A Low-Cost and Noninvasive System for the Measurement and Detection of Faulty Streetlights

Abstract

Badly lit roads lead to vehicle accidents and encourage crime. Therefore, it is important to rapidly detect and report faulty streetlights (FSLs) to the relevant authorities to keep roads safe. Currently, communities primarily depend on electrical inspectors to check streetlights regularly, which may result in long and unnecessary delays prior to repair. Recent studies have focused on adding a networking capability (i.e., a wireless sensor network) into street light poles to enable real-time status reports. However, a smart system that would incorporate sensors and network modules into every streetlight would be expensive; therefore, it would be nearly impossible to realize this system quickly. In this paper, we propose a noninvasive method for detecting faulty lights that involves designing special equipment, called the Hitchhiker, which could be installed on vehicles and would collect information about streetlights' intensity. This system would not require the modification of conventional streetlights. The collected data would be used to create illumination maps (IMaps), the analysis of which could help identify changes in lighting intensity in specific regions. As far as we know, this is an unprecedented approach; no other approaches use IMaps to find FSLs and consider cost and invasiveness. The proposed system could be extended to a citywide scale with minimal cost, and could be used as a complementary system for electrical inspectors possibly identifying FSLs sooner and shortening the duration of poor lighting on streets.

Towards smart sustainable cities using Li-Fi technology: geo-location infrastructure utilizing LED street lights

“…For instance, in the detection of pedestrians, it will be adequate to use simple passive infrared sensors (PIRs) ( Elejoste et al, 2013 ). According to Lee & Huang (2015) , WSN-enabled streetlights have various applications. Due to its ability to transfer data from the streetlights to the central server, the wireless sensor networks can help determine road traffic, as well as adjust the intensity of lighting to save energy in case traffic reduces.…”

“…Despite having designed and tested WSN-based streetlights for a long period, the cost incurred to modify conventional streetlights is very high. Replacing such streetlights with new and intelligent streetlights is even more costly ( Lee & Huang, 2015 ). In similar study ( Lau et al, 2015 ), a traffic-aware lighting scheme management network (TALiSMaN) is presented.…”

Energy Efficient Hybrid Led Luminary Illumination Control Mechanisms

“…Low energy consumption, homogeneous light distribution, reduced economic burden, and a healthy atmosphere are the advantages of smart outdoor lighting and intensity management [9][10][11][12][13]. Various SIC strategies for controlling LI have been reported in the literature, including dimming [14], employing a timer [15], fuzzy logic [16], and recognizing faulty luminaries [17].…”

A web-based control system for traditional street lighting that uses high-pressure sodium lamps

“…The IoT-based street lighting system has been enhanced to facilitate the construction of a smart city. Numerous works have combined the street lighting system with other components for this purpose, including a faulty streetlight detector [21], emergency buttons installed on light poles that send an emergency signal to the police station [22], camera units that manage the traffic signal [23], special sensors for traffic counting [24], human detectors that can alert authorities to probable theft at odd hours [25], and smart poles that equip cameras to detect and report any motion events [26]. The dimming performance of LED lamps is another important technology that researchers are interested in.…”