IoT and Cellular at the Intersection of Illumination and Innovation

On its own, a streetlight is a powerful force, bringing clarity to a winding road, order to a crowded intersection, and safety to a walk home at night. Put them together, equipped with data-gathering sensors and connected by cellular networks, the possibilities for safety, sustainability, and improved quality of life expand even more.

Plentiful, practical, comparatively small, and strategically placed in locations like intersections and busy highways, streetlights are the ideal conduits for connected IoT deployments. Once deployed, this connected infrastructure opens an array of possibilities for communities of all sizes, from optimizing power consumption and maintenance work to laying the groundwork for other smart cities services.

Alexandru Buzatu works in the heart of the action. He’s the Chief Commercial Officer of Flashnet, a company bringing connected streetlight technology to cities[1]  and roads across six continents. Here he talks about the inteliLIGHT® controllers and software behind it all, implementations in two global cities, and the importance of cellular networks, interoperability, and security  in advanced smart street lighting solutions.

Lights, Controllers, Action!

A connected streetlight project is a multifaceted endeavor involving municipal agencies, utilities, and thousands and thousands of luminaires. Flashnet brings it all together. “ We provide the know-how gathered from numerous projects around the world, from initial consulting, the inteliLIGHT solution with its hardware and software components, to assistance and support in implementation and operation to achieve the project objectives.” Alexandru Buzatu declares.

How does it all work? “Everything starts with the lamp,” he says. In a Flashnet implementation, each lamp needs to be equipped with a lighting controller that monitors electrical parameters and implements individual on/off and dimming commands. inteliLIGHT offers a variety of form factors that are easy to install and minimally impact the lamp design, especially in the case of decorative lamps commonly found in many historic cities.

 The data from each lamp is centralized in the inteliLIGHT StreetLight Control software dashboards, giving maintenance teams an in-depth, real-time view of what’s happening and what needs adjustment.

“Our software automates processes through predefined schedules (for example, dimming lights during late hours when traffic is significantly reduced) and automatic error alarms, making it easy to operate and manage. Using a rule engine, inteliLIGHT allows the customization of these processes to a level of detail that meets the specific needs of each city.,” Alexandru Buzatu explains. “We can see what’s going on with each lamp and what’s happening in the grid. Is there a failure? Did something happen on the grid?”

InteliLIGHT is designed for compatibility, integrating with major IoT platforms and offering support and API connectivity to city management applications. You don’t have to worry about implementing everything at once or facing high initial costs and investments. The system is scalable and can be divided into zones, allowing for phased activation. Practically, once a controller is installed and commissioned, it becomes active and can start generating savings immediately. If expansion is desired later on, it’s not an issue — the system can be easily extended.

“Interoperability is the magic word,” says Alexandru Buzatu.

In terms of communication technology, inteliLIGHT offers a solution for every situation. It is technology-agnostic, capable of using one or a combination of technologies such as LoRaWAN™, NB-IoT, and LTE-M, depending on the project's specifics and the city's needs.

Connecting and Modernizing a Historic Capital

In Flashnet’s Washington, DC, implementation, this existing infrastructure—and infrastructure of choice—was carrier-grade NB-IoT/LTE-M.  “In big cities, the best connectivity is cellular,” Buzatu says, adding that NB-IoT is particularly accommodating to areas with imposing buildings and plentiful trees. NB-IoT/LTE-M connectivity was also chosen for its network security—a top priority for the center of the U.S. federal government.

The DC Smart Street Lighting Project has been one of the largest streetlight modernization projects in the United States, converting all the city’s street and alley lights to LED technology and equipping them with NEMA smart lighting controllers—78,000 in total.

The NEMA[2]  controllers increase lighting efficiency and reliability via individual lamp control, comprehensive city-wide grid awareness, and real-time malfunction alerts. Using the power from the connected system, Washington, DC can also put its lighting poles to work for other smart cities applications, like motion sensors for smart intersections. 5G with its speed, capacity, and ultra-low latency opens up even more possibilities, including AI and advanced data analytics.

Buzatu points out the potential of thousands of IoT devices connected and communicating with each other. "What are we doing with this data? How will we manage everything to be more efficient and reduce costs more?”

A Shared Understanding Across Players and Parts

A similar initiative has been playing out in Belgium. In the first phase, Flashnet worked with electric and national gas utility Sibelga[3]  to modernize and connect Brussels’ street lighting infrastructure. The next step: join forces with Itron, Lightwell, and Fluvius to transform roadways and highways across Belgium—a mission involving more than 400,000 controllers and a growing array of industry standards.  

Luminaire controllers, for example, are compatible with the Zhaga NB IoT industry standard, which enables seamless, secure, swift installation on any compatible lamp. More broadly, the project also uses the TALQ global standard for smart city applications, giving city managers an array of hardware and software solutions to choose from that are certified to work well together.

Buzatu is a big believer in standards and certifications for connected IoT deployments. Flashnet is a member of major industry alliances, like TALQ Consortium or Dali Alliance, an initiative dedicated to interoperability between devices and applications. Flashnet is also a member of Town Square CTIA Smart Cities™, which has been spreading the word about CTIA Certification programs like IoT Network Certified™ and IoT Network Certified for Smart IoT Infrastructure™.

“It’s important for cities to have the ability to choose different vendors and technologies,” Buzatu says about the need for such programs and shared knowledge. “What’s more, standards also help cities, equipment designers, and the utilities that own the infrastructure understand how everything works together.”  

Security, Strategy, and Next Steps 

What should municipalities, utilities, and the other parties keep in mind when they embark on a smart lighting project or any other connected IoT deployment?

“Be careful about security,” Buzatu emphasizes. Look for scalability for the next five to 10 years, multiple layers of data protection and encryption and multi-factor authentication. Be intentional in the next steps. “Start backwards,” he suggests, whether planning an initial lighting implementation or laying the groundwork for the next step. What activities in your local community—like parking, waste collection, or wildfire prevention—could be improved through data collection and analysis? What additional IoT equipment, like CCTV or motion sensors, could support public safety and quality of life?

"Start with the destination, not the fuel tank,” Buzatu advises. “Define your goals clearly, then find the solution that gets you there efficiently and sustainably."