One pole, multiple uses! Jinan's first smart streetlight pole integrating an automatic drone hangar makes its debut

The value of smart poles lies not only in functional integration and scenario expansion, but also in their replicable and easily deployable nature, enabling the rapid rollout of the mature "urban aerial sensing" model to districts and counties, thereby promoting balanced improvement and coordinated development of city-wide governance capabilities.

Inspection response time reduced by more than half; personnel no longer need to arrive on-site, and a single flight can meet the data needs of multiple departments—all this change began with Jinan's first "smart chess piece": a smart streetlight integrated with an autonomous drone hangar . It is not only a light source illuminating streets and alleys but also becomes an "air base station" empowering urban management .

This is a new urban patrol scenario of "smart streetlight poles + drone hangars" currently being piloted and promoted by Jinan Low-Altitude Economy Development Group, a subsidiary of Jinan Energy Group (hereinafter referred to as "Jinan Low-Altitude Group"). It also represents a vivid snapshot of Jinan's efforts in the "low-altitude economy" to drive the digital and intelligent transformation of urban governance.

From "human tracking tasks" to "machine inspection networks"

In the past, traffic patrols and incident response relied primarily on a traditional model involving police patrol vehicles conducting road inspections, fixed-point monitoring for capture, and dispatch after public reporting. This approach required extensive dynamic police coverage and was constrained by road conditions, distance, and information transmission chains. Today, automated drone hangars integrated atop smart lamp posts are injecting a new "aerial perspective" and intelligent momentum into urban traffic management.

By deploying smart pole machine bases in key areas, traffic command centers can issue commands with a single click from the backend platform, enabling drones to take off quickly and reach the target airspace within 5 minutes.

尤其是早、晚高峰时段，无人机可自动执行预设航线，进行大范围路况实时巡览，将拥堵点、事故现场画面第一时间回传；对于违法停车等乱象，无人机可进行自动识别、拍照取证，并通过搭载的喊话器进行远程警示与疏导；遇到轻微交通事故，无人机能快速俯拍全景，固定证据，助力交警远程完成责任认定，极大缩短现场处置与道路恢复时间。

"Through the hangar, we enable inspection personnel to avoid arriving on-site; they can launch with one click and execute tasks directly from the backend platform," introduced Wang Chunyang, a drone operator at Jinan Low-Altitude Group. This "unmanned, remote dispatch" model significantly reduces the time from task detection to drone arrival on-site. "Basically, it is possible to take off from the nearest hangar and reach the作业 site within 5 minutes."

It can be said that smart lamp posts are becoming a pivotal point for Jinan in building an "air-ground integrated" intelligent traffic management system.

"One pole, multiple uses" and "One flight, multiple capabilities"

Currently, drones mounted on smart poles in the Jinan pilot project primarily serve municipal pipeline inspections. However, their application blueprint extends far beyond this.

Wang Chunyang stated that future plans include expanding to diverse scenarios such as river patrol and security inspection. For example, in river governance, regular patrols can be conducted over water bodies like moats to monitor sewage discharge and surface cleanliness. In urban management, can be used to inspect illegal construction, non-compliant construction barriers, open burning, etc., forming a "sky surveillance, ground verification" collaborative governance model.

According to the plan, Jinan Low-Altitude Group intends to deploy the first batch of 48 pilot smart lamppost drone hangars citywide, achieving near-complete coverage in urban areas and building a "aerial robot" perception network. Each takeoff and landing point serves as an intelligent node; each flight can simultaneously collect multiple types of data to meet the differentiated needs of various departments, realizing intensive utilization of urban space resources and cross-departmental collaborative governance.

Furthermore, the value of smart poles lies not only in functional integration and scenario expansion but also in their replicable and easily deployable nature, enabling the rapid promotion of the mature "urban aerial sensing" model to districts and counties, thereby promoting balanced improvement and coordinated development of city-wide governance capabilities.

For instance, many districts, counties, townships, and towns face challenges such as vast territories, limited staffing, and relatively weak professional capabilities. Drones mounted on smart lamp posts can perform automatic patrols and fixed-point monitoring, effectively acting as an "tireless aerial assistant" for grassroots teams. This significantly extends management reach, particularly in remote townships, expansive farmlands, and complex mountainous areas, greatly reducing the difficulty and risks associated with manual inspections.

It has been learned that the selection of smart lamp posts involves dual considerations of cost and safety. Compared to separately leasing land to build drone base stations, utilizing existing densely distributed lamp post resources eliminates high costs for land leasing and dedicated infrastructure construction. Meanwhile, lamp posts are typically located alongside municipal roads with complete power supply and network infrastructure, prominent locations, and standardized management, effectively reducing the risk of equipment damage or interference by third parties, thereby enhancing deployment stability and security.

Resonance between Low-Altitude Economy and Digital Smart Jinan

Looking nationwide, deploying drone hangars or inspection equipment on "social poles" such as street light poles and communication poles has become a common choice for multiple cities to develop the low-altitude economy and build smart cities. For example, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu, and other places have already carried out similar pilot projects or even popularized them, exploring the application of "5G + drones + smart poles" in security, traffic, environmental protection, and other fields.

Jinan's layout for drones and the low-altitude economy is not an isolated technical attempt, but a deep integration into the city's overall development strategy.

At the recently held Jinan Municipal Party Committee Economic Work Conference, "seizing the opportunity to develop the low-altitude economy" and "promoting the large-scale application of drones in scenarios such as logistics, inspection, and emergency rescue" were explicitly listed as key tasks . This provides strong policy guidance and support for the promotion of innovative applications such as smart streetlight pole drone hangars.

At the same time, the smart pole project is also a typical microcosm of the construction of "Digital and Intelligent Jinan". As new infrastructure for smart cities, smart poles integrate functions such as lighting, surveillance, broadcasting, environmental monitoring, and 5G small base stations, serving as the nerve endings for urban data collection and services. With the addition of drone hangars, they are further endowed with dynamic, three-dimensional mobile sensing and operational capabilities, extending the reach and dimensions of urban digital governance , and promoting urban management to evolve from "flat" to "three-dimensional", and from "static" to "dynamic" .

A smart streetlight, a corner drone hangar: seemingly small, yet connecting the efficiency innovation of urban governance, the new track of industry development, and the grand vision of a digital future. From "diagnosing" municipal pipelines to "weaving a smart network" in the sky of future cities, Jinan is exploring the "Jinan Path" for the "low-altitude economy" to fly into ordinary streets and alleys with pragmatic and innovative steps.

When these smart nodes are scattered like stars across the landscape, the sky of Spring City will not only be a flight path for birds but also become a new digital frontier empowering urban operations and safeguarding public safety.