Smart Cities Progress
I had the pleasure during my Columbia reunion to hear a lecture by Professor Smyth and colleagues in the Engineering School on the developments in the quest for Smart Cities technology. It was quite refreshing to be hearing about a positive in the difficult market conditions we are experiencing. What has been a revelation for me is the progress that has been made on the technical side.
The roll out has already begun in New York City. The technology being deployed is known as Edge Computing that uses a “testbed.” The COSMOS project is a wireless testbed in West Harlem including the Columbia University environs.
A dark fiber cable has been run to various nodes in the system. Having the connectivity allows the researchers to do real time experiments in the “sandbox.”
The ultimate goal of any system is designed to provide a remarkably elevated level of data. This data will be used in practical applications including monitoring traffic flow including pedestrian traffic. The data must be anonymous to protect privacy. These smart systems are essential to the operation of autonomous vehicles and for other applications that are more focused on transportation aspects.
One study was focused on monitoring pedestrian traffic in a terribly busy intersection. Such examination may lead to redesign of various intersections where possible or an electronic approach may be developed with timed lights and other infrastructure.
The software being created uses “define” radios that in turn transmit the data to the cloud. The radios that are set along the path have millimeter wave radio capability. These radios are known as Full Duplex Wireless radios. The unique feature of the equipment is the radio transmits and receives at the same time.
This superior capability allows real time data to be collected within milliseconds that is necessary to create and adapt Smart Intersections. The Columbia faculty have been working closely with New York City officials on the project.
As a corollary to the Smart Cities program there are a series of web transparency tools in development. The concept is to “sunlight” systems that detect personal data for use for targeting and personalization. Smart Cities has a goal of protecting privacy.
The research being conducted is designed to create a system of Security, Privacy & Fairness for the Smart Cities program. Many of these systems do not exist for the web. A practice of having external independent auditing of the data has a goal of validating accuracy while preserving privacy.
There is much more to this topic than I can succinctly summarize here. That will take the remarkably high functioning experts in this field. I did come away from the presentation with a deep respect for what is being done in this field and the promise that it holds. The engineers often develop infrastructure that we enjoy each day, but we should not take for granted. The session gave me hope for the future and I am certain that municipal bond issues will be called upon to provide financing for the projects along with what the private sector is willing to do. The critical infrastructure will need to be in part in the public domain.
Market Turmoil
Inflation rages and we are all awaiting what the Fed will do on the tightening front this week. A move of fifty basis points is a given, but many market participants are speculating about more. Also, it has become clear that tightening moves will continue into the Fall.
Supply is on the lighter side this week. Some issuers would prefer to sell closer to the seasonal rollover that will build in a couple of weeks. The ten-year Treasury has catapulted to 3.32% as of this writing. There is even a slight inversion from the five-year maturity to the ten-year of approximately ten basis points.
Even though the tone has been a bit more positive in municipals and the heavy outflows from the mutual funds have turned around, municipals will not be able to ignore the sharp moves in the Treasury market.
Higher yields in municipals should attract repeat buyers and new buyers. One aspect of the current market is that the cash from redemptions will not necessarily leak out to other markets given the recent negative performance in most markets. This is a market where modest wins are the theme.
John Hallacy
John Hallacy Consulting LLC
06/13/22
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