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Connected Lighting System Streetscape
US Department of Energy


Key barriers stand in the way of the potential benefits of connected lighting systems:

  • Configuration complexity
  • Lack of interoperability
  • Unsatisfactory user experience

When these barriers are overcome, connected lighting systems should help to optimize energy savings and improve quality of life. Here’s how such a system might look…

Connected lighting technologies present in an animated streetscape:

  • Gateways bridge the connected lighting system to other systems and the outside world.
  • Sensors detect the presence of a waiting bus passenger. The bus shelter responds by lighting the enclosure and alerting the transit system of a waiting passenger.
  • Sensors detect that a car and pedestrians are nearing each other. The streetlights respond by brightening.
  • Sensors detect approaching runners. Pedestrian lighting brightens to match their pace.
  • Pedestrian lights communicate to traffic system: runners approaching intersection. Detecting no approaching motor vehicles, light changes to green for pedestrians.
  • Pedestrian lights dim after runners have passed, reducing energy consumption.
  • A graph in the foreground shows energy use in kilowatt hours rising as light levels go up and falling as light levels go down.