Networked intelligent lighting systems, or “smart street lights,” are made up of LED luminaires, lamp posts, sensors, communication modules, and other peripherals. One of a city’s biggest energy costs is area and street lighting. However, it’s also a valuable strategic resource inside a city’s infrastructure. The need for increased energy efficiency and operational effectiveness via direct lighting network integration with computer-based systems is thus growing. However, there is also a significant possibility that extends beyond the use of sophisticated lighting settings. A realistic chance to integrate lighting and communication is presented by the widespread use of digital lighting technology (LED lighting) and the most recent developments in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The semiconductor-based LED technology offers much increased energy efficiency, longer product life, and lower maintenance costs. It also has strong digital interface and control compatibility. However, the incorporation of greater intelligence and advanced user interaction into the ubiquitous street light bulbs is made possible by the interface with IoT platforms.

Essentially, a smart street light leverages sensors, actuators, communications modules, and processors incorporated in LED lighting systems to function as a network node for receiving, gathering, and transmitting data across different wireless or wired communication networks. Numerous sensors, including PIR, hall effect, and LDR (light dependent resistor) sensors, are available, allowing huge numbers of fixtures to operate in unison across broad geographic regions within an installation. Street lights may now be controlled remotely and dynamically, opening up a whole new class of functionality that saves maintenance and energy expenses significantly. Examples of these features include remote dimming, self-diagnostics, smart scheduling, remote cutoff, and emergency control. IoT provides cutting-edge interoperability and sophisticated communication between systems and devices. With the help of vast amounts of real-time data, the Internet of Things-based smart lighting infrastructure offers amazing new possibilities for producing novel insights and useful information. Numerous sensors and equipment, including video surveillance cameras, RFID readers, GPS modules, weather sensors, pollution sensors, traffic volume sensors, parking sensors, and wireless access points, may be installed in the street light poles.

One of the main components of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities is smart street lighting, which offers a variety of value-added applications via different communication technology. IoT systems use short-range network communication protocols, like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, LWPAN, and Dash7, to transfer data from sense devices to the corresponding gateway. The gateway then uses broadband wireless, such as 3G, 4G, and LTE, or power line communications (PLC) to transfer data over long distances to the core network servers. The power of IoT street lighting lies in its ability to combine hardware and software seamlessly to provide highly dependable contextual services, outstanding network compatibility, and seamless communication. When network control and intelligence are integrated into LED lighting systems, the true revolution begins.