6 minute read
Dawn of the Smart Community
DAWN SMART of the COMMUNITY
By Kimberly Weiss DAWN SMART of the COMMUNITY
Do you manage a Smart Community? Think about it. Your community has minimized expenses, maximized reserves, and tackled the Davis Stirling rewrite – no problem. It has inspectors of election, the governing documents have been modernized, the CDs are monitored, insurance protections are in place, and the delinquencies of 2010 have been conquered. Well done. You plot the course to help your community navigate the obstacles and stay up to date. You stay on the cutting edge of everything that’s good for your community because you care. And so in this day of smart phones and smart TVs, you are about to discover the dawn of the Smart Community.
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The Internet of Things is upon us. The Internet of Things is a network of physical objects or “things” that are embedded with four attributes: electronics, software, sensors and connectivity. By utilizing the Internet of Things, we can achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/ or other connected devices. Each “thing” is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure. This allows “things” to work independently or collaborate with other “things” or people for greater effect.
The Internet of Things has been greatly used within the industrial, retail and consumer worlds for improvements of every kind. Think about your smart phone – it is a prime example of the Internet of Things. Loaded with sensors, smart Phones have changed our lives and will be recorded as one of the foundational inventions of the century. The smart phone has been the heir of the perfect storm in that all of the conditions were right, and one of the key factors to its success was the perfect platform provided by the cell phone. It’s with you all the time. It has power. It has electronics. It works.
Innovation has now paved the way for progressive cities to profit from the Internet of Things through transformation into Smart Cities. Product developers have realized that we have the capability to connect systems and things and that there is much that cities can gain by doing so, but they had to come up with a platform to host the Internet of Things in public areas. Enter the rebirth of the light pole. It, like the cell phone, is the perfect platform. Light poles are connected to power 24/7 (whether the light is on or not) and are strategically placed, so they’re in the right place at the right time. They have height, allowing the equipment to be out of harm’s way. LED lighting is electronic, so electronics are present, allowing it to be connected to the Internet. Sensors and software can easily be added.
One Smart System opens the door for more. From a glance at their computer monitor, managers of Smart Cities can know the quality of the air compared to this same day last year and for the last 100 years, that there is a cracked water line on Main Street at risk of rupturing, and a streetlight is showing power irregularity on First Street. More importantly, due to shared data, the water company also knows about the stressed water line and can take action promptly before it is a major problem and the electrical maintenance department can investigate the streetlight before the impending outage even occurs. City managers can use data to make their environments more inviting, comforting, cost effective and safe – ultimately attracting more residents and providing an improved quality of life.
Cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Oceanside, Carlsbad and San Jose are leading the movement by harnessing the benefits of
their existing streetlights to begin the transformation into Smart Cities.
Like cities, our community associations can also benefit by the new technology. Harnessing the power of our existing light poles, we can now easily incorporate networked controls into a planned LED conversion project. The system consists of one hub or control box, located in a central location, and a “node” on each light pole. The nodes communicate with the hub and the hub transmits data through the cloud. The community manager or lighting maintenance contractor then logs into a secure website to access the data, evaluate energy usage, make changes to the control system, etc.
The networked lighting control system allows control of the on/off times to the minute, allows variances to individual poles, identifies outages by a marker on a map due to embedded GPS, identifies potential outages before they occur, allows the lights to be dimmed or turned off when no one is present or at a certain hour, turns the lights back on when someone comes, dim just one light that might be shining in someone’s window, calculates exact power consumption and more. The system can act even as an emergency alert system by turning on all the street lights at once to their brightest, or by flashing to get people’s attention. A speaker system can be installed on key poles to broadcast alerts and give information to the community about what's going on and where to find help. California’s perpetual wildfires are a perfect example of where a system like this could not only alert residents of the need for evacuation, but tell them where to go.
Installation of a networked lighting control system provides the platform for a plethora of optional ad-ons based on community needs, playing a key role in the development of a truly Smart Community. Security surveillance, Wi-Fi hot spots, speakers for music or messages, digital banners for community announcements or advertising, and nearly any other sensors imaginable can be added. The sensor development platform has been opened up to individual companies (similar to smart phone aps), so individual creativity and need are the only limits.
The way cities are financing these upgrades, and the way HOAs can too, is by incorporating them into an LED lighting project. While you have a man on site replacing the fixture head, there is literally no additional labor required to install the control system. There are substantial maintenance and energy savings available alone with the LED upgrade, so cities are using the savings to finance and justify the addition of connectivity, thus enhancing the quality of life among residents and providing numerous added benefits. In addition, the Smart Controls themselves have given them the ability to cut power consumption even further due to their dimming capability, saving energy and money, and extending their equipment life by a long shot.
Outdoor lighting is now a tool that can provide much more than nighttime visibility. Due to the incredible opportunities available by adding connectivity and sensing capabilities, lighting professionals and community managers ought to be eager to present this exciting prospect to community decision makers. After all, creating a safer, more intelligent environment for people to live and thrive is a bright idea and the true mark of a California Smart Community.
You can learn more about this subject by attending The Dawn of the Smart Community, one of 18 concurrent sessions offered at CACM’s 2016 Law Seminar & Expo.
CACM is committed to helping you stay on top of changing legislation by developing comprehensive case law updates and relevant educational sessions for our annual Law Seminars. This year’s Law Seminar & Expo offers more content and more fun than ever! We encourage you to join us for: • Engaging speakers • Insightful breakouts • Expanded networking opportunities and more!
Plan to join us at a Law Seminar near you:
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW SEMINAR & EXPO February 11-12, 2016 Oakland Marriott City Center
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW SEMINAR & EXPO March 17-18, 2016 The Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim
