Smart street lights represent a cost-efficient solution for cities working to reduce energy consumption, enhance public safety, and foster further developments in intelligent infrastructure.
These Smart Street lights will help cities reduce electricity costs, lower CO2 emissions, and improve maintenance. With auto-dimming, scheduling, and a host of other capabilities, cities could see a 50 to 75% energy saving.
How does Smart Street Lighting System Look Like and what are the main components of it? Let us look at the building blocks of Smart Street Lighting system represented in schematic above. They are:
Smart Gateway
Smart Street Light Manager Software
A Smart Street light system incorporates a cluster of streetlights that can communicate with each other through built-in Smart Controller and provide lighting data to a local concentrator called Smart Gateway. The Smart Gateway manages and transmits the relevant data to a secure server that captures the data and presents it in a web-browser dashboard of Smart Street Light Manager Software.
A Smart Street Lighting system also incorporates two-way communication which is the most important part. It allows Street Light Network Maintenance Managers to remotely control street lights while keeping track of energy consumption. Monitored Street Light networks help reduce maintenance costs as each and every light has a unique ID and can be pinpointed, even on Maps application on Screen. The Street Light health status is monitored and if a street light happens to break, fall, or malfunction in any way, efficient, cost-effective and timely maintenance can be scheduled.
This two-way / bi- directional communication is achieved through Smart Controllers in connected Smart Street lights which can be managed through several proven communication standards, such as:
PLC
RF- Zigbee
NB-IoT
LoRaWAN
GSM/ GPRS
Since the communication is bi-directional, the Street Light Manager software which monitors and controls entire system remotely, can send and receive information and commands to and from each Street Light. For example, how much to dim a particular light, depends on information such as, weather conditions, light inclination, whether there are people in the near vicinity or not, road conditions, time of day, and many more such factors.
As mentioned in my previous blog, smart sensors can be used to detect real-time changes in information such as lamp inclination, weather conditions, air pollution, availability of natural light and more. This information can enhance road safety and reduce costs in maintenance.
Want to know more on Smart Street Light Manager Software Capabilities?
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Are you looking for one such solution for yourself/ your client? Can’t think how to get started? Are you working on Smart City or Smart Street lighting projects? Just write to Sandeep Karnavat, author of this blog at [email protected]