A city's efficiency is an important factor for measuring its success. As such, cities are increasingly integrating technologies such as big data and AI within a range of fields to maximize their resources and reduce costs. We provide a range of effective solutions — such as our PLC-IoT and NB-IoT chipsets — which enable cities to optimize their efficiency by remotely controlling resources such as energy and commercial displays.

Throughout history, energy has played a key role in the development of society. Today, new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) have given rise to smart energy, which is transforming the traditional energy sector. These new technologies allow us to monitor and manage networked energy devices so that we can reduce energy consumption and use it more efficiently. For example, by digitalizing gas and water meters and reorganizing them into networks, we can read meters remotely, which is more efficient and accurate. Additionally, measures such as tiered fees can be applied for meters which are read regularly, promoting energy conservation and efficient use.

Remote meter reading can be implemented through such methods as wired communications and unlicensed spectrums, but each of these leads to a unique set of challenges. For example, signal cables are required in wired mode, and these are often difficult to implement. Alternatively, if unlicensed spectrum technology is used, signals become vulnerable to interference and can be easily blocked by a house's structure, leading to low success rates when reading meters.

NB-IoT is a low-power, in-depth coverage technology that improves signal coverage by up to 20 dB and is perfectly suited to the reading of water and gas meters. NB-IoT is a key mMTC technology, and because it adheres to the 3GPP standard, it is more likely to support long-term technological evolution, making it the best communications solution for smart meter reading.

HiSilicon Boudica is a widely used NB-IoT chipset which supports NB-IoT modules with standard interfaces from various vendors. It has been applied to tens of millions of smart meters.

• Built-in MCU: The Boudica application core supports OpenCPU and provides numerous I/O interfaces, enabling smart meters to be developed based on NB-IoT chipsets and modules without requiring an external MCU. This greatly reduces the cost and size of end devices and provides customers with more flexible smart meter solutions.
• Device-cloud synergy: The Boudica chipset offers built-in device-cloud synergy and security capabilities, supports interconnection with a wide range of carrier platforms, and enables remote firmware upgrades and secure data transmission. Such advanced performance effectively reduces the development time and costs of smart meters and offers greater security and value-added solutions for carriers.

Commercial displays are applied across many industries, from the all-in-one touchscreens used for self-service in stores, to the LCD billboards fitted in elevators, and the interactive whiteboards used for remote conferences. As even more of these commercial displays begin to appear, requirements become increasingly diverse. That's why we have launched our commercial display chipset solution, which provides multi-core heterogeneous computing, ultra-HD audio and video signal processing, and a range of input and output interfaces. With this solution, our customers have the power to create truly innovative commercial displays.

• Audio and video: With the powerful built-in CPU, GPU, NPU, 4K/8K codec, professional ISP, and premium audio DSP, it's no wonder that HiSilicon commercial display chipsets have been used in everything from electronic whiteboards to laser projections. Our chipsets deliver powerful CPU and GPU performance, robust compute capability, and concurrent task execution, and can be used for 4K video transfers and 4K UI display. They also support up to 8K@120 Hz hardware decoding, resulting in both efficient and lossless decoding with a latency of less than 20 ms. As if that wasn't enough, they include gigabit and PCIe interfaces and offer a variety of network access modes, including WiFi, BT, 4G, and G.hn. This enables customers to achieve high-speed, low-latency network transmissions, and ensure end-to-end transmission quality.
• Flexible customization: Our commercial display solution allows customers to create various apps more efficiently.
• Easy interaction: Displays have been enhanced with features such as voice input, handwriting, one-click sharing, free projection, and flexible file editing, all of which have been designed to actively engage users.
• Cross-device collaboration: HiStreaming is a technology we have developed to enable displays to quickly identify and connect to peripheral devices. It can also extend compute capability by connecting with compute sticks, granting consumers the ability to collaborate seamlessly across devices.