Street lighting is an integral part of the infrastructure of any city or outdoor space in urban areas of the planet. Since ancient times, people have tried to drive away the darkness by inventing various tools.
In the 19th century, the prototypes of street lamps appeared. Initially, they were gaseous, ignited manually. People tried to optimize the ignition process by building pipes that carried carbon dioxide to the lighting poles.
Years later, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb, which radically changed the way humanity illuminated its evenings.
But the pursuit of optimization and improvement of this technology, which has become a duty and a necessity, does not stop until now.
- Street lighting now
- What do we need to know when building modern street lighting?
- What is the Arista Street Lighting Management System (SLMS)?
- Advantages of the Arista SLMS
- Where can Arista SLMS be applied?
Street lighting now
Our modern existence depends on uninterrupted access to electricity and the provision of lighting in all urban areas. The maintenance and monitoring of this type of infrastructure continue to be slow and expensive. That is why local authorities, maintenance companies, and energy suppliers strive to optimize processes to:
- Save energy;
- Reduce maintenance and management costs;
- Increase the quality of lighting;
- Facilitate expansion and improve infrastructure monitoring and management;
- Increase safety and security on the streets and roads;
- Reduce harmful emissions as a result of more economical electricity consumption;
- Provide additional services in the urban environment through the use of innovative street lighting technology.
The decision to modernize the lighting system is associated with several challenges that Arista SLMS by ADD Bulgaria manages to meet, adapting to each environment variable.
What do we need to know when building modern street lighting?
One of the most important challenges when we start building modern street lighting is the realization that it is a complex project involving various activities and stakeholders. The implementation of a smart system is only part of the activities in such projects. It usually involves more than one contractor, and following a clear plan and collaboration between different stakeholders is of particular importance for good results. Sometimes, the tender documentation leaves out the implementation of an intelligent system, which puts the municipalities at the risk of not achieving modernization at all, despite their expectations. The lack of a comprehensive system makes it difficult to monitor and manage the infrastructure during operation. Finally, an important success factor in these projects is the continuous maintenance and operation of the smart system after its initial installation.
To meet these challenges, ADD Bulgaria has created the Arista SLMS street lighting management system for remote control, states monitoring and measurement of the electrical parameters of the infrastructure of street lighting.
What is the Arista Street Lighting Management System (SLMS)?
Arista SLMS upgrades traditional street lighting with intelligent functions for remote light control and real-time complex monitoring of lighting infrastructure. The system collects, stores, and analyzes all data, provides a comprehensive picture of the states and processes of lighting. Arista SLMS has been developed to achieve flexible and efficient street lighting for all stakeholders (municipalities, maintenance companies, investors, contractors and citizens).
It includes individual lighting controllers (LCU), a controller (SLMB), mounted in the power switchboard for group control and monitoring, as well as a central management software (CMS) with an easy-to-use web-based interface.
Arista LCU manages the dimming schedule, measures and sends data for the operation and condition of the luminaries to the Arista CMS via built-in radio nodes. All controllers in the system create mesh network to ensure communication coverage for two-way data transfer.
The system allows for individual or group control of lighting, depending on the requirements and street infrastructure. Management is performed automatically – according to a pre-defined schedule, or manually – according to customer requirements. And thanks to the monitoring module, real-time monitoring is performed – reporting the status of power lines, fuses, actuators.
In case of interruption of the communication, the controllers in the system can work autonomously and without disturbance of its operating mode.
Arista’s central management software uses a web-based interface that provides detailed information on the system status and electrical parameters of the lighting infrastructure, allowing quick analysis and immediate remote control of its operation.
The intelligent lighting system is also the foundation on which is built any subsequent technology in smart cities, because the system turns the luminaires into smart points which create mesh network for complex communication coverage.
Advantages of the Arista SLMS system
The system provides several opportunities to optimize the processes and costs associated with the maintenance, monitoring of infrastructure and electricity consumption. Arista SLMS is designed to work more efficiently and effectively, providing easy navigation, visualization, and process management. At the same time, the software facilitates statistical data processing, analysis, and decision making.
Thanks to Arista SLMS, the cost of street lighting is reduced through intelligent and flexible lighting control. That increases the efficiency of street lighting and reduces the risk of traffic accidents, which creates greater security for the population.
The system allows automated data collection from luminaires and switchboards. Arista SLMS sends immediate information about problems on the infrastructure (type of fault, time of occurrence and location) making possible their faster elimination. In this way, low operating costs and efficient network management are achieved. The different types of luminaires can be controlled individually (via LCU controllers) and in groups.
Arista SLMS allows monitoring of all executive and protective elements of the management and executive part of the street lighting infrastructure. It is an easy and flexible solution that allows control, regardless of location and implementation.
Therefore, the system allows for a return on investment by reducing energy costs, maintenance, and theft prevention.
Where can Arista SLMS be applied?
On one hand, municipalities are the basic users of this kind of system, as they are responsible for public lighting infrastructure. In public-private partnerships and ESCO projects, on the other hand, the investors are even more interested in the results and specifically, the energy costs. Also, concessions like ports, campsites, and commercial sites (large outdoor car parks or adjacent areas), etc., must meet requirements for the management and maintenance of the street lighting infrastructure.
By integrating Arista SLMS, investors will be able to easily optimize their costs, related to maintenance and energy consumption. It is a tool through which can be achieved sustainable development, energy efficiency, and the foundation for a better quality of urban life.
Street lighting
Street lighting is a specific public good that requires a serious maintenance and monitoring plan, which the municipalities carefully write down, and the mobile maintenance groups follow and eliminate established problems. When non-functioning luminaires appear, it often happens that citizens signal so that the problem can be eliminated faster. One of the main problems of cities is the high costs incurred as a result of a late diagnosis. Thanks to the Arista SLMS faulty luminaire or group of luminaires are identified immediately and can be sent a team to rectify the problem as soon as possible.
But one of the main reasons for the loss of public money from street lighting is the cable network state and the frequent problems of power infrastructure. And thanks to the street lighting monitoring system, it is possible to find out very quickly when there is a drastic and unexpected change in consumption in a given area, as well as to prevent unauthorized access.
Smart lighting for ports and campsites
These places are usually municipal sites, provided for a certain period to private “owners” to provide service for the use of various resources (so called concession). However, street lighting is a good part of the public infrastructure, which generates a serious monthly cost and is mandatory for maintenance. For this reason, Arista SLMS is the ideal solution for the concessionaires of these sites (especially, when it is integrated with Arista Retrofit – a solution by ADD Bulgaria for smart metering of water and electricity consumption)
Tunnel lighting management system (TLMS)
The tunnel lighting management system is a whole separate category of urban lighting, which has specific requirements, regulated and necessary for the safety of all road users.
The main objectives of tunnel lighting are to ensure safe entry, passage, and exit from the sections of the tunnel without disturbing the flow of traffic. These objectives are achieved by the proper design of the lighting infrastructure in the tunnel. This will allow rapid adaptation to the light in it, the identification of possible obstacles, as well as to ensure passage without changing the speed of moving vehicles. The Arista TLMS system provides precise lighting control in all areas of the tunnel, according to pre-defined criteria and infrastructure requirements, and reduces control and maintenance costs.
