Lighting automation: The benefits of intelligent lighting in the energy and utilities industry

Sometimes, the technologies most ripe for innovation are also the most basic.

Case in point: lighting. For more than a century, outdoor electrical lighting has been a core resource for homes, businesses and campuses—and for most of its history, lighting technology  hasn't evolved much. Apart from the introduction of new types of light bulbs, like LEDs, light fixtures and control systems have continued to function much as they did in the days of Thomas Edison.

The advent of intelligent lighting, however, is driving change. By enabling an unprecedented level of control and flexibility over lighting systems, intelligent lighting opens the door to improvements in energy efficiency, sustainability and security.

To illustrate the point, let's take a look at how intelligent or smart lighting systems can benefit one specific industry: utilities and energy.

What is intelligent lighting?

Intelligent lighting, also known as smart lighting, is a technology that brings remote control and automation to lighting systems. It's an example of a type of solution that is part of the technology revolution known as Industry 4.0, which leverages next-generation technology to enable new efficiencies across many industries.

Intelligent lighting is a broad category, and there are many examples of lighting systems that meet the criteria. As a basic example, however, consider a streetlight system where each light is provisioned with sensors that connect to the internet. Using these sensors, the city or town that operates the lights can configure exactly when they should turn on and off. It can also monitor the lights remotely to detect problems like failed lights.

In advanced smart lighting systems, network-based digital controls may even allow users to control the position, intensity, and color of lights.

Intelligent lighting benefits for the utilities industry

Utility companies, whether they operate streetlight networks or not, rely on lighting systems for a variety of other needs—such as illuminating infrastructure that transports energy across large distances and providing temporary lighting at remote energy extraction sites.

Intelligent lighting can offer several important benefits for these use cases:

• Remote monitoring of lighting systems for signs of failure. For example, if a light that shines on a pipeline facility goes out, a smart lighting system could alert operators automatically so they can dispatch staff to fix the issue and minimize the time it's unlit. This would also help eliminate truck rolls having to manually search for street light outages.
• The ability to reposition or move lights to use them more efficiently. For instance, during energy extraction operations, a light could be repositioned dynamically in response to personnel changes in the area. This solution could lower the risk that teams will have to work in the dark because a light is not shining in the right place. It could also reduce the number of lights the company needs to deploy because a single light could illuminate multiple places.
• Turning off lights remotely when they're no longer needed. In this way, intelligent lighting can reduce energy costs and increase the sustainability of utility operations.
• Modifying the color or intensity of lights based on changes at a site. For example, a sensor that detects a methane leak near a pipeline could automatically trigger a nearby light to change from white to red, providing a warning to personnel about a potential hazard so that they could quickly react to the situation.

Enabling smart lighting solutions for utilities

Smart lighting systems require two key types of resources: first, lights featuring digital components that can connect to the network, and second, a network to connect them.

A variety of internet-enabled light fixtures are available to meet the first requirement. But meeting the second—providing smart lighting network infrastructure—can be challenging, particularly for utility companies. This is because utilities may operate in remote areas where traditional network infrastructure is unavailable. For instance, a company that operates a gas line that stretches for hundreds of miles is very unlikely to find wired internet connections available across every segment of the pipeline. As a result, it may not be practical or possible to rely on conventional network infrastructure to connect smart lighting systems deployed alongside the pipeline. Fortunately, innovative network technology offers a solution to this challenge. For example, fixed wireless access (FWA) technology can help make it possible to deliver a high-speed, reliable network without the cost or complexity of installing wired network infrastructure.

A second potential smart lighting challenge is ensuring that internet-connected lights are secure against digital threats. Otherwise, threat actors might use cyberattacks against lighting systems to disrupt utility operations. To help mitigate this threat, utilities can turn to solutions like network slicing enabled by 5G Ultra Wideband wireless, which can be more secure than relying on Wi-Fi connectivity. Network slicing can help make it possible to divide a single physical network into multiple logical networks and define granular security rules within each one. This way, a smart lighting network could be isolated from other network traffic, potentially helping to reduce the risk of a cyberattack.

A lightbulb moment: Energy and utilities industry innovation

When it comes to implementing innovative network technologies that can help enable utility companies take full advantage of intelligent lighting, Verizon can help. Learn more by reading about Verizon's energy and utilities solutions.

The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.