Small cells, big ideas

Philip Mason looks at how small cells can be used in combination with the urban environment to make cities safer and more appealing, while also helping to bring civic history to life through augmented reality.

As anyone who has watched the news in the past year will know, the digital comms sector is tantalisingly close to numerous major technological shifts, many of which have the potential to revolutionise society in any number of ways. From the use of AI to analyse data to automatic cars controlled with the help of 5G, we could – if these solutions are intelligently and sensitively deployed – see the dawn of a new technological utopia.

Arguably the most anticipated of these solutions are related to the Internet of Things, the use of which is so easy to conceive of in relation to our everyday existence. They are also among the most fascinating; when used as part of the driver towards smarter cities, they have the potential to open up new debates on how to use the space we inhabit, and therefore by extension how we live our lives.

One example of how this is already happening in the UK is via the use of lighting manufacturer Schreder’s Shuffle and Shuffle Site products, the latter of which combines a modular LED light column with Huawei-manufactured small cells to provide broadband coverage.