Championing safe and responsible AI development by joining Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Dimonoff Joins Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on Artificial Intelligence Development
Solving Today’s Pressing Issues: A Technological Answer
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and this share is projected to reach 66% by 2050. Cities are facing multiple challenges, from population growth to climate change. One of the ways to address these issues is by adopting what has been dubbed “smart city” technologies. These urban technologies can focus on different types of services, from mobility to water management and, of course, public and street lighting.
Starting Point of a Smart City?
Smart cities are one manifestation of the Internet of Things (IoT) trend. With their large, concentrated populations and complex infrastructures, they are the perfect environment for innovation. According to BCC Research, a consultancy firm, smart city projects “leverage the array of connected sensors and analytics platforms to drive stronger coordination within departments and across city agencies and community groups.” Such projects can connect various city systems, like lighting control, video surveillance, traffic management or environmental sensing to each other in order to drive efficiencies and service levels.
One of the ways to address the multiple challenges cities face is for them to become “smart”. There are many definitions of what a smart city is, but most include the use of technology to make cities more efficient, livable and resilient. These technologies can involve connecting devices to infrastructures and allowing workers to remotely manage and make real-time and informed decisions.
Most experts agree that the smart city market is starting to boom, due to recent advances in several important technologies, such as sensors, advanced connectivity, scalable platforms as a service, edge-devices, analytics and communication software. According to Navigant Research, the global market for smart city solutions and services is expected to grow up to $94.2 billion by 2026. Other estimates put the number even higher (depending on how the market is defined), and all agree on impressive growth in the coming years.
Why Smart Street Lighting
Smart street lighting has a clear business case. Street lighting systems differ in their functionality, but all offer the ability to control street lights remotely. This helps saving energy (by dimming or switching off lights where and when they are not needed) and increase public safety (by brightening or switching on lights where and when needed). Smart street lighting also increases awareness through instant messaging of alarms, through regular energy log reporting, and eliminates the need to roam the city in search of faulty lights. The benefits are obvious.
Public lighting is currently going through a period of massive change due to the arrival of more efficient LED technologies. Many cities are replacing or planning to replace their legacy street lights that have a short lifetime of less than 5 years, with LED that offer guaranteed lifetime of 15 years or more.
During this retrofit exercise, it makes perfect sense to install control modules while the bucket trucks are deployed. Deploying smart lighting allows to save on electricity and maintenance costs from the get-go. Plus, it allows benefitting from a smart city system that enhances public security while opening up possibilities to scale other smart city applications such as environmental sensing or parking management. According to one estimate, LED and smart street lights are projected to reach 89% and 29% of the total street light market, respectively, by 2027.
Finally, street lights are ubiquitous, everywhere above a city, and closely match the patterns of population density. This means that they are an ideal basis – or backbone – for any future smart city applications. Sensors installed on street lights do not need a separate power source, have clear line of sight for enhanced communications and are unlikely to be vandalized (because reaching the top a light pole is hard ).
It is important for city officials and real estate/commercial managers to choose the right technological solutions that fit their needs. In future articles, we will provide examples of key features to look into when comparing smart street lighting technologies.
