Adaptive, interactive and responsive lighting design - Cariboni Group
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17 July 2019

Adaptive, interactive and responsive lighting design

Cities are increasingly digital, connected and smart, so light must also be intelligent, interact with users, adapt to environmental changes and respond effectively to external conditions.
Adaptive, interactive and responsive lighting design

Now that the Internet of Things has been introduced to the urban sphere, cities have become increasingly digital, connected and smart. The goals of this transformation are environmental sustainability and people’s well-being.

In this context, the public lighting network has an important role to play as the bi-directional communication infrastructure between the city and its administrators, in that it can both supply data gathered from its sensors and receive remote information. And light? Light has to be smart too.I needs to interact with users, react to their presence, adapt to environmental changes and respond effectively to external conditions. The benefits are energy saving, better traffic viability and a visible increase in pedestrians’ safety.

European standards and their implementation in Italy

For all these reasons, in 2015, a section laying out the general principles of street light adjustments and energy saving was added to the European standard EN 13201 on street lighting. In Italy this update was implemented through the standard UNI 11248, which standardised adaptive lighting applications, i.e. systems that regulate lighting conditions according to factors that may vary over time, such as traffic flow, traffic type, time, luminance or weather conditions.The environmental data can be analysed at preset or constant intervals with measurements that can be taken at any time. The advantage compared to pre-programmed operating cycles is that light flow is adjusted according to real weather conditions instead of statistical data. Lighting values therefore always meet the standards required, even in the event of unforeseeable events, such as rain, snow or fog, traffic build-ups caused by accidents, light flow deterioration, equipment crashes or system malfunctions.

Traffic Adaptive Installations and Full Adaptive Installations

Over time, given that this world is constantly evolving, the UNI 11248 standard was amended so that it now identifies two different adjustment modes, depending on the type of installation in question. These are:

  • TAI (Traffic Adaptive Installations)  which allow traffic parameters to be measured. In this case, the standard allows lighting to be adjusted according to samples measured every 5 minutes in compliance with a gradual reduction method and, if necessary a faster increase; and
  • FAI (Full Adaptive Installations) which are used when not only the traffic, but the weather conditions and general luminance are measured in real time. Here, the standard includes a 3-level downgrade system to increase energy savings as long as the system monitors not only the traffic, but also the parameters required to operate the system.

With the aim of further reducing energy consumption and light pollution, the standard also allows lighting levels to be reduced at night by no less than 50% with a low traffic flow. One condition that is paramount and can never be compromised is that of protecting citizens’ safety.

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