VOLUME 11 NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2015
ARE WE GETTING
SMARTER?
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Turning Singapore into a Smart City
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Building a smart city is a highly complex proposition, and it begins with integrating and harnessing data.
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Smart Assessment The education environment is moving towards e-Assessment, as the digital shift and the changing nature of jobs compels a better way to test and assess students, in order to identify the appropriate learning strategies to best teach the student.
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As countries like Singapore lay out blueprints for the next generation of transportation systems, a data-driven control centre can bring about a whole new transport management and commuter travel experience.
Meet a Data Scientist This personality proďŹ le features Li Mo, a data scientist who wields analytical tools to derive nuggets of insight from a mass of data.
Intelligent Transport Systems
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Roundtable: Early Days for The Internet of Things Creating sensing organisations is the way ahead, but there are still challenges to overcome, such as immature solutions and standards, privacy issues and unclear roadmaps.
Caring for Patients at Home New cost-effective healthcare delivery models and technology can boost patient engagement to reduce the need for hospitalisation. This can help to alert care providers when medical attention is needed, or for patients to interface with a medical personnel without having to set foot in a clinic or hospital.
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SHAPING SINGAPORE INTO A CITY OF THE FUTURE
Shaping Singapore into a
City of the Future It comes down to integrating technology and harnessing data.
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ingapore is in a race – to be the world’s first truly smart nation, where it is wired and connected, collecting data to solve everything from traffic jams to crimes. Already, Singapore is one of the top five globally-ranked smart cities for 2015, based on a report by Juniper Research. It is also the only Asian city in the list. The Smart City Rankings is compiled based on an analysis of each city’s ‘smart’ capabilities, with particular focus on the use of smart grids, smart traffic management and smart street lighting, as well as aspects such as technological capability and social cohesion.1 Undoubtedly, building a smart city is a highly complex proposition. While there is no agreed definition of what a smart city is, it almost certainly leverages smart technology to bring about efficiency and effectiveness in resource use and in the improvement of services, and ultimately bringing benefits to the citizens. In line with Singapore’s vision of a smart city, NCS envisions a smart city ecosystem under the theme of SURF, or Solutions for an URbanised Future, that integrates innovative technologies for government agencies and enterprises. In the process, NCS is transforming from being an ICT 1
system integrator to also develop innovative products that help companies and countries jumpstart their smart city journey. The intelligent technologies that drive a smart city can also be applied to a campus, a cluster of buildings or even a single building. Smart city initiatives are typically driven by governments using a top-down approach. However, several smart buildings and campuses could, over time, make a city “smart” as well. We need the collaborative efforts of the “bottom up” creativity from individuals and communities, as well as the “top down” government policies and infrastructure planning to help create the smart cities that we desire.
MULTI-FACETED, SCALABLE PLATFORM With this in mind, we have built IntelliSURF™, a smart technology platform on which is built an
interactive dashboard, and multiple modules that are designed with a wide range of functionalities for various users, contexts, and industries. Imagine IntelliSURF™ as a LEGO building baseplate and the various modules as building blocks that stack on top of the IntelliSURF™ platform. Depending on the requirements of the customer, they can subscribe to various modules and add these onto the IntelliSURF™ platform to gain
IntelliSURF™
Select modules that complements IntelliSURF™
Sensors & Network (Module-dependent)
Modules of various functionalities stack upon IntelliSURF™ to form bespoke solutions across various roles and requirements.
“Smart Cities: Strategies, Energy, Emissions & Cost Savings 2014-2019” report, Juniper Research.
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SHAPING SINGAPORE INTO A CITY OF THE FUTURE
capability like situational awareness, data analytics and insights, as well as a prescribed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the administrator. Different users, whether a City Planner, a Campus Administrator or a Building Owner would be able to choose the IntelliSURF™ modules that fit their requirements. Examples of these modules include: Smart Carparking, Learning Analytics, and Video Analytics. For example, a City Planner’s concerns would be the public safety and security of the citizens, and increasing engagement with citizens. On the other hand, a Campus Administrator would be keen to improve teacher-student interaction, security and safety within the campus as well as the level of cleanliness on the campus premise. The Building Owner would probably like to have better situation awareness of his or her building, in terms of security and access, electricity and water usage, as well as car park availability for the benefit of the building occupants. The requirements of the customer (whether from a city, campus or a building perspective) would evolve over time. For example, while a city planner may be currently concerned with public safety at a later time he or she might want to improve the efficiency of the transport system. It is here where IntelliSURF™ provides a strong competitive advantage. Based on insights gleaned from our practice directors and customers in various domains, we have developed a robust and comprehensive product module roadmap. Customers can look forward to an assortment of modules released on a quarterly basis. Unlike standard command and control platforms, IntelliSURF™ integrates with a suite of modules
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weaving domain knowledge, analytical insights, and best-ofbreed technology. As an example of the degree of functionality offered by the modules, a building and estate manager may be interested in the following: s -ETER DATA MANAGEMENT /FFERS granular perspectives from the meter data to better manage the energy consumption levels of the building’s tenants. s 3MART CARPARKING 0ROVIDES insights from parking data to improve parking policy. s 6IDEO ANALYTICS FOR SECURITY Sharpens preventive security strategies with surveillance data, or streamline workflows and resource planning with operational insights. Hence, NCS’ strategy for IntelliSURF™ is to develop a platform that is vendor agnostic. We intend to leverage our
expertise and decades of experience to steer and shape Singapore into a smart nation. We recognise the technological and domain leadership of different vendors and seek to partner with them for their best-of-breed expertise. In short, every nook and cranny of a city has the potential to be smart. While no single company can truly transform a smart city on its own, different players in their respective domains can work together to build a smart city. We believe that a smart city platform, like a smart city itself, will continue to grow and evolve, and through much iteration become smarter on its own. Thought Leader: Willie Chan, Director, Smart & Safe City, NCS williechan@ncs.com.sg
What forms a Smart City Smart Grid Smart Public Safety
Smart Enterprise
Smart Mobility and Transportation
Smart Governance
SMART CITY Smart Environment
Smart Healthcare
Smart Buildings and Homes
Smart Education Smart Water
PERSONALITY PROFILE
Making A Difference with Data A priority when mining for data is a focus on business objectives and domain knowledge.
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he age of smart data seems to be upon us, where highly-skilled data scientists can manipulate and analyse data to solve real-world problems or nudge a business in a different direction. SURF talks to Li Mo, a data scientist at NCS, to learn which tools she wields to derive nuggets of insight from a mass of data. Li has a background in statistics and was part of the University Scholars Program at the National of University of Singapore (NUS).
When did you realise that this is what you love doing?
What are your favorite tools or applications to work with? The choice of technique is dependent on the nature of the data and the problem we are trying to solve. In fact, a persistent task in data analysis is to find the most appropriate algorithm that better suits the behaviour of the observed data at hand.
Q&A
When I was a statistics major at NUS, I experienced massive real world data for the first time and spent a year slowly peeling off the onion skin to discover hidden patterns within it. I gradually saw the beauty of statistics and data mining. From a mass of apparently chaotic numbers, we can gain insights into our past to understand where we are today and pick up tips to guide our direction in the future. I felt excited and empowered, knowing that what I was doing could potentially have an impact on someone around me.
tasks, especially standard procedures. These products make data analysis less coding intensive and more accessible to users with limited coding background. Nonetheless, a piece of delicately crafted coding script itself is certainly not the end. We also need quality raw data and wisely-chosen analytics techniques.
What are you working on this year?
It’s a one-year project, where analytics is not a standalone piece but needs to be integrated into the main system for real-time scoring. Challenges emerge as we go beyond conventional analytics methodologies to suit integration requirements. In offline analysis, there are plenty of ways to massage poor quality data and improve model accuracy, but these procedures inevitably take up processing time, especially when data volume is large. For real-time scoring, time is a luxury. We have to explore innovative ways to balance analytics outcome and real-time performance, and put on additional measures to handle unexpected variation in the quality of data streaming in.
Is it important for a data scientist to be able to write in machine learning language?
Machine learning language to data mining is like fire to cooking. It is a crucial and indispensable tool to achieve what we want. Fortunately, in recent years there have been more commercial products that can reduce and simplify the coding required to complete some analytics
In choosing the tools to use, an additional concern is the end users. Some tools are highly flexible and can accomplish customised tasks, but they can be coding intensive and less easy to manipulate for business users. Other tools are more user-friendly and interactive, but might have limited customisation options. My personal favourite tool is the R language, which belongs to the coding intensive category.
What does the future of big data analytics look like? An ambitious vision of big data analytics is to assist people in making more informed decisions and achieve maximum satisfaction with reduced cost. From scientific research to industrial manufacturing, from daily dining and shopping to national policy making, it can establish its presence in different aspects of life.
Which skills and qualities make a good data scientist? I believe that a data scientist requires sound statistics knowledge and data skills, but for our work to be really meaningful for users, knowing the ultimate business objectives and domain knowledge are equally important.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 | www.ncs.com.sg
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SMART EDUCATION: THE FUTURE OF ASSESSMENT
Smart Education:
The Future of Assessment
Global trends demand a change in the education environment, especially in assessment.
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cing school exams in Singapore usually means memorising as much content as possible, then spotting questions using the infamous 10-year series, or getting exam tips from more generous lecturers. A common critique of this system is that it generates efficient workers but not many thinkers and creators, and as long as our exams reward learning by rote, there will be little impetus for change. When we couple this with two main global trends – the digital shift and the future of jobs – there is a compelling need to find better ways to bring about real change in the education environment.
THE DIGITAL SHIFT Increasingly, there has been an accelerated adoption of emerging technologies to enable 21st century learning. Technology has become an important tool to transform teaching, learning, and assessment. These technologies include tablet computing, 3D printing, massive open online courses (MOOCs), learning analytics, and wearables. Textbooks are also slowly being replaced by digital content, media, and apps. The approach to learning has also changed. There are now more small classrooms and tutorial class sizes instead of traditional large lectures. There is a focus on student-centric personalised learning rather than teacher-centric classroom delivery. This translates into differentiated
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and personalised learning pathways based on the strengths and interests of the student. In the new economy, schools, too, need to adjust and enable learning anytime, anywhere. Interestingly enough, the use of technology in managing assessments seems to be lagging in many educational systems and organisations. While technology and methods of learning have changed the education landscape, exams and tests are still primarily paper-based or very simple survey applications.
Oxford Martin Programme found that 47% of US jobs could be computerised within one or two decades. For global organisations and educational institutions, the need to train new skills rapidly and achieve high standards of skills across an often diverse worldwide workforce is critical. A key challenge is how to assess these skills so that the right learning strategies can be employed to best impart these skills to the workforce.
ONLINE ASSESSMENT THE FUTURE OF JOBS For many organisations a key challenge is to establish a global workforce that will support their needs in a world where technology could take over certain jobs. The study “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?” by the Bring on the personal trainers Probability that computerisation will lead to job losses within the next two decades, 2013 (1=certain) Job
Probability
Recreational therapists
0.003
Dentists
0.004
Athletic trainer
0.007
Clergy
0.008
Chemical engineers
0.02
Editors
0.06
Firefighters
0.17
Actors
0.37
Health technologists
0.40
Economists
0.43
Commercial pilots
0.55
Machinists
0.65
Word processors and typists
0.81
Real estate sales agents
0.86
Technical writers
0.89
Retail salespersons
0.92
Accountants and auditors
0.94
Telemarketers
0.99
Source: “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?” by C. Frey and M. Osborne (2013)
Leading institutes of higher learning (IHLs) in the US and Europe have already embraced online assessment and we note a rising interest in Asia, too. Put simply, online assessment, or e-Assessment, is the creation, delivery, and marking of assessment on-screen. It is used to benefit the whole examination process, in particular the creation and marking of paper-based exams, revolutionising back-office management, reporting and analysis. Since it’s on-screen, insertion of rich media such as audio, video clips and animation can greatly enhance the depth and interpretation of questions. Examiners will be able to create virtual situations that require the candidate to process different types of information for the right solution. An e-Assessment platform has many advantages over traditional, paperbased assessments. These advantages include:
s s s s s
,OWER COSTS IN THE LONG RUN 'REATER SPEED OF MARKING )NSTANT FEEDBACK TO STUDENTS !LLOWS REHEARSAL AND REVISION 'REATER mEXIBILITY IN TERMS OF TIMING AND LOCATION s )MPROVED RELIABILITY COMPARED TO HUMAN MARKING s -ORE EFlCIENT STORAGE EFlCIENCY as answer scripts require less physical storage space than paper SCRIPTS AND s !BILITY TO INCLUDE MULTIMEDIA AND interactive question types. With the right e-Assessment provider, organisations will be able to create custom examinations and manage the administration of the exam from a powerful single platform. This also ensures a high quality assessment experience across examination centres and even geographical boundaries. Our partner BTL Learning & Assessment (BTL), a UK based technology company, has been helping organisations with e-Learning and e-assessments for 30 years. They have a developed an Assessment Platform called Surpass which serves as an engine to drive effective online assessment services that is media rich and easy to manage. For example, the British Council uses Surpass to create and deliver the Aptis Assessment Programme. Aptis supports the standardised assessment of English as a second language, which allows organisations to make better decisions on recruitment and language development. The British Council reports as of August 2015 that Aptis has been used online by their clients 24/7 in 95 countries – the testing and assessment facilitation being conducted at the client’s premises. With the digitisation of exams, many organisations have been adding richer content to the testing
experience so that the exams reect real-life scenarios as far as possible. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in the UK uses online exams to allow learners access to high resolution visual data such as X-rays or MRIs which would have previously been less clear in the paper version. The ability to create sophisticated on-screen exam questions strongly enhances the ability of RCPCH to test what is required from the learners and reduces subjective interpretation of exam questions. An organisation that uses BTL’s Surpass for large-scale summative testing is Saxion University (The Netherlands). Previously, all 12 of the University’s schools ran their own tests, but now they have all successfully transferred onto one solution, and are currently delivering 40–50,000 summative assessments per year. Their e-Assessment system now has over 300 subjects, 600 tests, and 95,000 digital questions. Additionally, each item is given a descriptive name and tagged with important metadata, such as associated learning outcomes, and their item banks structured within folders and subjects, so that their lecturers can focus on developing exam questions instead of developing an exam.
EVALUATING E-ASSESSMENT PLATFORMS For truly effective assessments, e-Assessments need to go beyond testing students’ knowledge, and compiling bar charts and graphs based on the results. When evaluating e-Assessment platforms, organisations should look out for a comprehensive feature set that includes: s On-screen exam production
s
s
s
s
s
and assembly with remote authoring and sophisticated question extensions. On-screen production of paper exams and delivery with collaboration tools. Exam management system that caters for roles-based management with robust security. Multiple exam delivery support that provides exible delivery options and ensures secure exam delivery. Marking solutions suitable for high volume on-screen items with continuous quality control. Statistical analysis services that provide in-depth analysis to help identify trends and patterns.
Going forward, e-Assessment will become more widely used, as the digital shift and the changing nature of jobs compels a better way to test and assess students in the education environment. Educational and training institutes in Asia which may be unfamiliar with e-Assessment can now beneďŹ t from NCS’ partnership with BTL and gain access to consultancy and expertise in end-to-end implementation of e-Assessment solutions. For more information, or review of your organisation’s existing examination structure, contact Chris Tng, Business Development Director, Smart & Safe City at christngcy@ ncs.com.sg
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 | www.ncs.com.sg
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TECHNOLOGY EXTENDS CARE BEYOND HOSPITAL WALLS
Technology Extends
Care Beyond Hospital Walls Caring for patients at home can reduce costs and improve the quality of care.
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typical cardiac acute care scenario would see an elderly person like 75-year-old Mr Chan who has diabetes, suffer a sudden onset of myocardial infarction and then undergo coronary intervention. Before being sent home to recuperate, the hospital can set up a care plan for him and specify his daily tasks that include continuous monitoring of clinical condition, medication, exercise and diet compliance, and daily physical assessment. This allows Mr Chan to recuperate at his home where his disease progression is tracked to enable early intervention in the event of deterioration. This is an example of how smart technology can boost patient engagement to manage chronic disease, extending the reach of the
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care provider into the home of patients.
innovations in the healthcare industry.
The world faces a growing ageing population. The global share of older people (aged 60 years or over) increased from 9.2% in 1990 to 11.7% in 2013 and will continue to grow as a proportion of the world population, reaching 21.1% by 2050, according to the United Nations.
What is needed? New cost-effective healthcare delivery models that use technology to manage healthcare quality and costs.
In Singapore, the number of seniors aged over 65 years will more than double from 430,000 today to over 900,000 in 2030. By then, 1 in 5 Singaporeans will be 65 and above as compared to 1 in 9 today. The combination of a shortage of healthcare resources and an ageing population coupled with the rising trend of chronic illnesses, growing healthcare costs and a strained healthcare system are drivers for
This would include the use of home monitoring and tracking applications that reduce the need for hospitalisation, the use of sensing technologies to alert care provider when medical attention is needed, or Internet video conferencing capabilities to allow patients to interface with a medical personnel without having to set foot in a clinic or hospital.
A PATIENT-CENTRED MODEL FOR HOME CARE NCS believes that technology can help provide continuous care, or patient-centred home care. This would include the early detection and
treatment of diseases to halt or slow its progress while encouraging personal strategies to prevent recurrence, and implement homebased care plans to return people to their original health and prevent long-term problems. The NCS Continuous Care Management (CCM) solution can benefit three main groups of patients: s .EWLY DISCHARGED PATIENTS FROM acute care who require continuous monitoring to ensure smooth recuperation. s 0ATIENTS WHO REQUIRE CHRONIC disease management such as those with diabetes who require daily monitoring. s %LDERLY PATIENTS WHO LIVE ALONE AND require care monitoring due to factors such as senility, frailty, proneness to fall, etc. NCS CCM enables patients and elderly to follow through cliniciandefined daily care plan to monitor their health, wellness and compliance to medication, diet and exercise, and use telehealth technologies to measure patients/elderly clinical conditions and send health data to care providers.
s 0HYSICAL 4RACK THE PATIENT S VITAL signs through telehealth and monitoring devices. s "EHAVIOURAL 5SE ANALYTICS TO unveil patterns so as to allow for a more individualised patient-centred response. s 0SYCHOLOGICAL 0ROVIDE THE PATIENT with support as well as goals to keep him/her engaged and motivated.
QUALITY CARE AT HOME Back to Mr Chan, whose care plan specifies the devices used to monitor his vital signs and care plan compliance, which includes wearable ECG, sensor mat for heart and breathing rate, daily blood pressure monitoring, a panic button, medication pill box, motion sensor and a glucometer.
When the CM and Mr Chan’s son attempt to communicate with Mr Chan through the speaker system in the toilet and receive no response, they confer and decide to send for an ambulance. The son arrives in time to open the door and check on his father, when the ambulance arrives and brings Mr Chan to the hospital.
His Care Manager (CM) at the hospital had also set various parameters for alerts and specified the course of action when vital signs are detected to be out of range.
The use of sensors placed strategically in Mr Chan’s home can allow the CM to track his well-being. For instance, activation of sensors on the fridge, kitchen door, and kitchen tap can suggest that he has entered the kitchen to have his breakfast, and washed up after breakfast. Such tracking of activities is important to ensure that Mr Chan has not skipped breakfast to prevent his blood sugars from falling after diabetes medication.
The CM can use the Care Manager Dashboard to review the vital signs of several patients that he/she is tracking.
Care managers are enabled with an easy-to-read, intuitive dashboard on patients’ conditions which can prompt auto alerts about clinical anomalies by analysing patients’ clinical and daily living data. This allows for early intervention to prevent further deterioration.
On a typical day at home, Mr Chan uses the CCM Patient Dashboard to access his care plan. Lying in bed, the Smart Mat monitors his sleep patterns and can alert the CM if Mr Chan has been in bed for too long. Then the CM can give Mr Chan a call to understand his condition.
Patients and elderly are further supported by an online care community through advice, education and mutual/ moral support, while being able to access essential information and services to care for their health.
When Mr Chan is up, he turns on the Android tablet where he is greeted by the Care Plan Dashboard, on which he selects My Care Plan which takes him through his daily tasks. These include the medication to take, a reminder to measure his blood pressure and glucose, and to exercise.
CCM goes beyond tracking the physical well-being of a patient, and is designed around three holistic aspects of well-being:
home, slips and falls in the toilet. If he is conscious, he can press a panic button that is a wearable pendant to send an alert. However, if he is unconscious, the sensors in the toilet detect a person lying motionless on the floor, and a smart algorithm will confirm a fall has taken place in the toilet by interpreting the information from the sensors. Both the CM and Mr Chan’s son will receive alerts on their mobiles.
A week later, Mr Chan is alone at
In summary, healthcare technology like sensors, analytics, and care management solutions can be leveraged to collect valuable patient data so as to provide actionable insights. With the challenges of a rapidly ageing population, there is significant potential to reduce cost and enhance the healthcare delivery for the ageing population. Thought Leader: Chan Kah Choon Sales Director, Healthcare, Commercial Large Enterprise kcchan@ncs.com.sg
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 | www.ncs.com.sg
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AT THE HEART OF SMART TRANSPORT
At the Heart of
Smart Transport A data-driven control centre with integrated operations can bring about a whole new transport management and commuter travel experience.
HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER
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n land-scarce Singapore, leveraging technology to move people and goods safely and efficiently has become a growing need in the face of a growing urban population and lack of available physical space to build more transportation infrastructure.
Over the years, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has implemented several major Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to enhance its operation efficiency and disseminate real time information to the public. They are the Expressway Monitoring and Advisory system (EMAS) to manage traffic incidents, the Electronic Road Pricing System (ERP) to automate the collection of road charges and Green Link Determining System (GLIDE) to optimise traffic flow at road junctions. Other ITS collect and disseminate real time data to inform travellers of traffic incidents, travel times and bus and train arrival times via electronic signboards and mytransport.sg portal. Looking forward, Singapore has laid out its blueprint – Smart Mobility 2030 – for its vision of the next generation of ITS to create a more connected and
Traffic Information ERP Charges
User Preferences
Time, User Location
Real-time Multimodal Transport Information
Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles
The evolving nature of urban challenges calls for a shift in the urban transport paradigm. NCS is geared up to address these challenges with the Urban Mobility Management Centre (UMMC). The UMMC is a control centre that harnesses the power of data. Apart from bringing together the ITS Centre and Operations Control Centre (OCC) which comprises bus operation centres, rail and rapid transit operation centres and taxi operation centres, it also adopts a collaborative approach by sharing information to help all respond to major incidents.
Recommend the best combination of transport modes to reach destination based on traveller’s preference or criteria
CONSIDERATIONS X Distance X Travel time X Cost X Wheelchair accessibility X Personal preference
X No. of transfers X Walking distance X Sheltered
Weather
Points of Interest
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Bus, MRT, Taxi Information
interactive transport community. It is anchored on four pillars as follows: a) Informative, high quality transport information to meet diverse needs b) Interactive enhanced traveller experience with smarter interactivity c) Assistive towards a safe and secure roadway environment d) Green mobility towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly ITS
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Park & Ride
Plan Route
START TRIP
Adjust Route
END TRIP
Data from other centres, such as the weather station, private bus operators, relevant government agencies, etc. can also be drawn into the UMMC. The UMMC functions as a unified platform to monitor and coordinate all transport modes to meet the overall demand for transport and respond to any major transport incidents or events. It can provide the following capabilities: a. Centralised monitoring, planning and management. b. Enable comprehensive situational awareness across traffic, rapid transit, rail, bus and taxis nationwide. c. Facilitate collection and sharing of co-ordinated real time transport information, including traffic incidents, public transport incidents and events. d. Provide scenario planning capability to manage major events, transport incidents and national crisis. e. Monitor performance of all transport modes and travellers’ satisfaction. f. Provide coordinated event and incident management for quick recovery. g. Provide both broadcast and customised information to travellers. A critical component of the success of UMMC is in scenario planning, as it enables UMMC to visualise the impact of any event or transport incidents through simulation and to validate remedial measures that incorporate the operational experiences of ITS Centre and the OCC. Based on new transport incident information, UMMC can dynamically reroute or advise travel on other transport modes. Another powerful capability of the UMMC is the ability to pull together
data from various sources, and when used with business analytics, generate useful actionable insights for transport decision-makers. For instance, key insights can be distilled from fare card data and machine sensor data that are derived from trains.
PERSONALISED AND PLEASANT TRAVEL EXPERIENCE The real strength of the UMMC is to enable a people-centric ITS, tailoring the best journey plan based on the commuter’s preferences such as: cheapest route, fastest route, shortest route, lowest carbon footprint, or amenities along route. The dissemination of multimodal travel information will be personalised and at the same time, strategic for optimal distribution of travel demand over the entire transport network. When a major incident is detected,
UMMC will move into action to: a. Provide alerts to all affected transport operators, b. Activate diversion of services, c. Display alerts on electronic signboards at bus stops and rapid transit stations, d. Monitor crowds at downstream bus stops and affected rapid transit stations, and e. Provide information on alternative transport modes and routes. As governments seek smart solutions to meet the transportation challenges of urban populations, harnessing the power of their transportation data with Intelligent Transportation Systems is certainly the way forward. Thought Leader: Sing Mong Kee, Director, Smart & Safe City singmk@ncs.com.sg
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 | www.ncs.com.sg
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CIO DIALOGUE – THE NEXT BIG THING: THE INTERNET OF THINGS
From L to R: Loo Boon Chee, Teng Tat Wee, Neo Yong Chiang, Billy Cheng, Tan Seng Chee, Melody Shieh, TC Seow, Yeo Teck Guan, Danny Ong, Hiew Wui Sin, Sim Chear Wah, Chandran Segaran Senkodu
The Next Big Thing:
The Internet of Things Roundtable participants say that the adoption of IoT technology is at a nascent stage.
C
reating sensing organisations is the way to go. The question is how to go about it, and how to navigate the various challenges involved, said participants at the Executive Networking Lunch “Gearing Up for IoT” held on 8 October at Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore. The discussion was moderated by T.C. Seow, Editor of CIO Asia, and sponsored by NCS. The attendees are considering the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to get deeper insights into different aspects of their businesses that range from the supply chain, manufacturing floors, retail store operations, to the products and services they provide. The age of IoT is well underway, said
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Loo Boon Chee, Head, IoT Development, Smart & Safe City, NCS. “We have seen significant interest and many requests to look at IoT, as customers demand more complex end-to-end solutions. They don’t just want IT, but want capability,” said Loo. “In turn, NCS is responding to this. We are making a deliberate effort to build competence in this space and have a dedicated organisation set up to look at smart cities.”
efficient transportation system, and advanced research and tertiary institutes. This allows us to try a lot of things that other countries may not have the benefit of,” said Loo. However, Singapore’s size means it lacks the scope to be a real mover in this space, as a lot of technology requires scale to make it economically viable.
Loo pointed out that Singapore presents a good location for driving IoT efforts, possessing many elements that make it an ideal test bed for IoT trials.
The question is whether businesses are ready for IoT and to cope with the deluge of information headed their way. To begin with, there are technical challenges to be resolved, said Neo Yong Chiang, CIO at Republic Polytechnic.
“There is strong government backing and good infrastructure like an
“To dovetail with the smart nation initiative, Republic Polytechnic is
considering the building of a smart campus, and has formed a task force to brainstorm this. A question is whether a lot of sensors are required, and if so, what frequency it would operate on, and whether it requires its own network to avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequencies,” said Neo. Danny Ong, Vice President & Chief Information Officer at STATS ChipPAC Singapore, that offers back-end manufacturing services for the semiconductor industry, added: “Currently, the pick up for IoT is going to be slow for the next few years. The solutions are immature, and the roadmap still unclear, and this affects our bottomline. However, we are starting to see more creative [IoT] solutions.”
DEFINING IoT A challenge is defining IoT, as the definition and concept varies depending on the industry or business. “It is a challenge to define what IoT is, as it will continue to mean different things to different people, because the businesses that it can apply to are very diverse, said Loo from NCS. What is certain is that IoT is being
driven by a growing number of people being connected to the internet. This increased connectivity has resulted in more people buying IoT devices. The other driver is the growing adoption of devices like smartphones and tablets that makes each of these consumers a connected node in the Internet of Things, said CIO Asia’s Seow. “With broadband, people find that smart mobile devices can control certain features like smart homes, and can be remote controlled. Instantly, it opens up new vistas and opportunities for businesses and allows them to improve on customer service and customer satisfaction level,” said Seow. “Have we reached a tipping point? Is it the technology or business side of things that is driving IoT adoption?” asked Seow. Loo from NCS responded: “Technology and business drivers are hand in glove, but there is the element of technology dependency. Technology has evolved to allow a lot more objects to be connected. Ten years ago, it was unimaginable that just about everyone owns a smartphone, and now my 80-year-old mum uses an iPad.”
Delegates at the roundtable Mr Loo Boon Chee, Head, IoT Development, Smart & Safe City, NCS Mr Teng Tat Wee, Vice President, IS, Singapore Post Mr Neo Yong Chiang, Chief Information Officer, Republic Polytechnic Mr Billy Cheng, Head & General Manager – IT & Business Process, Jardine Cycle & Carriage Mr Tan Seng Chee, Chief Information Officer, City Developments Limited Ms Melody Shieh, Senior IT Infrastructure Head, United Engineers Mr Yeo Teck Guan, Group Chief Information Officer, Singapore Pools Mr Danny Ong, Vice President & Chief Information Officer, STATS ChipPAC Singapore Mr Hiew Wui Sin, Global Head of IT, AET Tankers Mr Sim Chear Wah, Vice President, Information Technology, Jurong Port Dr Chandran Segaran Senkodu, Senior Vice President – Information Technology & Strategic Development, TransitLink Moderator T.C. Seow, Editor, CIO Asia
“Fast forward another 10 years, what else will be connected? Who knows what the possibilities are. There is no boundary to what the imagination can do, and which of today’s problems can be solved down the road,” said Loo.
NEW SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS The way that IoT technologies are being used is industry-specific, said the attendees. Consumer-focused companies are increasingly using monitoring technologies, such as digital cameras, sensors and analytics software to gather and analyse data in the areas where they do business with customers. For instance, Singapore Pools, the state-owned lottery subsidiary company is exploring to transform its betting outlets, and encourage more responsible betting. “We want to deploy disruptive technology, like super Wi-Fi to improve network latency,” said Yeo Teck Guan, Group CIO, Singapore Pools. In the healthcare space, the shortage of healthcare resources, an ageing population, and the labour-intensive nature of healthcare, necessitates better ways to deliver healthcare, said Teo Kah Ling, Director of Information Technology at Raffles Medical Group, Singapore’s largest private healthcare provider. “IoT has the potential to provide home monitoring and tracking capabilities and to monitor the patient’s vital signs like blood pressure and glucose levels to allow healthcare providers to offer better quality patient care,” said Teo. “There is a demand for telemedicine, but there are currently no clear guidelines from the Ministry of Health. While waiting for these policies to be formulated, patients may send us
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CIO DIALOGUE – THE NEXT BIG THING: THE INTERNET OF THINGS
photos of their medical conditions via Skype and obtain a general advisory but not medical advice,” said Teo. Down the road, Teo expects a growing demand for healthcare delivered remotely, such as caring for elderly patients at their home. For instance, when an elderly person falls, the sensing technologies in the smart home can sense this drop and inform the ambulance, clinic or nurse to check on the patient. Singapore Post, the national postage and logistics company, is looking at incorporating sensors into its mail system. It has just successfully completed a trial drone delivery over 2km to an island off Singapore, as drones or unmanned aircraft systems find their way into IoT implementations. This short
vehicle being the driverless car. “Internally within the company, we want to understand the behaviours of our customers based on data gathered through sensors to improve our products, services, processes and customer engagement,” said Cheng.
SUPPLY CHAINS While some organisations are using IoT to improve customer service and engagement, organisations in the manufacturing, high tech, and services space are looking to IoT technologies to provide deeper insights about the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations and equipment. STATS ChipPAC is looking at IoT to help drive down costs in its manufacturing process by replacing
“Fast forward another 10 years, what else will be connected? Who knows what the possibilities are.” – Loo Boon Chee, Head, IoT Development, Smart & Safe City, NCS journey had its complications, requiring numerous permits from different agencies before the flight could take place, said Teng Tat Wee, Vice President of Information Systems, Singapore Post. A driver for IoT is to provide better customer service and engagement, said Billy Cheng, Head & GM - IT & Business Process at Jardine Cycle & Carriage, a group involved with the manufacture, assembly, distribution and retail of automotives. Car manufacturers are adding smarter information systems into cars that can range from navigation systems to on-board diagnostic systems, and the ultimate sensing
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human labour with machinery and robotics, in the face of increasing labour costs while material cost is going down, said STATS ChipPAC’s Ong. At AET Tankers, a global shipping company specialising in the ocean transport of crude oil and refined products, they are looking at IoT to help operations by gathering telemetry data from ships, bunkers, for remote fuel level monitoring and to better chart routes,” said Hiew Wui Sin, Global Head of IT, AET Tankers. “IoT can enable preventive maintenance, where machines and IoT-related devices can send alerts before the equipment needs to be
serviced, avoiding the need to interrupt operations to repair parts and reduce downtime,” said Hiew. “Time is always an essence in any business. With all this technology in place in the future, hopefully it will give us a competitive edge,” Hiew added. Jurong Port, a port operator headquartered in Singapore that handles bulk, breakbulk and containerised cargo, is looking at Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative and is interested in how it can become a smart port. Singapore’s limited land area makes it compelling to be more efficient in the use of berth and storage space. “The biggest challenge for us is to find the IoT business case and to justify investments. We need to show that it really works and ROI [return on investment], before really investing in it,” said Sim Chear Wah, Vice President, Information Technology at Jurong Port.
MINDSET CHANGE Exploiting IoT technology exposes privacy issues as sensors can be an intrusive presence, said Singapore Pools’ Yeo. “Few people are ready to have sensors like video cameras in private spaces like the dining rooms in homes. Many [view privacy] as a personal right. How many are ready for this?” asked Yeo. CIO Asia’s Seow noted that millennials who grew up with Facebook and Twitter are less guarded about posting personal information in the public space, and seem to have no qualms about trading private information for convenience, as compared to previous generations like the Baby Boomers and Gen-X-ers. “An eternal burning question is who
actually owns the data. Traditionally, the human resource department owns the employee data and the registrar owns student data, but the data that resides on devices is not the same. We can collect it from different areas, but who is the owner? That is something we are struggling with,” said Republic Polytechnic’s Neo. “Students are requesting for access to some of the data to view in apps. That is something we are collaborating with the students on,” said Neo. TransitLink is working with IDA to connect the last mile, enabling new ways to make payments, said Dr Chandra Segaran Senkodu, Senior Vice President (Information Technology & Strategic Development) at TransitLink, the provider of ticket payment services in the Singapore public transport system. One such way is the near-field communication wristband that is encoded with the digital Cepas (contactless e-purse application) chip, which allows users to pay for bus and train rides just by putting one’s wrist near the fare card reader. “We need to anticipate what people want. It is no longer about providing a service, but anticipating and providing the services,” said Senkodu. With the deluge of data collected by the sensors, one challenge is the shortage of certain skillsets to analyse this data. “There is a shortage of data scientists,” said Loo from NCS. “That area has been obvious to us, as we try to build capability to analyse data for various agencies. Data scientists are involved in almost every single project.” Another obstacle to IoT adoption is
the fragmented nature of the IoT world today, where standards are still being agreed upon. The concern is technology obsolescence, and the potential incompatiblity of technology down the road. “Whatever [IoT] we may adopt, we ask about standards, what is evolving, and the maintenance in the future,” said Melody Shieh, Senior IT Infrastructure Head at United Engineers, a provider of property, engineering and construction services. City Development faced a similar predicament when it built intelligent homes in 2001, but faced little demand for these homes. Today, the components of a smart home can be easily assembled by the home owner, said Tan Seng Chee, CTO at City Developments, a real estate developer. “The consumerisation of IT has made home automation and smart homes a possibility with consumer products. Technology obsolescence is very real challenge for us, as building a house can take three years, and any technology planned for can easily be obsolete by the time the keys to the home are handed to the owners,” said Tan. Loo from NCS said: “Having IoT standards is not a problem we can solve today. The good news is there is a lot more drive towards open standards that will make it more seamless for upgrading technology. We are optimistic that IoT open standards will be available in 3-5 years’ time.” An aspect of IoT that needs to be addressed is security. “Security has always been a topmost priority, as we tell ourselves to implement trusted solutions, and
security at various levels,” said Loo. “Is there a 100% foolproof solution? There isn’t one yet, there is interest in the industry to seek such solutions.” So far, the Singapore government has been a catalyst for IoT projects in Singapore, but the private sector has a part to play. “The government has done a fantastic job as the spring board for IoT with the Smart Nation program. With this platform, many innovative ideas were uncovered in the Call for Collaboration and Proof of Concept, and we realised that partners were looking at the same thing,” said Loo. “But it takes industry players and private companies, and the whole ecosystem to make it happen. There are too many parts for a single stakeholder to drive it. It is wishful thinking to expect the government to continue to fund some of these initiatives. In summary, as companies face the deluge of data from the existing sensors in their organisations, they need to consider how to weave together and act on this data. They need to consider which other types of data they need to gather that is critical to the organisation. “We have no choice. If we want to be in the business, we can expect it to be disrupted. It is better to do something about it before we are disrupted. Take the Apple iWatch. They were the first with the it, but there are so many replicas of it today,” said TransitLink’s Senkodu. Added Loo from NCS: “There is much to learn and lots to be done. We are at the nascent stage of what IoT can do, but it is it heartening to know that most of us are cautious but optimistic.”
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