government will be able to administer multiple utilities and citizen services across the five smart cities.

Indore

The ICCC in Indore became operational in September 2019. The aim is to enable city governance through the cloud. As per Indore Smart City Development Limited, the smart control and command centre will have three major components – an ICCC, an analytics section and an event alert. The ICCC will monitor and control the city and state level services. The alert section will provide access to emergency services such as medical assistance, police and fire brigades. The analytics section will generate a proactive response to issues pertaining to the ICCC and the event alert section.

Ranchi

The government is planning to activate the data centre of the city’s command and control centre. This will help create a sensor-regulated smart road portion between Birsa Chowk and Raj Bhavan. The work has already been initiated on a 100 metre stretch of the smart road. According to the authorities, the 100 metre stretch will have sensor-based automatic traffic signals, which can detect the traffic density on the road. The smart streetlights will detect movement and perform accordingly. This will make them both cost-effective and sustainable. Further, real-time information on the air ambient quality and weather will be displayed on the roads through LED panels. In addition, CCTV surveillance on the roads and a sensor-based parking facility will be introduced soon in the city.

Karnal

Karnal Smart City Limited has also announced its plan to develop an ICCC in the city for enhancing safety and providing better public services. The ICCC will essentially look after surveillance, traffic management and enforcement. The development of the control centre will cost around Rs 240 million and the government aims to complete the project in June 2020. Under the traffic management plan, systems such as the adaptive traffic control system, automatic number plate recognition system and red light violation detection are to be set up at 35 intersections of the city. Besides, to keep traffic violation in check, 10 speed violation detection systems have been proposed. The ICCC will also serve as a fully integrated solution, which will provide seamless incident-response management, interdepartment collaboration and a geo-spatial display. It will also facilitate the viewing and control of field locations in a fully automated environment for optimised monitoring, regulation and implementation of services.

Pune

The city has an operational CCC with more than 1,000 IoT devices, such as environmental sensors and flood sensors. According to Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited, data in the command centre is made available to start-ups, enterprise businesses and developers through the city data exchange using an open application programming interface. Further, a soft launch of the city data exchange, Pune Urban Data Exchange, is expected shortly.

Allahabad/Prayagraj

At the ICCC in the city, crowd analytics is used for surveillance of entry/exit points and bathing ghats. Further, with the help of number plate detection software, the authorities are tracking the movement of vehicles through 1,150 cameras installed across the city.

Others

A total investment of Rs 515 million has been made in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, for a core utility operation and integration centre equipped with alerting, monitoring and incident management capabilities. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has commissioned a CCC in Vellore at an investment of Rs 400 million, with an alerting and operations system equipped with data centre and conference facilities. Another ICCC is being set up in Panaji where 400 surveillance cameras have been installed for monitoring.