Imahara, 'Making Smarter Cities' Series Part 1: Porto, Portugal

Mouser Electronics has released the first episode of "Making Smarter Cities," a new series of Mouser's award-winning "Empowering Innovation Together," featuring renowned engineer Grant Imahara.

In this episode, Imahara visits Porto, Portugal, to investigate the technologies innovators are using to address infrastructure issues arising from rapid urban expansion, particularly massive traffic congestion. This series is sponsored by Mouser suppliers Analog Devices, Intel, Microchip Technology, and Molex.

With Porto residents wasting an average of 120 hours a year due to traffic congestion, corporate productivity and the environment have been under challenge for decades. Imahara meets with engineers from Veniam, a Porto-based company that has developed potential solutions to traffic congestion. Veniam can collect large amounts of data useful for traffic management and urban planning by building large-scale Wi-Fi mesh networks in cities around the world and utilizing vehicles as mobile hotspots. The network established in this way provides Wi-Fi connectivity to the entire city, offering additional benefits to residents.

“Technology will be the means to build smarter cities, but innovators will be the catalysts that help make those cities a reality,” said Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser. “In this broadcast, you can see the world’s best engineers and innovators standing at the very starting point of making the lives of future generations much easier.”

“Walking the streets of Porto and talking with Beniam’s engineers, I was amazed by the passion they pour into designing products needed by the world,” said Imahara. “Through the partnership between Beniam and Mouser, you can clearly see how innovation creates a more connected city.”

Imahara meets with João Barros, Founder and CEO of Beniam, to hear in detail about the hardware and software required to turn moving vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots. CEO Barros also explains how the data collected in this way can be used to build the infrastructure needed to create smarter cities, including addressing traffic congestion, supporting vehicle control systems, assisting autonomous vehicles, and improving the efficiency of the private transportation industry.

The Innovation Through Collaboration series, launched in 2015, is carrying out various projects, such as the actual implementation of superhero technology and the production of semi-autonomous drone-powered cars using 3D printers. In 2017, Mouser set a goal through the Innovation Through Collaboration series to meet more innovators around the world and seek solutions that can impact humanity.