Virginia establishes smart city testbed

This public/private partnership is funded by the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate with Mutualink providing its intelligent network.

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The testbed will allow users to to try out a range of applications in a real-world setting

Virginia is launching what claims to be the US state’s first smart city testbed, in partnership with Stafford County, Virgina’s Centre for Innovative Technology (CIT) and technology provider Mutalink.

This public/private partnership is funded by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) that aims to foster community-driven innovation that improves emergency response.

Digital backbone

Mutualink will provide its intelligent network that serves as a digital backbone for smart cities, connecting community partners, infrastructure and IoT technologies in real-time.

This testbed deployment is being introduced to both deliver innovative services to Stafford County and as an environment to pilot new technologies in a real-world setting. During the opening ceremony, attendees experienced live drone demonstrations, immersive augmented reality displays, and advanced sensor network deployment to monitor flood potential, air quality, and wastewater.

Mutualink was on-hand to demonstrate how intelligently integrating these technologies through a single, secure platform can quickly and seamlessly bridge communications, data visibility, and information sharing gaps across agencies and community services.

“The framework empowers us to integrate and deliver a wide range of emerging technologies in a real-world setting”

The technology can be applied across municipal government to improve public services, including:

  • connecting police, fire, and emergency systems to improve multi-agency response, reduce time to resolution and save lives
  • providing connectivity for schools for smart building systems, including air quality sensors, panic alarms, occupancy sensors, and thermal imaging cameras leads to safer indoor spaces for students
  • connecting smart infrastructure systems such as flood control sensors that allow city/county leaders to make more proactive, informed decisions when mitigating, responding to or recovering from disasters and to build resilience.

“Mutualink is a smart city enablement framework that empowers us to integrate and deliver a wide range of emerging technologies in a real-world setting,” said David Ihrie, chief technology officer of the Centre for Innovative Technology. “We see it as the foundation for a new digital infrastructure.”

​CIT accelerates early commercialisation and funding support for Virginia innovations, entrepreneurs, start-ups and market development initiatives.