Relume Sentinel™

The only networked lighting control and security system to use secure,
FCC-allocated municipal RF channels.

Background

It is estimated that by actively monitoring and controlling the 4.4 million streetlights installed in just the 10 largest American metropolitan areas, maintenance costs and electricity costs could be reduced by $90 million a year. The reduction in electricity usage could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million metric tons, which is the equivalent of taking 212,000 vehicles off the road. By extending the estimate to all 50.5 million streetlights in North America, the annual cost savings potential would exceed $1.03 billion and the annual reduction in CO2 emissions could be more than 13.8 million metric tons, the equivalent of permanently removing over 2.43 million cars from the North American fleet.

A municipality’s street lighting system can easily account for 30 to 40 percent of its total electric bill. Add the cost of maintenance and the system becomes one of the city’s largest budgeted expenditures. Replacing the city’s current lights with Relume LED streetlights can reduce electric and maintenance costs by 50% to 60%. That is significant, but with the addition of Sentinel™, Relume is able to realize even greater cost and emission reductions while enhancing the safety, security and well-being of residents.

Radio Frequency Streetlight Control: The System of the Future

Industry experts and academia have long acknowledged that radio-frequency transceivers installed in or on each light would be the most effective method of controlling light output and monitoring maintenance requirements of streetlight systems.

However, RF transceivers simply do not have the required signal strength to transmit over any distance, let alone across an entire metropolitan area. Additionally, the lack of interference free licensed frequencies has made it impossible to control the safety critical street lighting system without fear of hackers or other interruption.

The Future is now with The Relume Sentinel™

The Relume Sentinel™ (patent applied for) provides a robust and very cost effective method to wirelessly control the city’s entire network of streetlights using the city’s existing communications infrastructure to send and receive data from each light.

The Relume Sentinel™ enjoys a significant competitive advantage over other lighting control systems because it requires no costly infrastructure investment or monthly communication/data charges to be paid to a carrier. The system functions freely across the city’s existing (licensed) public safety bands making it extremely robust. There can be no other radio emission sources in the frequency band, except those specifically controlled by the municipalities, thus protecting the operation of the safety critical city lighting system from unmonitored interference.

Relume’s Sentinel™ controllable functions and unique features:

• Lamp on/off control of individual lamps or lamp zones.
• Lamp mapping
• Lamp power metering
• LED lamp dimming – individually or by zones to reduce energy requirements and increase lamp life..
• Lamp flashing – individually or by zones for resident safety and security.
• Integration with police, fire and 911 service.
• Emergency reporting – call button support and location reporting.
• Evacuation route designation with chasing LED lights
• Lamp operating current / LED or lamp failure – No more night patrols, reduced maintenance costs.
• Diagnostic reporting – individual lamp outage, irregular operation, failure.
• Ambient light status and lamp temperature
• Designed to complement Relume LED products but competitive LED streetlights may be controlled by installing Wireless Lighting Control Module.
• Adaptable to all current streetlights. Allows for total networking of a city’s new LED lamps and/or its present metal halide or high-pressure sodium lamps.

The Sentinel™ is powered by Relume’s graphical user interface (G.U.I.) software and is composed of three main hardware modules:

1) A Master Network Interface Module at the municipal communication point.

2) The city’s existing UHF repeater[s] to extend the range of the system to all nodes.

3) The Wireless Lighting Control Module which is enclosed within the Relume lamp housing or connected to the competitor’s LED lamp housing.

In the case of existing HID streetlights The Wireless Lighting Control Module may be attached through the photoelectric cell port. Emergency call button alarms may also be added to the system.

Graphical User Interface (G.U.I.) Software

The Sentinel™ operating software is a simple but data-rich PC Based G.U.I. It provides streetlight mapping, lighting system control and emergency call box monitoring. Web access is also provided for secure, off site operation. Management reports provide the operator with the ability to easily track, manage and control individual lights, zones of lights and/or the entire network of streetlights.

Master Network Interface Module

This device provides the interface between the control computer and the municipal RF system. The system transmits and receives data from the Wireless Light Controller modules in or on each lamp. Wireless data is passed through the existing repeater channels in the licensed and regulated UHF 450 to 470 MHz band [or any other assigned band]. CTCSS and digital encryption is used to improve security and support interoperability.

Wireless Lighting Control Module

Intelligent R.F. transceiver/control modules installed in or on every connected streetlight provide a bi-directional communication interface between the Master RF Network Interface Module and the individual streetlights. The LED lamps can be individually flashed or dimmed from 0% to 100% intensity. The Module also communicates on/off commands, senses current, ambient temperature, and interfaces with up to two external switches for emergency call features. The RF and control circuitry is software programmable to select any available [licensed] operating frequency and CTCSS tone[s].

Sentinel™ Advantages

• Uses proven, FCC guaranteed interference free communication channels in existing [licensed] public safely bands.
• Licensed operation in the dedicated public safety bands means the city has complete control over radio emissions in the frequency band.
• Unlike mesh networking systems, there are no uncontrolled radio emission sources in the frequency band that will interfere with operation of the safety critical city lighting system.
• Licensed frequency channels allow high power RF transmissions to and from the lamps to overcome possible out of band interference sources and provide wide, reliable and robust coverage.
• Use of existing public safety repeaters guarantees complete municipal coverage.
• Millions of public safety radios have been put in service over the past 30 years – with superb reliability. The Sentinel™ capitalizes on this proven technology rather then battling with less robust and significantly more expensive and complicated power line communication technologies.
• Installing the Sentinel™ requires a significantly lower initial investment and provides a more rapid payback.
• There is no major infrastructure build out required to provide Sentinel™ networking. The city’s existing public safety radio frequency bands provide the infrastructure required to operate the Sentinel™ network.
• Unlike other streetlight control systems there are no follow-on monthly or annual data communication charges that must be paid to GPRS, ADSL, WI-FI or WIMAX providers. Communication across the city’s public safety bands is free.

Download Relume Sentinel™ Brochure - PDF

Download Relume Sentinel™ Specifications - PDF

See a graphical comparison of the Relume Sentinel™ to competitive streetlight control systems.