Smart City Sensors – St. Louis
Summary & Purpose
The City of St. Louis is seeking to establish new technology standards for sensors that include modern sensor technologies. This effort is part of the City’s ‘smart city’ initiative, technology modernization efforts, continued deployment of technology, and efforts to enhance the delivery of City services.
Goals/Objectives
The City intends to use the responses to this RFB to:
- Gain insight into available sensor technologies.
- Evaluate technologies.
- Select technologies that will become the new standard for City sensor technology procurement and deployments.
Sensor Considerations
During the evaluation of responses, there will be several considerations that may guide selection decisions. Some of these considerations include:
Packages versus individual sensors: The city may seek to limit the number of devices deployed. The City may prefer sensor packages versus individual sensors unless the individual sensor/s outperform sensors proposed as part of a package in way deemed meaningful by the city.
Modularity: To keep technology current and support multiple sensor package configurations the City may seek modular sensor packages wherein; the city has choices regarding the sensors to include and deploy in specific locations. The City also seeks to have options for upgrading sensor modules as new technology becomes available without having to replace the entire sensor package.
Miniaturization: The city seeks to minimize the size of sensors and sensor packages in order to maximize the number and type of locations sensors can be deployed based on the characteristics of the assets upon which they will be deployed. Therefore, miniaturization including the size and weight of the sensors and sensor packages is a consideration.
Portability: Because needs change and given some business applications, the City seeks sensors and sensor packages that are portable and can be moved to different locations with a minimal level of effort. This portability should not require vendor / respondent support.
Platform integration and platform agnostic: The city will likely not select sensors and sensor products that only work with a single proprietary front or back end system. The City seeks to establish and retain options for the continuous advancement of technology, solutions, or parts thereof. Therefore, the City will likely not select a sensor or sensor package that locks the city into, or results in a complete dependency on a single vendor or proprietary front or back-end system in order to deploy, integrate, operate, or manage and maintain them.
Edge Processing: The City is concerned with the volume of data that may be generated, required back end compute power, and the ability to rapidly identify anomalies or conditions what are of higher impact and/or concern. Therefore, the City may prefer technologies / sensors that are capable of edge processing.
