The Jerusalem municipality will become the first city in the country to install a wireless network using millimeter wave technology, officials announced Thursday.
In making the announcement, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said, “We are bringing the most advanced technological innovations to one of the most ancient cities in the world.
“Jerusalem will be the first city in all of Israel to introduce this innovative technology, which will enable us to upgrade many services for our residents. This new initiative will position us alongside the world’s leading smart cities.”
The new network will enable a number of new services, including a camera network, monitoring and emergency services, smart parking solutions, fast internet for the city’s education system, free Wi-Fi service throughout the city and transmission of data communication at especially high speeds.
Eitan Barzilay, Head of Business, Economic, and Technological Development pointed out, “This is a significant technological breakthrough in smart city applications.
“Implementing the new technology in the city is an advanced solution to the problem of optic fiber installation that stems from the special geological structure of Jerusalem as compared to many cities around the world.
“The Jerusalem Municipality is adopting an innovative technology that has proven itself around the world, to build a communication infrastructure for a smart and safe city. The municipal communication network will improve security and the quality of service for the residents while significantly decreasing the municipality’s expenses.”
The Jerusalem Municipality is the first authority in Israel to receive the Ministry of Communications’ approval to set up the independent municipal wireless communications network. It will be based on millimeter wave technology, in order to avoid the installation of optic fibers and transmission lines, which are expensive, take a long time to install, and are disruptive for the public.
With this new wireless network, city residents be able to take advantage of data communication transmission at an especially high speed. The network form the basis for a smart city system, and will allow for the installation of a camera network, monitoring, security, and emergency services, smart parking solutions and regulation of traffic, as well as provision of fast internet for the city’s education system, enable smart street lighting that will result in significant financial savings, and provide free Wi-Fi internet service throughout the city.
With this system, which will includes HD and 4K-HD cameras, the municipality will also be able to see everything that happens at hundreds of critical sites throughout the city, in real time, and thus to prepare, deploy forces, and control events more effectively. This advanced communication network is the first of its kind in the world to transmit high-quality videos to the city control center and to security forces.
The frequencies used by the network are completely available and safe to use, the system is secure and there is no risk of privacy violations. Because of the high frequency and narrow transmission beam, the equipment emits especially low radiation – even lower than a regular home router.
The Jerusalem Municipality intends to install the new municipal communication network within three months, and according to the plan, dozens of connections will be active by the end of 2017.