Megason (part of Electra Group), a leading supplier of smart and integrated security solutions for Israel, has successfully deployed the inteliLIGHT Smart Street Lighting solution in one of the country’s largest municipalities, Modi’in. The system uses SIM cards from Partner, one of the most important communications operators in Israel, and sets the foundation for the city’s Smart future.

Initially, the project was designed based on the municipality’s need to provide a solution for connecting cameras and Wi-Fi connection in urban industrial areas. Therefore, the city needed a smart lighting solution to energise the poles during the day and obtain 24/7 power availability to install internet access points, surveillance cameras and other devices on the lighting poles.

Later, after analysing a variety of options, including battery cabinets, the municipality realized that this is a cumbersome and unaesthetic solution and looked for a more effective solution. Due to the lamp-level control, inteliLIGHT was able to provide not only a smart street lighting solution, but also a platform for future smart city applications.

Here is how the system works: every lighting pole is connected to the municipal network via a smart controller that is installed inside or on the pole. Each controller is equipped with an internal cellular SIM that allows it to be connected wirelessly without the need for an expensive and unhandy cable connection. For this project, SIM cards were provided by Partner, a leading communications operator in Israel.

Smart controllers are installed on each lamp and communicate via an IoT-ready communication technology to create an urban network that leaves room for the municipality of Modi’in to do much more than turning the streetlights on or off. These luminaire controllers not only facilitate the process of modernising and gaining more control over the public lighting grid, but, in fact, create a platform that becomes the basis for a Smart City.

As a result, the municipality of Modi’in decided to use smart control as part of a wider Smart City development – a city where IoT solutions can function simultaneously to the benefit of the citizens. Today, Modi’in is connected to 1000 lighting poles that have inteliLIGHT in-pole smart controllers installed, which communicate via NB-IoT and GSM communication technology, providing the city with non-stop electricity.

Now, the municipality can easily install any advanced urban technological solution such as CCTV cameras to prevent road accidents and crime, a municipal wireless Internet network open to city residents and employees, environmental sensing to monitor conditions and more. Data-gathering equipment can be fitted to give law enforcement, traffic managers, zoning boards, and waste management personnel a complete, 24/7 view of what is happening on city streets.