Internet of Lighting (IoL) for Smart Cities
With the proliferation of network infrastructure, be it Wi-Fi or cellular data in every business, houses, and public place, all major cities are destined to become smart. Internet of Things (IoT) is taking over across all domains and outdoor lighting is not an exception. Street lighting will no longer be an isolated sphere but part of a networked urban infrastructure. Design and Innovation have become a way of life at Wipro and cutting edge work is happening on new products and new technologies. Internet of Lighting (IoL)® is our first step in that direction in offering our customers best in class solutions in Lighting and beyond.
With smart and connected lighting solutions, LED luminaires can be connected to a network centrally controlled using software. This "Smartification” will enable illumination of various urban areas - city centers, main roads, residential streets, tunnels, parks, etc. - precisely according to the lighting requirements in these areas. They enable demand-driven lighting, dimming the lights at off peak traffic hours leading to optimum energy utilization, proactive and quicker maintenance, reduced carbon footprint, thus saving energy and reduction in municipal electricity costs.
LED Lighting being a digital source will become the principal infrastructure based on which other technology and services can be provided. In a smart city, smart street lights & poles will fulfill many more functions than mere illumination. Street lighting poles can also serve as data stations with sensors for adaptive lighting, weather & pollution sensing and monitoring, enable Wi-Fi and RF connectivity, provide smart screens for ads, public address systems, can monitor parking spaces and recharge the batteries of an electric car.
As cities grow, a security infrastructure of sensors and cameras will decrease the risk of any threat, accidental or intentional. Such a system can run directly over the centrally managed street lighting grid, making the city a better place to live in. For smart cities, Internet of Lighting (IoL)® will offer individual luminaire level control as per the light, time of the day, and location based longitude and latitude for smart cities. Remote Controlled based operation facilitates, ease of maintenance while real time energy metering & report generation help to analyze and decide optimum electricity usage. Lighting based traffic control & management, parking spaces allocation, commute information, etc. can leverage lighting infrastructure and deliver an infrastructure solution for smart cities, thus providing enhanced user experience for the citizens.
Centralized monitoring and control, ease of quicker maintenance, power savings, higher reliability and greater system efficiency are some of the facets of technology based lighting solutions in smart cities. Being connected to a single network, the lighting system will have a concrete data on the amount of electricity consumed by each light on a broader level or even how much a phase consumes. This will help in eliminating the problem of electricity theft as well as enable proactive maintenance as the leaks in a particular network can be readily discovered and necessary actions can be immediately taken.
Accurate switching times based on local sunset and sunrise with the aid of photo-sensor or time-scheduled switches, increased flexibility of lighting, data management with the help of an energy consumption report, 24 hour online monitoring system (GIS), increased security with the help of CCTV cameras on poles & anti-theft alarm are the intelligent features of the connected outdoor lighting system. Internet of Lighting (IoL)® technology will play an important role in making our work spaces and cities more livable, enjoyable and safer, at the same time making them more economically sustainable.
