Millimeter waves (mmWaves) are an undeveloped band of spectrum between 30 GHz and 300 GHz that can be used in a broad variety of products and services including high-speed connectivity setups, point-to-point wireless local area networks (WLAN), and broadband access. mmWaves are being utilized in many different ways across several industries and fields, from playing a big role in the upcoming 5G network, to applications in smart city technologies. mmWaves can help smart cities in multiple innovative ways like enabling robust long range traffic monitoring.

For smart cities, mmWaves are undergoing a lot of tests and deployments for applications that involve traffic monitoring like tracking intersection activity and parking spot detection. Devices with mmWave technology serving these purposes are used in ways like we see in the video below, where Texas Instruments demonstrated one of their traffic monitoring devices that uses mmWaves. Mounted 14 feet above the street and aimed toward oncoming traffic, these devices perform tasks like measuring range, velocity, and angles of objects to locate, detect, and track multiple moving targets on scene. This information will help cities collect data pertaining to traffic patterns, safety, and activity surrounding an intersection.