Monitoring and remote sensing of the street lighting system using computer vision and image processing techniques for the purpose of mechanized blackouts

Street lighting system as one of the foremost facilities used in the cities plays a pivotal role in reducing nocturnal car accidents and enhancing individual and social security. Therefore, one of the main priorities in Electrical Distribution Companies is the timely repair and maintenance of the street lightening which should be regularly checked. The common mechanized monitoring of the street lighting is based on measuring the consumed current of each lamp and comparing it with the lamp nominal current. In this way, the error in network is identified. Monitoring street lighting in Iran is presently conducted by traditional inspection and check-out method. This paper suggests a new method for monitoring and remote sensing of the street lighting system which is completely isolated from electricity network and applies picture shooting of the street lighting network, image processing, and computer vision techniques and separating the light source method in the picture. The system performance was simulated and verified by MATLAB software. The results indicate the ability and effectiveness of this method and led to closing a research contract with Tehran Electrical Distribution Company for pilot implementation of the plan in one of the passageways in Tehran.