inteliLIGHT® lighting panel control and monitoring units, the fastest way to provide autonomous operation for a large number of streetlights

inteliLIGHT® now controls more than 150.000 street lights in Saudi Arabia

Over 7 years of continuous collaboration between Flashnet and Saudi Delta Co. have now reached a new threshold: with 600 lighting panel control and monitoring units installed in Riyadh in Q3 2018, the entire inteliLIGHT® presence in Saudi Arabia sums now more than 150.000 smart street lamps.

The location and context

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau and is home to more than 6 million people. Home of both historical sites (as Masmak Fortress) and impressive modern architecture (the distinctive Kingdom Center sky scraper), Riyadh is an important administrative, commercial and touristic center right in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula.

Riyadh is also an innovative city, often a pioneer in discovering and integrating new technologies to improve people life and streamline city management. For example, Riyadh is one of the first cities to deploy a large scale smart street lighting control solution. Since 2012, gradually 25000 streetlights and their corresponding lighting panels are monitored and managed with inteliLIGHT® StreetLight Control.

Riyadh municipality continues its project to provide citizens with cleaner and efficient street lighting services by replacing the old HID lamps with more efficient and economic LED type and increasing solar energy share in street lighting.

“After seven years of continuous and successful collaboration with the general contractor Saudi Delta Co. and with the Saudi authorities, we are now proud now to control 150.000 street lamps in Saudi Arabia. It is very good to know that our previous successful projects have inspired the continuation of Saudi investments in the smart street lighting field.” said Mr. Lorand Mozes, CEO of Flashnet

The challenge

Due to the fluctuating and weather dependent nature of solar energy, the municipality needed to address this unpredictability with rapidly expanding its management capabilities over street lighting grid.

inteliLIGHT® has been supporting the Saudi interest in developing modern technologies with smart street lighting projects for years using PLC (powerline communications) as preferred communication technology, but IoT communications have evolved a lot in the last years transforming flexibility and adaptability in necessary traits of any street lighting management solution.

Additionally the new installation needs to be integrated with the existing one so that the use of two or more platforms at the same time to be avoided.

http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/802651

The argument

Based on the experience gathered on its PLC street lighting installation, Riyadh municipality acknowledged that one of the fastest way to expand management capabilities over the street lighting grid is by using the lighting panel as a “gateway” for all the street lights in the segment.

Even if this solution does not offer individual control of every lamp it can provide autonomous operation for the entire street lighting segment based on predefined astronomic calendar and/or external light level sensor (digital INPUT), with remote real-time ON/OFF control and multiple configuration options.

Because this part of the project doesn’t include individual control for every lamp, some of the PLC communication specific equipment is no longer needed (e.g. data concentrator) paving the way for the use of other communications technology and reducing costs.

The projects developed GSM/NB-IoT/LTE-M communications, for their excellent penetration in dense urban areas, carrier-grade security and proven reliability. For more flexibility and redundancy, the system uses the latest inteliLIGHT features, switching automatically between available communications technologies. It can also function as a failsafe mechanism in case of unforeseen circumstances as for example malfunction of photocell due to weather conditions.

Technical solution

inteliLIGHT® LoRaWANcompatible street lighting management solution.

Qty Product Image Product Descriprion
800 FRCMv4 GSM/ NB-IoT/ LTE-M COMPATIBLE LIGHTING PANEL CONTROL & MONITORING UNIT  Provides remote ON/OFF lighting panel operation and to carry out measurements and analysis of different parameters in street lighting grids. Under/ overpower monitoring, voltage monitoring, phase failure and daytime/nighttime consumption mismatches are reported in real-time to the central server.
Cloud-based inteliLIGHT® Streetlight Control Software, allowing street lighting control, monitoring and maintenance, 24/7 grid monitoring and integration with external applications.

The deployment

The project deployment unfolded smoothly, coordinated by Saudi Delta specialists and implemented locally by Advanced Engineering Solutions Co. During September and October 2018, with FLASHNET remote support available during the implementation. inteliLIGHT® StreetLight Control, the software coordinating the entire project, was installed on local servers and FLASHNET deployed training and coaching personnel to prepare the system’s local operators.

The results

About Saudi Delta Group

Established in 1999, Saudi Delta Group (SDG) is a leading Riyadh-based, ISO certified and hundred percent Saudi owned group. The group has several companies providing services in diverse business areas, which include Telecommunications, Constructions, Lighting, Environment, Healthcare Applications, Media, Hospitality, Information Technology, Human Resources and Industrial manufacturing. (http://www.saudideltagroup.com)

About FLASHNET

FLASHNET is a fast-paced tech company that integrates the latest IT, energy and telecommunications technologies into hardware and software solutions, creating and implementing intelligent systems for smarter cities and better infrastructure. Founded in 2005, FLASHNET is a leader in intelligent utility management systems, with worldwide operations. (www.flashnet.ro)

About inteliLIGHT®

inteliLIGHT® is a smart street lighting control solution that offers detailed lamp-level management capabilities (ON/OFF, dimming, real-time reporting) over multiple IoT communication technologies. In-depth grid awareness is obtained through accurate utility-grade readings of any changes occurring along the grid, reducing energy loss and offering advanced maintenance optimization tools. Furthermore, inteliLIGHT® is integrated with Smart City management platforms and offers support for further Smart City development. (www.inteliLIGHT.eu)