inteliLIGHT, the first large-scale connected lighting project using LoRaWAN™ Zhaga compatible controllers in Brescia, Italy

The 10.000 LoRaWAN compatible controllers to be installed by ENGIE Italy prove that Flashnet’s engineers have successfully adapted inteliLIGHT hardware components to fit the very compact ZHAGA casing.

Brasov, ROMANIA, October 15, 2019

Located near Lake Garda in northern Italy, Brescia is a city at the foot of the Alps, with a population of 191,523. The second largest city in the Lombardy region after Milan, Brescia is the administrative capital of the province of Brescia, one of the largest provinces in Italy.
The city is focused on both mechanical and automotive engineering and machine tool production. Being in full process of development, the local administration considered the opportunities of a modern street lighting solution. Thus, it was decided to implement smart outdoor lighting management, to facilitate the industrial development and to encourage the tourists who choose to visit Brescia every year.
Street lighting control brings immediate benefits to any city: lower energy and maintenance costs, grid awareness and an overall better lighting service. But Brescia decided to implement inteliLIGHT’s smart streetlighting control solution because of the unique availability of the Zhaga socket with LoRaWAN compatible communications, bringing an awareness and intelligence layer to the existing street lighting installations.

But what’s so special about LoRaWAN combined with Zhaga?

LoRaWAN is a state-of-the-art IoT communication technology, while Zhaga is a state-of-the-art compact connector for modern streetlamps. Smaller than the older NEMA socket, Zhaga enables IoT-upgradeable outdoor LED lighting fixtures, with minimal visual impact for the new, slim, modern LED streetlamps. The latest Zhaga specification defines a standardized interface between outdoor LED luminaires and modules for sensing and communication, bringing the Internet of Things to the outdoor lighting market via smart, upgradeable, future-proof fixtures.
The LoRaWAN compatible technology was recommended for Brescia because of the low building density in the area, as one base station covers up to 5 km in low to medium density urban areas and up to 15 km line-of-sight in rural or remote areas. Besides the technical advantages, existing LoRaWAN coverage was the final argument to choose this option: A2A is an Italian Smart City integrator that manages a commercial LoRaWAN network in Brescia. Using Flashnet’s IoT platform to integrate communications, the controllers can be connected instantly, transforming any street lighting control implementation into a fast, affordable and seamless process.

How will the system deal with further smart city initiatives?

Built to be flexible and future-proof, there are several layers of integrability that come with inteliLIGHT: communication, smart city integration and the availability of APIs. Through Flashnet’s IoT Platform, depending on the specific features of the project or the coverage of existing networks, you can opt for one or more communication technologies, thus increasing the speed of implementation and creating unlimited potential for future development (LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, Sigfox, GSM – to name a few.
Furthermore, most smart city platforms are already integrated with inteliLIGHT and can be integrated out-of-the-box: ENGIE Livin’, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Orange Live Objects etc. If the desired infrastructure is not already integrated, there are northbound and southbound APIs available to create subsequent or management connectors with practically any future smart city system.
In total, there will be 10.000 inteliLIGHT® ZHAGA controllers and 637 FRCM ignition point controllers installed in Brescia, controlled by inteliLIGHT® Streetlight Control Software on the Cloud. The entire installation is expected to be finalized by the end of 2019 and, in conjuncture with LED fixtures, can bring to the city of Brescia up to 80% direct energy savings, significant benefits in long term maintenance, plus a safer and more modern city for all its citizens and visitors.