Westminster wireless

Citation

(2004), "Westminster wireless", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 53 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2004.07953haf.003

Westminster wireless

Westminster Council, in the heart of London, is radically changing the way it delivers services to residents, businesses and millions of visitors. The council is transforming Westminster into a “wireless city”, covered by the most extensive and sophisticated wireless network in Europe.

The wireless infrastructure will empower street-based staff to respond instantly, with all the facts available to them, just as if they were in the office. In addition, staff will be able to monitor street-based activity remotely across the network.

The concept is being trialled in a small area of Soho before being rolled out across Westminster. Westminster sees the development as being part of being a 24-hour city. The demands on, for example, the police and council officers are unrelenting and effective city management is a constant challenge. Wireless technology will allow council officers to access information at the push of a button from the street, and to deal with issues as they arise. Council officers will be more responsive than ever before to developments on the street, from dumped rubbish to licensing infringements in pubs and restaurants.

As the technology develops, the wireless network will enable generic street-based staff to report offences using voice activation, and to record offences without the need for keyboards and typed records.

One of the largest beneficiaries of this flexibility will be the city’s CCTV network. Currently, the city’s existing CCTV cameras are fixed, costly and lengthy to install. The new wirelessly connected cameras are mounted on an existing council resource – lampposts – and can be moved in a matter of hours. The CCTV coverage is limited only by the wireless network coverage, and cameras can be moved to cover new crime black spots as soon as they become apparent to the police. This will help police tackle serious crime, but also reassure residents and help to tackle both anti-social behaviour and offences that impact on the local quality of life. Moreover, the wireless CCTV system can be monitored and controlled from anywhere on the network, including wireless laptops and PDAs.

Other applications can easily be transferred onto this network, dramatically reducing their manpower requirements. Noise management in the West End of London is a 24-hour-a-day challenge and traditionally highly labour intensive. Noise officers must take equipment out to site to monitor decibel levels: this is a reactive exercise in response to complaints or suspicions about unduly high noise levels. The wireless network allows this monitoring to be carried out all day, every day by remote equipment connected to the network. The combination of noise monitoring and CCTV allows the council to target and deploy our resources effectively where noise levels deviate from the norm.

While Westminster has supplied the vision, it has used a range of partners to provide the technology and expertise – wireless bridges, network management, firewall and antennae to establish the wireless network. Telindus and DVTel have supplied the CCTV solution, which includes the video encoders and software that breathes life into the wireless CCTV system. The CCTV system also covers decoding, encryption, storage and recording, which has potential for enterprise-wide deployment.

The wireless technology has been proven in the pilot, and is perfectly feasible even under the relatively low bandwidth of 802.11b running at 11 Mbps. The pilot has raised useful lessons about scalability, mobility, capacity and security, which all present challenges.

Initial feedback on the scheme has been very positive. Senior officers from across the authority have been quick to spot the potential for a range of applications, from wireless-enabled parking meters through to community education schemes on housing estates. As the pilot is evaluated, the Council expects to uncover new and innovative uses for the technology.

The wireless city has secured a significant sum of e-Innovation funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The thinking is clear – if it works for Westminster, it can work in other cities and, indeed, across the public sector as a whole.