Singapore’s first polytechnic is advancing smart education in a future-ready campus with NCS and Cisco. With this collaboration, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) will be a microcosm for Singapore’s Smart Nation program. The Smart Campus of the future SP is one of the few leading institutions in Singapore and the region t
Singapore's first polytechnic is advancing smart education in a future-ready campus with NCS and Cisco. With this collaboration, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) will be a microcosm for Singapore's Smart Nation program.
The Smart Campus of the future
SP is one of the few leading institutions in Singapore and the region to advance smart education and embark on a Smart Campus initiative, in line with Singapore's Smart Nation vision and master plans for information and communications technology (ICT) in education.
With more than 18,000 full-time and part-time students and staff at its campus, SP is a microcosm of future citizens - digital natives who consume and produce digital services and data naturally. The Smart Campus initiative will be driven by three key pillars: Smart Education, Smart Networks and Smart Energy.
Cisco, NCS and SP will explore best practices in data design and management to develop a data architecture plan for the polytechnic. In addition, various data sets made available through the collaboration will also be aggregated and supplied by Cisco and SP to NCS' IntelliSURF for future big data analysis projects.
Smart Education
One new digital service under the Smart Education pillar is the flipped classroom approach, where students can view short video lectures from a cloud drive before their classes. This new approach allows lecturers more time to go in-depth into the lessons. Lecturers can also tap on learning analytics services and tools to customize their teaching plans and provide help for students.
Another high-technology feature involves the usage of devices with augmented reality capabilities during lessons. With the devices, aircraft engine models and building designs can be created and visualized in 3D to allow students an immersive learning experience.
Smart Networks
Students and staff will be able to utilize location-based awareness tools to navigate indoors to classrooms, theaters and labs, as well as locate less-crowded library and study spaces, and dining areas to enhance their time on campus.
With the introduction of new sensors and devices, SP will also have access to a rich database of information for new initiatives. Insights gained from the network have the potential to make facilities management more efficient, for example, from the cleaning times of common areas to heat maps of study areas such as libraries, enabling both staff and students to work and study more productively.
Smart Energy
Instead of dedicating personnel and resources staff and money to manage separate, proprietary environmental and building control systems for each building or campus, schools can manage all these functions via sensors and monitoring from a central location with a single staff. Facilities management can take advantage of network intelligence and school policy to identify the least-cost resolution to maintenance issues, reduce redundant operations at each facility, and work more collaboratively and efficiently.
SP will also be implementing a campus-wide smart energy initiative, including smart lighting with presence awareness that automatically adjusts brightness to the surroundings. The school expects to save more than S$1 million in energy costs annually.
A future-ready campus
With this collaboration, all three parties will focus on the following:
1. Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences
Cisco and NCS will invest resources and utilize location-based technology to improve engagement and communication with SP staff and students using the Cisco Mobility Services Engine. The application will also provide network intelligence to NCS for the development of mobility applications through an open application program interface (API). With this API, Cisco and NCS can deliver industry-relevant mobility solutions such as indoor location mapping and navigation, with real-time push notifications to individuals and the community for events and the collection of data for analytics.
2. Sensor Analytics
NCS and Cisco will implement sensor analytics to improve safety and security in common areas around the SP campus. Using video analytics and data from other available sources, NCS and Cisco aim to present a holistic situational awareness tool that will help SP make more accurate and timely assessments on campus safety and security and improve operational workflows. Additionally, in response to any security event, security staff can open and close doors, provide an escape path, ground elevators, alert local police or fire agencies, and coordinate all building systems from a single network interface, from anywhere on campus. Local and remote areas can be monitored with wireless video surveillance.
3. Energy Management
Cisco and NCS will jointly provide resources to establish an energy management initiative on the SP campus using the Cisco Energy Management Suite. The tools will provide a comprehensive set of high-level management applications and services that allow network infrastructure to discover, maintain inventory, characterize, monitor and manage energy consumption of IP devices on campus.