In the span of just a few years, though, Brownsville's chief information officer (CIO) has overseen the transformation of the city into one of the most connected — on the bleeding edge in fact, serving as a model to communities around the world in how to be a "smart city."
Cardenas spent eight years in the USMC learning wireless technology and modernizing communications infrastructure, then went to work for the Department of Defense, where he likewise engaged in infrastructure modernization at 40-plus military bases. Military installations are modernized every three to five years, Cardenas pointed out during a recent interview with The Brownsville Herald.
"I was leading the group of subject matter experts who ... modernized their infrastructure," he said. "It's national security. They've got to keep up with the latest and greatest technology."
When Cardenas came on board as the city's director of Enterprise Applications (before becoming CIO), he had a question for city leadership: Where did Brownsville want to go, technology-wise?
"They stated that the city wanted to be a smart city, but you know there's so much behind that word that needed to be done," he said. "They also said that the city had a very old (IT) infrastructure, like all the data centers were 20 to 30 years old, and they wanted somebody to pretty much modernize those data centers, build the right team to do what needed to be done, and create a smart city framework."
Soon began construction of the "middle mile" of Brownsville's fiber optic Internet network — the backbone of the network. (Former mayor Trey Mendez decried the "worst connected" label and made improving broadband access a top priority during his term in office.)
"And in parallel we started looking at replacing all the old infrastructure," Cardenas said. "Three-and-a-half years later, I can tell you we have modernized our data centers. We actually have built a new data center. Within 18 months of me being here we completed the fiber network, which is a hundred miles of city-owned fiber network. That's all done."
It made possible the high-speed Internet service now available to Brownsville residents and businesses through Omni Fiber, the city's partner in the project. Cardenas said some 6,000 customers have signed up with Omni so far, with about 400 to 500 new customers a month. Getting all that fiber in the ground so quickly required a lot of crews doing a lot of digging throughout the city all at once, though the payoff is huge, he said.
Another key aspect of Brownsville's digital transformation is creation of a private 5G cellular network, the first phase of which downtown has been completed, Cardenas said, adding that to date it covers about three square miles and is connected to four city parks. The second phase of the network, which is strictly for the city's use, is underway.
"We have free Wi-Fi in those parks leveraging the private 5G network, and that private 5G network is connected to our middle mile," he said. "I can tell you that without that middle mile network it would not be possible to build a private 5G network."
The network will eventually connect traffic signals at all major intersections, part of the goal of creating an "intelligent traffic system," and security cameras in parks and other locations around the city to increase public safety and deter crime, Cardenas said, noting that the first-phase downtown cameras have already caught "a lot of illegal activity."
The third leg of the smart-city stool is AI. When eventually introduced to the system, it will provide real-time alerts if funny business is happening within a camera's range, and allow traffic control to quickly respond to changing traffic conditions to maximize efficient flow of vehicles. AI-enabled license plate reading (LPR) cameras will be able to detect stolen vehicles in cases where the vehicle doesn't match the plate, Cardenas said.
Camera data won't be accessible to outside entities — federal agencies, for instance, he said. Some Texas cities have canceled contracts with LPR companies such as Flock Safety over related concerns. Flock cameras have cropped up in Brownsville in big box store parking lots and some neighborhoods, though they're not part of the city's system, Cardenas said.
"This is going to be strictly about helping prevent car theft and things like that," he said. "That's the importance of our system and infrastructure is that everything is in-house. No data is leaving anywhere. That's why we decided to build and buy our own AI factory. ... We are protecting our own data. It's not leaving our environment."
But the system will make possible the real-time detection of accidents at intersections and traffic-control equipment breakdowns. The city's AI factory hardware is being installed in existing data centers. There are three: one at the main library, one at the Southmost library branch and another at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, Cardenas said. Most of the installation should be finished by the end of the year, he added.
Eighty percent of the project is being funded through a Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization grant ($27.5 million), with a 20% match from the city, which was given three years to complete the project, Cardenas said.
Where all this puts Brownsville is ahead of virtually every other city when it comes to connectivity, he said.
"I just came back from Vegas, from a CES tech world conference (the world's biggest tech conference), and we are the only city doing it at this level," Cardenas said.
NTT Data, which the city partnered with to build the private 5G network, invited him to Japan to talk about the Brownsville model.
"We are not just known here," Cardenas said. "Across the ocean people are talking about us and, you know, I just recently got invited to go to Barcelona to talk about this. No kidding, because people want to know how we are doing."
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