Electronics 360 recently ran an article about a smart city platform startup called Ubicquia. The new company has released two streetlight platforms designed for smart cities that integrates Wi-Fi, 4K cameras, directional microphones and neural artificial intelligence (AI) processors.

Called UbiHub, the platforms are compatible with more than 360 million existing streetlights worldwide and can be installed in seconds into the existing streetlight photocell socket. The platforms allow cities and law enforcement to transform existing streetlights into a network of connected digital assets. UbiHub can enhance existing use cases by:

• Enabling faster crime detection, investigation, and deterrence.
• Reducing traffic congestion.
• Improving pedestrian safety.
• Increasing bicycle lane utilization.
• Expanding city broadband deployments to commercial areas and parks.

The UbiHub AP6 is a triband Wi-Fi access point that gives communities and municipalities the ability to enable public Wi-Fi. It uses power over Ethernet to support third-party equipment including cameras or license plate readers.

The more advanced UbiHub AP/AI includes the same features as the AP6 but also integrated dual 4K cameras, direction microphones, a neural AI processor and 15 days of video storage.

The platforms are managed and monitored by Ubicquia’s cloud visualization and analytics management system called UbiVu. The system also support APIs that integrate with third party video management systems, evidence clearance platforms and police real-time crime centers.

Ubicquia has already deployed the systems to several cities in the U.S.:

• West Hollywood, California – The city is using the platforms for smart city traffic and curb management capabilities for data on traffic, bicycle and pedestrians as well as public safety measures and future planning development needs for its residents.
• County of Hawai’i – UbiHub is being used to bring free, high-speed internet to Pana’ewa Park, a recreational and educational area in a zoological and botanical area of the county. The city said the deployment of the streetlight platform is an important step to expanding its broadband and closing the digital divide throughout Hawai’i Island.
• Ontario, California – 12,500 UbiCells were deployed in Ontario, California, for smart lighting analytics and energy savings. The city said the system helps address the digital divide by rolling out public Wi-Fi and boosting public safety in one platform.

The full article is available here.

Ely Cathedral is located in the city of Ely, in East Cambridgeshire, England The site can be dated back to AD 763, when it began as an abbey church built by St Etheldreda. The current building dates from 1083, and Ely was elevated to cathedral status in 1109.

As part of the Church of England, Ely Cathedral is committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. To help achieve this, the lighting at Ely Cathedral is currently being upgraded to a more energy-efficient and sustainable system. The work has been split into phases, with phase 1 focusing on the exterior of the Cathedral’s Octagon Tower.

While the Cathedral is primarily a place of worship, it is also an important heritage attraction, a venue for music and events, and an occasional location for filming. It was important to ensure that any new lighting scheme was capable of showing the architecture off to its full potential, while supporting a range of uses and enhancing the Cathedral’s daily round of worship. The new system will reveal more of the detail and beauty of the building, while being less visually intrusive.

The project’s goal was to remove the existing flood lighting and create a more flexible and controllable design, while offering increased energy efficiency. The flexibility of the lighting controls is important, as it allows the Cathedral to use colors and dynamic lighting to mark special occasions or events, such as red, white and blue for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, or the colors of the liturgical calendar. The previous lighting allowed for only a single color. In addition, the new system has removed the need for someone to change the lighting manually when required, which incurred time and cost.

To deliver the control aspect of the exterior lighting design, Pharos Architectural Controls were used. A Pharos TPC (Touch Panel Controller) is now used by the Cathedral, offering a customizable 4.3” touch screen with a single Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) network connection. The touch screen interface allows Ely Cathedral to create multiple pages of controls and configure their appearance to provide immediate visual feedback.

The Pharos TPC allows for control of lighting levels and playbacks that can transition between scenes, timelines, effects and pixel-mapped media. To increase functionality, a Pharos EXT was also used. The EXT is an extension for the Pharos TPC and together they form a standalone, mains-powered lighting control system with flexible output and show control options. The EXT also provides local DMX and DALI output for the TPC, as well as power and other hardware interfaces.

Project credits: 

Lighting Consultant: Lighting Perceptions

Installation: Bullens

Stakeholder: Funded by Friends

Lighting Control: Pharos Architectural Control

Lighting Fixture Manufacturer:  Studio Due

More information on Pharos Architectural Controls is available here.

While at LightFair (LFI), last month, I enjoyed a product demonstration from Dan Hollenkamp, COO of Toggled. The company is probably best known for its LED tubes (TLEDs) at Home Depot and other retailers. It was very interesting to learn about their advanced, yet simple, wireless networked lighting control system, Toggled iQ.

Here’s what I found interesting about it:

• It’s based on a proprietary Bluetooth Mesh that allows up to 32,000 nodes on a network. That’s a lot of nodes!
• They offer a sensor that detects motion, daylight, temperature, and humidity. It updates to the network every 5 minutes, and just two AA batteries can operate it for 10 years. That’s a long battery life and a nice bundle of four sensors in one. Image below.
• Utilizing edge intelligence, the networked system distributes programming to wall controls, smart lamps, and luminaire controllers. If WiFi goes down in a building, disconnecting the system from the cloud / internet, each device will continue to operate normally, because they have stored their own instructions / programming within each device.
• Smart TLEDs have light output sensors that alert the user to diminished output. The software can enable cost analysis between TLED replacement or increasing power to the smart lamp.
• There is a plug load controller that can pair with the occupancy sensor to turn off plug load when a space is vacant.
• At LFI, the company unveiled its Toggled iQ luminaire controller to give control over individual luminaires, connecting them with the Toggled iQ network lighting control system. The controller provides a dimming and color control interface between existing 0V to 10V dimmable luminaires and the Toggled iQ network lighting control platform. When paired with other Toggled iQ offerings (such as sensors, switches, and the free Toggled iQ app) the controller can enable daylight harvesting, occupancy/vacancy-based control, or schedule-based control, as well as customized lighting scenes, from an individual luminaire within the connected network. Image below.

Toggled’s parent company is Altair, a data analytic & AI platform company. It’s clear that Toggled’s significant move into networked lighting controls enables greater synergies between Toggled and Altair, with each leveraging the strengths of the other. More information about the Toggled iQ system is available here.