One way that cities are beginning to realize value from universal connectivity is via trials with sensors embedded in roadways and “street furniture” (benches, traffic barriers and signs, streetlamps, waste receptacles, public sculptures, and so on). Connected lighting is another way.

Streetlights can join the Internet of Things when they are outfitted with communications capabilities, either through retrofit connected devices or when such capabilities are embedded directly in the luminaire electronics. Cloud-based lighting management software platforms can offer city managers the ability to remotely monitor, manage, and maintain thousands of individual light points across a municipality. Cities can realize significant energy savings through targeted dimming, based on both real-time sensing of the illuminated environment and historical insight into city traffic patterns. They can also realize significant improvements in operational efficiency, effectively eliminating the need for nighttime scouting crews and reducing the time between service disruption and resolution by an order of magnitude.

Beyond these clear benefits, connected lighting can support city resiliency planning by making a city’s lighting infrastructure an integral aspect of urban planning and ecology. Like other critical systems, public lighting becomes effective when designed concurrently with other risk management and impact recovery systems. And it can become resilient when it’s flexible, connected, and intelligent.

Connected lighting in cities offer what could be called context-driven adaptability. The optimal performance of each light point is a function of the intelligent negotiation among the environment, the city’s management needs, and the needs of the people in the illuminated environment. The dynamic tension among these elements can be negotiated only by means of a centralized, integrated, and connected lighting system.

Learn more about connected lighting here