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Most facility managers, IT professionals, CIOs, and CFOs, understand the economic and environmental benefits of smart lighting. The “smart part” is the combination of LED interior and exterior lighting fixtures with intelligent controls that allow for optimizing energy consumption while providing a safer and more enjoyable experience for people in office buildings, retail environments, hospitals, schools and virtually everywhere we live and work.
The investment in a smart lighting system includes the core infrastructure for many more functions such as proximity-based beacon capability, mass notifications, 24-7 surveillance, security, and IoT opportunities throughout connected environments.
A recent article in Smart Buildings Magazine, entitled ‘Smart Lighting Takes LED Lighting to a New Level’, provides three reasons for integrating building and lighting controls:
- Smart LED lamps are already relatively inexpensive, making automated lighting highly accessible and even more attractive not only to cost-conscious landlords, owner-occupiers and facilities managers but also to users, who ultimately will gain control of the lighting in their surroundings.
- In connected buildings, security is only as strong as its weakest link. This is particularly true if lighting automation relies on connectivity, such as to the Internet of Things. Consider, for example, a smart building in which a security breach allows hackers to turn lights on or off: on to highlight a target for physical attack; or to provide dark cover for intruders. Worse, poor security in a lighting installation could provide entry points into other systems, such as power utilities or customer records.
- The over-riding advantages of connectivity and intelligence will continue to drive down the cost of intelligent lighting, with benefits right across the building automation sector.
The ROI of LED lighting and control is undeniable. And more smart opportunities are on the way.
An article published by Industrial Internet of Things and Industries 4.0 Viewpoints entitled ‘LED Lighting Systems: IoT for Smart Buildings and Smart Cities’ envisions the immediate future:
- LED lighting control networks are emerging as an alternative IIoT platform.
- As low-voltage semiconductor devices, LED’s are natural partners for microprocessor-based controllers with sophisticated sensor networks and edge computing capabilities.
- As the transition is made from the energy-intensive, and high-maintenance lighting technologies of the past to a pervasive LED and OLED future, traditional lighting controls are being supplanted by IIoT lighting platforms that are disrupting the industry.
- Retailers with IIoT lighting solutions are combining digital store mapping, product search capabilities, and shopper analytics. Using location-based beacon technology, shoppers may get advertisements and coupons sent directly to their smartphones based on store promotions, shopping history, and preferences.
- Hospitals that deploy smart LEDs are controlling light levels in hospital rooms to sync up with daily care schedules and resetting their patient’s circadian rhythms to help them rest better and recover faster.
In this TechCrunch article, ‘How Intelligent Lighting Is Ushering In The Internet Of Buildings’ the author tells it like it is:
“The LED revolution is over. To no one’s surprise, LEDs have won. The story of intelligent lighting is just beginning. Smart lighting systems provide perfect platforms on which the promise and possibilities of the Internet of Things can come to life.”
TechCrunch
I love the idea of installing some LEDs in a workshop. LEDs last a lot longer than traditional lights and are cheap! I think my son is thinking about doing this exact thing in his warehouse.