CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Background of street light

A Street light is a source of light that is raised above the ground level on the edge of a road or
walkway, which is used to provide illumination during dusk, dawn, or the onset of dark
weather.
Before incandescent lamps, candle lighting was employed in cities. The earliest lamps
required that a lamplighter tour the town at dusk, lighting each of the lamps. According to
some sources, illumination was ordered in London in 1417 by Sir Henry Barton, Mayor of
London though there is no firm evidence of this.
In 1524, Paris house owners were required to have lanterns with candles lit in front of their
houses at night, but the law was often ignored. Following the invention of lanterns with glass
windows, which greatly improved the quantity of light, in 1594 the police of Paris, took
charge of installing lanterns in each city neighborhood. Still, in 1662, it was a common
practice for travelers to hire a lantern-bearer if they had to move at night through the dark,
winding streets. Lantern bearers were still common in Paris until 1789. In 1667, under King
Louis XIV, the royal government began installing lanterns on all the streets. There were three
thousand in place by 1669, and twice as many by 1729. Lanterns with glass windows were
suspended from a cord over the middle of the street at a height of twenty feet and were placed
twenty yards apart. A much-improved oil lantern, called a rverbre, was introduced between
1745 and 1749. These lamps were attached to the top of lampposts; by 1817, there were 4694
lamps on the Paris streets. During the French Revolution (1789-1799), the revolutionaries
found that the lampposts were a convenient place to hang aristocrats and other opponents.
The first widespread system of street lighting used piped coal gas as fuel. Stephen Hales was
the first person who procured a flammable fluid from the actual distillation of coal in 1726
and John Clayton, in 1735, called gas the "spirit" of coal and discovered its flammability by
accident. William Murdoch was the first to use the flammability of gas for the practical
application of lighting. In the early 1790s, while overseeing the use of his company's steam
engines in tin mining in Cornwall, Murdoch began experimenting with various types of gas,
finally settling on coal-gas as the most effective. He first lit his own house in Redruth,
Cornwall in 1792. In 1798, he used gas to light the main building of the Soho Foundry and in
1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting, the lights astonishing the local
population.
The first electric street lighting employed arc lamps, initially the 'Electric candle',
'Jablotchkoff candle' or 'Yablochkov candle' developed by the Russian Pavel Yablochkov in
1875. This was a carbon arc lamp employing alternating current, which ensured that both
electrodes were consumed at equal rates. In 1876, the common council of the City of Los
Angeles ordered four arc lights installed in various places in the fledgling town for street
lighting.
2.1.1 MODERN LIGHTS:
Today, street lighting commonly uses high-intensity discharge lamps, often HPS high
pressure sodium lamps, such lamps provide the greatest amount of photopic illumination for
the least consumption of electricity. However, white light sources have been shown to double
driver peripheral vision and improve driver brake reaction time by at least 25%; to enable
pedestrians to better detect pavement trip hazards Using obstacle detection to identify
appropriate illuminances for lighting in residential roads. Studies comparing metal halide and
high-pressure sodium lamps have shown that at equal photopic light levels, a street scene
illuminated at night by a metal halide lighting system was reliably seen as brighter and safer
than the same scene illuminated by a high pressure sodium system.
2.1.2 ADVANTAGES:
Major advantages of street lighting include prevention of accidents and increase in safety
Studies have shown that darkness results in a large number of crashes and fatalities,
especially those involving pedestrians; pedestrian fatalities are 3 to 6.75 times more likely in
the dark than in daylight.
Furthermore, lighted intersections and highway interchanges tend to have fewer crashes than
unlighted intersections and interchanges. Towns, cities, and villages use the unique locations
provided by lampposts to hang decorative or commemorative banners.
Street lights in urban settlements helps promote security
2.1.3 DISADVANTAGE:
i. It could lead to accidents when misused and pollution.

ii. It leads to loss of night vision because of the accommodation reflex of drivers'
eyes is the greatest danger.

iii. Stray voltage can accidentally electrify lampposts and has enough potential to injure
or kill anyone who comes into contact with the post.

In this project two kinds of sensors will be used which are Photoresistor light-dependent
resistor: LDR is a light controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a photoresistor
decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits
photoconductivity. This sensor will detect darkness to activate the ON/OFF switch, so the
streetlights will be ready to turn ON by using the LDR we can operate the lights, i.e. during
the day or when there is surrounding light it will be in the OFF state and when it is dark the
light will be in ON state, it means LDR is inversely proportional to light. When the light
falls on the LDR it sends a command to the microcontroller that it should be in the OFF state
and then switches OFF the light, and the Ultrasonic sensor will detect movement by
measuring the distance of the object to increase the intensity of streetlights according to
the presence or absent of the object. LDR, which varies according to the amount of light
falling on its surface gives an induction for whether its day or night time, the ultrasonic
sensors are placed on the side of the road, which will be activated only at night. If any object
crosses the ultrasonic beam, a section of light bulbs will automatically come ON, all these
commands are sent to the microcontroller ATmega 32 on which the device operates. We
use a relay to act as an ON/OFF switch. By using this as a basic principle, the intelligent
system can be designed for the perfect usage of streetlights in any place.

The block diagram of street light system as shown in Fig. 1 consists of microcontroller,
LDR, LED, sensor and power supply.

1.1) BLOCK DIAGRAM

In general, this chapter cover the literature review from different sources related to the
smart lighting system invention of others project, technology and current industrial
product. Observation and findings about their advantages and recommendation from the
studies discuss in this chapter too.

2.1 Smart Street Lamp Monitoring System

2.1.1 Overview

A group of student (Prakash, Shankar, Guha, Alam, 2010) from institute Sir M. Visvesvaraya
Technology had invented smart street lamp monitoring system using Xbee wireless module.
Their aim is to monitor the health of street lamps and forward monitored result to the control
station.

Figure 2.1 shows the simplified block diagram of the complete smart street lamp monitoring
system. Inside the lamp module, it consists of light dependent resistors (LDR) module,
microcontroller module and transmission module. The lamp module will communicate with
the control centre through wireless using Xbee.
Figure 2.1: Simplified block diagram of smart street lamp monitoring system
In the LDR module, it consists of two LDR. One of the LDR is install on top of the street
lamp for the checking the day/night status condition. Another LDR is place under the street
lamp to monitor and checking the lamp health status. The results of the LDRs send to
microcontroller, where the microcontroller will process the data and send the data to the
transmission module. In the transmission module, there is wireless Xbee that transmit the
data through wireless to the control centre. In the control centre, it will monitor each of the
street lamp status, as well as controlling the operation of the street lamps.

Figure 2.2: Smart Street Lamp Monitoring System (source: www.slideshare.net)

2.1.2 Findings and Recommendation

This system resolves the faulty street lamps issue, where people are rarely taking the
initiative to report faulty street lamps in their locality. With this device, it able to track
whenever there is faulty lamps and sends the data to the control centre. Thus, technician will
be able to acknowledge the faulty street lamps at the first moment and head for the repair.
Another benefit of this system is the cost saving in terms of wiring. The Xbee module will
allow the streets lamps communicate to the control system via wireless. With the wiring
method, the high cost of the construction and material makes the system uneconomical;
moreover, the reliability of the system will reduce too.

Although this system monitors the health of the street lamp status, it did not have other smart
feature whereby controlling the street lamps by automatically turning ON or OFF the lamps.
If this feature is applying to this system, this allow another great energy saving. In addition,
any faulty lamp will be automatically turning OFF which avoid more energy wastage causes
by the faulty lamps.

With the application of the lamp illumination control on the system, the lamps are able to turn
ON the lights with low illumination when the surrounding condition needs the low light
illumination of the lamps (e.g. rainy or cloudy day).

There are no data of the return of investment (ROI) of this system, but it may believe that the
ROI will be in less than 8 years. One of the main weaknesses of this system is the device are
placed at outdoor, thus, precaution steps need to be taken whereby the case of the devices
must be designed carefully. It must be sealed or isolated probably to avoid the environmental
that could affect the lifespan of the devices.

2.2 Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI)

2.2.1 Overview

DALI is technical standard that control lighting in buildings for a network based system. One
of the DALI controllers from ABB-bus KNX is shows in figure 2.3. DALI standard
specified in the IEC 60929 - standard for fluorescent lamp ballast, encompass the
communications protocol and electrical interface for lighting control networks. (Digital
Addressable Lighting Interface from Wikipedia, 2010). Further detail on IEC 60929 standard
is show in figure 2.4 below.
 Figure 2.3: ABB-bus KNX DALI Light Controller (taken from ABB-bus KNX)

IEC 60929 is an international standard created by the International Electrotechnical

Commission and covers electronic ballasts used in AC supplies with voltages up to 1000 V
and with operating frequencies at 50 Hz or 60 Hz. The actual operating frequency may
deviate from the specified supply frequency
(Digital Addressable Lighting Interface, 2010)

Figure 2.4: IEC 60929 standard

From the studies of Li, Wu and Zhog (2008), DALI allow electronic ballast, dimmers, light
sensor, transformers relay, controllers to be mixed and matched into a single control system.
Thus, this will form a network that each of the devices is likely to be talk to each other in
the network. The controller in the DALI network is able to control each light by means of a
bi-directional data exchange, thus this allows the control of the device status message (e.g.
lamp fault). DALI protocol permits devices to individually address or simultaneously address
multiple devices.
Figure 2.5: DALI Master Slave Module
Figure 2.4 shows the block diagram of DALI module, where it consists of master and slave
unit. Every DALI master can control a numbers of slaves, and gives each of the slaves an
individual physical address. For dimmable ballast, it can be subordinate to any one group of
the slave. Other devices may also apply with the DALI module such as sensors.

2.2.2 Findings and Recommendations

DALI has its advantages if it used to control a group of lights. Rather than each light with a
controller, DALI able to become the master module of all the lights whereby it gives each of
the slaves an individual unique address. Thus, the master module becomes the main controller
whereby the master module controls the operation of the status of the lights. In addition,
DALI master module is able to receive signal from the other communication (e.g. RS232)
and control each slaves with the pre-set program or the command from the other
communication. Furthermore, DALI are a two-way communication, whereby it able to
receive signal from a particular slave, this will become handy when dealing with the faulty
lights where the slaves are able to send the faulty lamp signal to the master. Not to forget
mention that DALI are also able to install with sensors such as LDR. Hence, it is an
applicable method into the project for controlling the large group of fluorescent lamp with the
electronic ballast.
2.3 Lighting Control & Sensor Technologies
This chapter cover the technology of lighting control and sensors used in Modular Intelligent
Control System (MICS). It will start with discuss the method for lighting control for different
types of lights. Next, this chapter will discuss the appropriate sensor in assisting the smart
lighting systems.

Introduction

The studies of the method of lighting control and the sensors integrated in smart lighting
technology will helps in further understanding of the design and working principle of MICS.

Light Dimmer

Light dimmer had been assisted in the past few decades on improving their efficiency.
Voltage is the basic factor in controlling the lights intensity. The earlier voltage control
methods achieve using power resistor and adjustable transformers. Basic principle of this
voltage control method is the power distribution through the resistance, which in result of low
power efficiency. The other problems are bulky, expensive and hardly to control in remote
location.

Since 1960, power electronics had improved effectively where thyristors and TRICS
introduced in the market. By using this component in controlling the lighting intensity (or
control voltage), the energy efficiency is well improved. At the same time, it is small and
inexpensive and it makes the light dimming easily controllable from remote location. This
type of electronics light dimmers becomes available after 1970 and nowadays it is still
widely used in many locations. (Engdahl, 1997-2000)

3.2.1 Incandescent Bulb Dimmer

Incandescent bulb is the source electric light works by incandescence (general term for heat
driven light emission). It has the lowest efficiency or the highest power consumption among
the lights, which the power is mostly wasted in the bulb heating. By controlling the
intensity of the incandescent bulb (using power switching method - TRIAC), it will greatly
improve its power efficiency hence achieve power saving.

3.2.1.1 Triode for Alternating Current (TRIAC)

TRIAC (or bidirectional triode thyristor) is a bidirectional switch for AC circuits that control
the percentage of the current flow through the TRIAC to the load. It is an electronic
component approximately equivalent to two silicon-controlled rectifiers (SRC). TRIAC is
commonly used in many applications such as lights dimmers, speed control etc. Although
variable resistor is one of the solutions to control the AC current to a load, the heat dissipated
on the resistor is high and thus, it is not advisable for energy saving usage. TRIAC controls
the current flow by applying trigger pulse at a controllable point in an AC cycle. (Kuphaldt,
2009)

Figure 3.1: TRIAC symbol

Figure 3.1 shows the circuit symbol for the TRIAC. Unlike thyristor, which is only able to
conduct current in one direction, TRIAC is a bidirectional device. Hence, it is suitable to be
use in AC source where the current are allow to flows through the two anode terminals. The
gate terminals would trigger by either positive or negative voltage. Once it triggered, the
devices continues to conduct until a current through the anode drops to below a certain
threshold value - the holding current (or zero crossing point), such as at the end of the half
cycle of AC mains power. Figure 3.2 below explain the working principle of TRIAC in
diagram.
Figure 3.2: Triggering of TRIAC

Figure 3.2 gives a better explanation of TRIAC working principle. To control the
incandescent light intensity, it depends the time (T delay) between the gate trigger time and
previous zero crossing point time. The shorter the period, the brighter the bulb is.

From the microchip website reference (Curtis, Dimming AC Incandescent Lamps, 2005),
the TRIAC gate can be control through voltage pulse trigger that produced from
microcontroller, which in return control the intensity of the incandescent bulb. At the same
time microcontroller needs timing of zero crossing point thus it can produce appropriate
delay time for gate voltage triggering. The complete circuit is show in figure 3.3.
Figure 3.3: Bulb control circuit with TRIAC (Source: www.microchip.com)

The VAC input voltage is reference to the US standard - 120VAC. From figure 3.3 shown, the
circuit divide into two parts: incandescent bulb control with TRIAC and AC zero current
signal detection circuit. For the TRIAC circuit, the gate of the TRIAC is triggering by a pulse
supply from the microcontroller. As discuss above, the time for the zero crossing point is
important as microcontroller needs to send the appropriate trigger pulse delay correspond to
the zero crossing time. The zener diode, Schottky diode and capacitor come to play the role
for detecting the zero crossing point of the AC voltage. The operating principle of this circuit
is simple as: When the AC voltage is higher than 5V, the capacitor will charge and the point A
connected to the microcontroller (shown in figure 3.3) will be high (5V). Once the AC
voltage supply drop below 5V, the capacitor discharge and drop to 0V (ideal case). This
causes the point A will be in low threshold (0V). With this information, the microcontroller
will generate the appropriate delay time for TRIAC gate triggering once it detects low
threshold on point A.