SpaceAge Labs Improves Maintenance Productivity in Smart Cities via Remote Monitoring of Landscaping and Water

SpaceAge Labs uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help public-sector agencies improve the efficiency of landscaping and water management with real-time visibility into physical urban assets, thus reducing manual labor and maintenance costs. An AWS Public Sector Partner and part of the AWS Smart City Partner Pilot, SpaceAge Labs launched its remoteEye monitoring solution to improve remote management of assets such as parks and sewer lines. remoteEye users can reduce landscaping overhead and save significant human and financial resources, in addition to avoiding public health and safety issues due to sewage overflows. SpaceAge Labs uses AWS IoT Core to transfer data from field assets to the AWS Cloud, AWS Lambda for serverless processing of incoming data, and Amazon S3 for cost-efficient storage of raw and processed data.

Traditionally, infrastructure in sectors such as water/wastewater and urban greenery/landscaping has been managed manually. Operations staff had to visit gardens and manholes in-person to monitor the status of these and other related assets.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Partner SpaceAge Labs launched its remoteEye monitoring solution to improve remote management of these assets. By installing sensors on field equipment such as lawnmowers, data is sent every second to the remoteEye IoT platform. As part of the implementation phase, each customer works with SpaceAge Labs to set custom parameters on the platform according to internal targets for sustaining urban developments. This aligns with Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

Government agencies can view detailed dashboards and generate reports from the web-based remoteEye platform. Reporting data can include grass height before and after cutting or water levels in sewer pipes at different points of the day. Users can also compare reported data against past levels or performance benchmarks. remoteEye features web and mobile apps with intuitive drag-and-drop, map-based interfaces that include accurate geolocation for maintenance crews on the ground.

Singapore’s Public Utility Board (PUB) also began a trial with SpaceAge Labs in 2021, installing 40 IoT devices in sewer manholes prone to chokes and subsequent overflows. In the one-year period since installing remoteEye, the utility prevented 10 overflows. This not only helped PUB avoid public health and safety issues, but also saved the agency significant operations and maintenance resources. “Globally, utilities spend an average of about $25,000 to manage each sewer overflow event,” notes Pitta.

In addition to sensing which manhole has the highest risk of overflowing, remoteEye data includes details on each sewer pipe, such as its age, size, and general condition. This cumulative data helps PUB prioritize maintenance work. Considering the agency has 3,500 kilometers of sewer lines to maintain, the ability to direct limited resources to areas of most need is invaluable. This sewer profile data can also help utilities when planning for a new building, for example, to determine whether existing sewer lines can handle increased load in a target area.

SpaceAge Labs is now working with AWS solutions architects to enhance remoteEye with machine-learning (ML) capabilities, such as incorporating weather predictions to better plan landscaping work. “All the technology we’ve needed to make our solution work—whether IoT, data acquisition, or now machine learning—is available from AWS. This makes it easier and faster for us to deploy new solutions, which is especially important as a startup whose key value proposition is speed-to-market,” says Pitta.

Along with ML innovation, the startup is currently scaling its business overseas, starting with Australia. Participation in the AWS Smart City Partner Pilot Program has exposed SpaceAge Labs to new leads for customers and potential partners abroad. It has also helped the business gain a deeper understanding of smart city demands to position and improve the remoteEye value proposition accordingly. “At SpaceAge Labs our mission is to use technology to make cities cleaner, greener, and safer. We believe AWS is the best cloud provider to support us in this mission,” concludes Pitta.