Paradox Engineering is paving the way for Open Cities where one connected infrastructure controls multiple applications, from smart parking and CCTV to street lighting and waste management. Interoperability sets Paradox Engineering apart, and their PE Smart Urban Network provides cities with a standard-based and reliable platform enabling any Wireless IoT and Wireless Highspeed IoT application.
Shifting from Smart City Silos to Connected Open Cities
Smart City has been a major trend in city planning and municipality management and cities around the world have raced to implement IoT solutions for key urban services. Whilst these systems have enabled municipalities to monitor and control operations remotely, they have frequently relied on single-application platforms which has led to siloed working and inefficiencies.
Not everyone knows that smart city projects using proprietary technology cost 30% more than those using open technology since they are more complex, duplicate implementation and maintenance efforts, have a higher risk of obsolescence, and a poorer return on investment. Beyond generating cost-saving, interoperability allows cities to head for truly shared growth, turning efficiency-oriented investments into opportunities for sustainable, inclusive development by engaging citizens and local stakeholders in open innovation cases.
Paradox Engineering has a clear vision for Open Cities that cannot be limited to connecting devices and automating services: they are about data becoming a tangible value for the benefit of all. As part of the uCIFI Alliance, Paradox Engineering, and its parent company MinebeaMitsumi, advocate open standards and have committed to contribute to multi-supplier, interoperable solutions for cities and other smart environments.
PE Smart Urban Network Platform – A Futureproof Choice for City Managers
The PE Smart Urban Network platform helps cities to unlock their potential by creating a secure, efficient, and open ecosystem. By bringing fragmented services together, city managers can reduce complexities and costs, creating efficiencies and the opportunity to develop a program of innovation.
PE Smart Urban Network features ready-to-use smart software and hardware that build a self-configuring and mesh network. Main components are:
- PE Smart CMS: an open management platform for smart, secure city services, controlling small to large networks with over 200,000 objects
- PE Smart Nodes: IPv6/6LoWPAN hardware radio devices that interface and connect field objects such as streetlights, parking lots, waste bins, and more
- PE Smart Gateways: leveraging IPv6 and IPv4 protocols, and operating as border routers, network coordinators and data concentrators
- PE IoT Engine: a hardware radio communication device to build interoperable, fully customized solutions and applications for Smart Cities
Find out more about the PE Smart CMS and the benefits of interoperability:
What Makes the PE Smart Urban Network Interoperable?
The PE Smart Urban Network is based on 6LoWPAN and an open data model. Defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), 6LoWPAN allows many connected Internet of Things devices to talk to each other, share information and commands. Its low latency enables it to handle a high volume of data messages extremely quickly, facilitating bi-directional communication and real-time control over urban services.
Its openness and vendor-agnostic approach allows cities to add unlimited devices and applications to the PE Smart Urban Network without being locked to a single vendor. The mesh network also allows projects to scale in capacity and size and add new functionality as and when appropriate.
Thanks to built-in security features, 6LoWPAN takes advantage of the latest and most advanced security algorithms to provide strong authentication and encryption, prevent any unauthorized data transmission or network operation.
As interoperability is key, 6LoWPAN perfectly fits the Open City case by connecting any urban service into an integrated communication and management platform - PE Smart Urban Network. City managers can thus leverage wide-ranging data to improve decision making, ensure a quicker return on investment, and provide higher quality services across the full Smart City spectrum.
About Paradox Engineering 
Paradox Engineering is a technology company that designs and markets Internet of Things solutions for device and data management in Open Cities and other smart environments. Established in 2005 and headquartered in Switzerland, the Company is part of MinebeaMitsumi Group, leading global provider of Electro Mechanics Solutions™, and controls Tinynode, specialized in Smart Parking technologies.
For further information about PE Smart Urban Network, please visit https://www.pdxeng.ch/smart-city and https://www.pdxeng.ch/interoperability
Video materials are available on Paradox Engineering’s YouTube channel. The AR Smart City mobile app can be downloaded for free from Apple Store or Google Play to experience a unique Augmented Reality immersion into PE Smart Urban Network and IoT applications for Open Cities
