Smart sensors on the move in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal

This autumn, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council have joined a European pilot project that transforms everyday public service vehicles—such as waste trucks and buses—into mobile data collectors. Equipped with smart sensors, these vehicles will help detect damaged or missing traffic signs, monitor air quality and allergen levels, and identify road surface defects as they move through the city. The initiative is led by researchers from the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities in Tallinn, who are equipping municipal vehicles with advanced sensor technology. This system enables cities to receive near-instant, hyperlocal data to support smarter urban management.

Mobile sensors offer a cost-effective solution

The city managed vehicles that move throughout the city every day will act as mobile data collectors, processing information with the help of artificial intelligence and sending only key results to a secure cloud environment, where the data is immediately accessible to the city. The advantage of these moving data collectors is that they make use of the existing vehicle fleet, avoiding the need to install costly stationary sensor networks. Project lead Uljana Rensalu from the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities explained that the approach is both innovative and flexible. “By installing mobile sensors on existing vehicles, data collection and processing can be automated without the need for additional vehicles and stationary sensors, which in turn reduces costs. The city can receive continuously updated and reliable information without having to send staff to monitor situations on-site” said Rensalu.