Sensors to help civic guardians monitor water and power supply, streetlights, dustbins and parking areas will change Jamshedpur as we know it, at least in some places, before Founder's Day on March 3.

Tata Steel subsidiary Jusco, which provides urban amenities to over 7 lakh residents in company command areas will start the smart initiatives in areas like water and power supply, streetlights, sewage, and waste management and parking on pilot basis in selected localities.

The new Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran, who will assume charge on February 21, and is likely to attend Founder's Day celebrations, should be impressed.

The smart initiatives by Jusco come in technical collaboration with Hyderabad's Kernel Technologies, a reputed business consulting, information technology and communications service provider.

"We will use LoRAWAN (Lower Power Wide Area Network) technology, which allows devices to connect to the Internet without using 3G or wi-fi. Customised sensors will send real-time information to the integrated command centre. This centre is being set up at our corporate office," said senior deputy general manager, corporate relations and corporate communications, Jusco, A.P. Singh.

The command centre will display real-time data of all basic civic services of Jusco, such as water, electricity, garbage collection and parking.

In the first phase, sensors using LoRAWAN technology will be fitted at the water treatment plant and water towers to inform the command centre about dip in water pressure, indicating leaks. Sensors will also point to the water level at towers to prevent spillage and monitor the quality supplied from treatment plant to towers.

"In the pilot project, we will put sensors at water towers in Kadma and Sonari at seven locations. Similar sensors will be installed at electricity and water meters in homes in Northern Town area for data on water and power consumption," said Singh.

Sensors will also be fitted at substations and transformers to detect overloading well in time for repairs to avoid power failure. The substation and transformer in Sonari will be covered on pilot basis.

Sensors will also be fitted on streetlights especially on roads whose traffic volumes show a dip during night. "Sensors will indicate when there is no traffic to automatically dim streetlights. When traffic enters road, lights will glow again. We will put these up at the stretch between Jusco and Bistupur roundabouts to begin with," Singh said.

Sensors at parking bays will help commuters know at the entrance if there is space or not, starting from the bay near Bank of Baroda, Bistupur.

"We introduced smart dustbins fitted with sensors in October on pilot basis at a few areas. Sensors alert a central command room when bins are 75 per cent full to avoid spillage. These will also increase in number," said Singh.