Dornbirn, 4 September 2019, as part of the "Digital City Darmstadt" project, a street section in the Wixhausen district of Darmstadt is equipped with adaptive lighting.
Integrated PIR sensors react to motion and ambient light and properly control street lamps. This not only ensures greater safety and energy savings, but also protects the environment from light pollution. Wireless modules are used both to connect street lamps together and to connect them to the Internet of Things (IoT). The project has the option of giving the desired level of light and is the first installation of Tridonic's innovative, smart city technology.
Darmstadt is becoming a smart city. The city is advancing with its digital spread in 14 subprojects ranging from mobility to education and energy. Most recently, in the smart lighting project in the Wixhausen region, smart streetlights illuminate roads and footpaths. This pilot installation consists of 13 energy-efficient LED fixtures from Luxstream, an Entega subsidiary. Tridonic's integrated sensors allow them to detect movements and control brightness. When a car, pedestrian, runner or cyclist approaches, sensors ensure adequate lighting of streetlights. If there's no one around, the lamps go dark.
Waldemar Becker, Product Manager for Tridonic Smart City Applications; "Interagency cooperation is especially important for the successful implementation of smart city projects. These previously separate institutions are now getting a common solution in smart city applications." When it comes to smart lighting in Darmstadt, all parties work together in a team, including the project team from the municipality of Darmstadt, planners, network providers, fixture manufacturers and component suppliers. "The request of the project team from the Darmstadt city authority to welcome the proposals and ideas of all parties concerned, and the inter-agency cooperation from the very beginning, was crucial to the success of the project. As a result, with the help of Luxstream, we were able to complete the pilot project quickly and smoothly," he added.
A Digital Future, Safe and Environmentally Friendly
Wireless modules connect lights and forward-facing signals to illuminate the entire street. In this way, both the residents and the environment benefit from adaptive lighting. The light, which provides high safety and security to pedestrians, reacts by giving them a sense of personal safety. Light pollution is significantly reduced thanks to the response to minimal changes in daylight – this feature provides great benefits for the environment, wildlife and plants, otherwise these factors will feel uncomfortable from artificial light.
Smart street lighting also provides high energy efficiency. Waldemer Becker said in a statement. "Energy consumption can be reduced by using LEDs instead of traditional light sources. However, motion sensors can save up to 50 percent more and save up to 87 percent in total." Smart street lighting is currently in the testing phase and there are long-term plans to extend it to Darmstadt and other surrounding areas.
The Level of Light Demanded Thanks to Smart City Technology
Pyroelectric sensors (PIR) developed by Tridonic react to thermal radiation from road users by detecting temperature differences and, of course, increasing the level of lighting without creating any personal data. Data security is credited with transferring encrypted data from the wireless communication module to the server. LED fixtures and sensors are integrated into a secure network. Operators can access the system at any time through the management portal of the Smart City Platform to change the fixture groups or the level of light. The platform also provides important information about fixtures such as energy consumption, possible failures and pending maintenance work.
PIR sensors are specially designed to detect street environments where dimming is possible and logical. They cover an area of 560 square meters, up to eight meters in assembly height. Robust design and adequate protection against harsh exterior conditions make lighting sensors highly durable.
